iimjobs, Hirist, LinkedIn, Naukri and the rest each run a different model, and the one that fills twenty sales roles can be useless for a single VP search. Below is a factual side-by-side of nine platforms, plus where Hire22's agentic AI model fits.
The right answer depends on what you're actually hiring for: volume versus a single hard senior role, budget versus speed, public listing versus confidential search.
Read the “Best for” column first. A portal that is great for volume can be the wrong place for a VP search.
| Platform | Model | Best For | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hire22.ai | Agentic AI: Hunter AI sources, CoNCT AI confirms interest, JoinX AI ranks every candidate 0–100, automatically. | Mid-senior, passive-candidate, confidential hiring. | Interview-ready shortlist typically within 22 hours, no success fee, no public listing. |
| iimjobs | Job board for management and senior professionals, owned by Info Edge (Naukri's parent) since 2019. | Management, finance, consulting and business roles where applicants are already senior. | An audience of premium, experienced job seekers; recruiter pricing is quoted, not published. |
| Hirist | Tech-only job board from the same group as iimjobs. | Experienced software and IT hiring through job listings. | Every applicant is a tech professional, so less filtering than a general board. |
| Instahyre | AI-matched hiring platform that pairs candidate and job profiles. | Tech and non-tech roles where you browse pre-matched profiles. | Free plan, but reported to cap profile views at about 6 a week per account. |
| Naukri | India's largest resume database, paired with a public job board. | High-volume hiring with self-serve resume search. | 10 crore+ registered jobseeker database. |
| Indeed | Global job board and aggregator: free posting, optional paid sponsorship to boost visibility. | Broad reach and fast inbound application volume. | Indeed Apply lowers friction for candidates to apply. |
| Professional network, with Recruiter and resume-search tools for direct, passive sourcing. | Passive, senior, and specialist talent search. | Full professional history and network context on every profile. | |
| Shine | HT Media-owned job board and resume database. | Budget-conscious SMB and mid-market hiring. | Lower-cost plans than the larger, higher-traffic portals. |
| Foundit | Broad job board and resume database, formerly Monster India. | General hiring across experience levels. | An established candidate database carried over from its Monster India history. |
The agents behind Hire22: Hunter AI sources candidates, CoNCT AI confirms their interest, and the JoinX Score ranks the people who said yes.
Details reflect publicly available information about each platform's offerings as of this writing. Naukri, Indeed, LinkedIn, Shine, and Foundit are registered trademarks of their respective owners; Hire22.ai is not affiliated with any of them.
Not which platform is biggest. Which one matches the actual role.
Naukri, Indeed, or Shine. You want a large searchable pool and don't need the search to stay private. Budget usually decides which one: Shine tends to run cheaper, Naukri and Indeed trade reach for cost.
LinkedIn or Hire22. Both reach passive candidates who aren't applying anywhere. LinkedIn gives you the search tools and does the outreach yourself; Hire22's agents run the sourcing and outreach for you.
Hire22. None of the public job boards are built for an anonymous search. Hire22 sends each role as a private JobCoNCT with no public listing, and you can choose to hide your company name. Candidates’ contact details stay hidden until they accept.
Picking a job portal in India, answered directly
Keep your existing portals for volume roles. Add Hire22 for the mid-senior hires that need speed, passive reach, and confidentiality.
Start Hiring with Hire22