Finding jobs on Internet may be tiring and stressful, but it certainly provides more results than going door-to-door looking for potential employers. Job board websites put thousands of vacancies and resumes at your fingertips. While the general idea of connecting businesses and job seekers is simple, employment software platforms are intricate structures requiring many specific elements.

In this article, I will discuss the functionalities of employment sites and provide you with a list of components to build up an awesome WordPress job board.

What Is a Job Board?

Job board websites are peer-to-peer services where two sides can interact without the intermediation of a third party, just like popular online marketplaces. However, employment websites provide different services from online shops and must possess different features, too. 

In a nutshell, job boards offer two types of services: one for employers and one for people searching for jobs. The two categories of users employ different site functionalities, and here’s what they are.

Website features for job applicants

1. Log in. Users should be able to log in to their job seekers’ accounts quickly, and that’s why logging in using social media buttons is widely used. Facebook and Google are popular options, but LinkedIn must also be considered for use on employment sites.
2. Create profiles. Though job board sites usually allow viewing job posts for all people, registered users can enjoy more benefits, such as creating profiles. Profiles hold basic information about users and are designed to impress potential employers. 
3. Upload files. Often, people have resumes on their computers. Job board sites provide means to add resumes, certificates, patents, and diplomas to profiles.
4. Search jobs. Job board search tools are intuitive and straightforward, allowing you to narrow down search results using many filters. 
5. Apply for jobs. Job seekers can apply for the job directly on the site without visiting companies’ websites.

Website features for employers

For the most part, the features used by employers mirror the features for job seekers, with some slight differences.

1. Sign in. Job portals generally offer employers the option of signing in via corporate emails.
2. Profiles. Business profiles on employment platforms hold basic information about the company’s history, goals, and team. 
3. Post vacancies. Job postings are the primary means through which companies recruit employees. 
4. Search applicants. Companies may use different filters to search for potential employees: years of experience, type of education, languages, skills, etc.

Website qualities to keep in mind when building a job board 

The following qualities are beneficial to all great websites, but they are vital for job boards considering their specific features and elements.

1. Security. Users trust their personal information to job board websites, and such websites may become the target for hackers. Employ security tools to prevent hacker attacks and hide sensitive information from unregistered users.
2. Moderation. Employers and job seekers hate to see fake accounts or outdated posts. You can use AI tools and human moderation to build your site’s credibility.
3. Performance. A successful job board has to hold a lot of data and provide a quick and easy search process. Learn about the best practices for speeding up your site.

Job Board Essential Elements

Every job board features a set of elements to provide its primary functions. Let’s see what they are and how they function.

Profiles

It is highly recommended for a job board website to allow creating, storing, and showcasing of user profiles. The digital profile serves as a business card for companies and job seekers. Many users would like to see more details about potential employers than is offered in a job listing, so they go to the company’s profile page or even start job searching after browsing through descriptions of businesses.

For that reason, the website must allow easy profile creation and editing for users without accessing the admin dashboard. The ability to modify user profiles can sufficiently ease site administrators’ work and expedite form filling. 

Unfortunately, WordPress reserves profile curation to admins only. So, use profile builder plugins to transfer that task to website visitors.

Forms

Forms are necessary on every site, and for the job board platform, we need at least five different forms: two for employee/company registration, two more for posting vacancies/resumes, and one sign-in form. The registration and posting forms retrieve information from users that can later appear in profiles and posts, so make sure to include enough fields for users to fill in.

There are more than a dozen commonly used form field types. You will definitely need three of them: a Text field to put in short text information, such as name and address; a Textarea to insert multi-line text information; a Media field for users to upload their resumes, certificates, etc. 

Remember, it’s essential that filling in the forms takes as little time as possible. Use specialized field types where they are appropriate: 

• date field with a dropdown calendar for inserting dates;
• time field with scrollable dropdown options;
• range field to pick desired salary range between two preset values.

It is best to use advanced dynamic forms for job board websites, so you can decide which data will appear in form fields as default values. Imagine a user already has a profile page on your site. When posting a vacancy/resume, a lot of information will be filled in the form automatically, such as the name, type of work, location, and more. You can learn more about dynamic forms in this YouTube video.

Listing grid

Depending on post-submit actions chosen for submission forms, the data that users put in form fields is verified by page admins or stored as a listing item in a Custom Post Type. For displaying Listings on job board search pages, use a preset listing template that defines how the information is organized in a listing grid. 

Using the JetEngine plugin, you can control what dynamic content is pulled from post types, which part of the data is displayed in the preview mode, and how the elements appear in dynamic listings. Make sure to choose optimal layouts for full-screen and mobile devices. 

Usually, you’d want to see the following information about the vacancy in a listing:

• job title;
• job type (full-time, part-time, remote);
• name of the company;
• salary;
• location;
• preview of the job description;
• date of post submission;
• a thumbnail with a company logo. 

And for the job seekers:

• job title;
• job type (full-time, part-time, remote);
• name of the applicant;
• years of experience;
• expected salary;
• location;
• preview of the job description;
• date of post submission.

Search filters

Users need tools to narrow their search when the website showcases jobs and resumes in dynamic listings. The job portal’s design must allow basic and advanced searches. A basic search is done via a search bar with a “Search” button and an input box. You can also provide a search bar with a select menu to choose the type of job or location.

Consider using search plugins with AJAX search feature that prompts displaying search results while typing the characters in the search box. 

To present the most relevant results, use more filters on your job portal website. The JetSmartFilters plugin offers several types of filters that each serve different needs:

• select filters for choosing one of many options (best option for filtering results by location and job title);
• checkboxes that allow checking a few options (type of job, locations, languages, etc.);
• range filter for setting salary range.

A sorting filter is another necessity for a positive user experience. Incorporate it to allow displaying listings in ascending or descending order by salary, publication date, or years of experience. 

Saving vacancies/resumes

Usually, people like to see all available options (or at least most of them) before deciding. Users might find too many jobs to apply to each of them or even contact the hiring company. In the old days, we’d circle the ads we liked in the newspaper and, after checking all the options, go back to them and evaluate which ones were better. Now, we just click on a little heart button in the corner of a listing to save it for later.

One way to add that functionality is by implementing JetEngine’s Data Store Button widget. With this tool, you can create separate databases or “stores” for registered users to access when logged in.

How to Monetize a Job Board

Undoubtedly, employment websites are designed to make money for their owners. With that in mind, you must decide which job board model to use early in the web development process. There are three common ways for job board providers to earn money.

Charge employers

This is the most common method. Typically, companies want to invest in searching for quality workers and filling vacancies asap. There are a few ways to charge employers.

• You can charge businesses registration fees and provide them access to all features for employers.
• Employers pay job posting fees to have their job listing posted for a period of time, usually one month. This is the most popular way to monetize job board websites.
• Another popular option is offering premium access to resumes or job seekers’ profiles. You can charge companies per the number of accessed resumes or per time period. This option is suitable for established websites with thousands of active job seekers. 

Charge job seekers

This is a less popular method for job board providers to make money. Most employment portals offer basic accounts for job seekers for free with paid options. 

• A monthly fee can be applied for job seekers only on high-end job boards in highly competitive markets. For this model to work, you need to have exclusive job offerings that are not accessible on other free platforms. 
• You can offer a paid featured resume package placing users’ resumes on top of the list for more views.
• Offer resume-writing services to users. It can be cheap and automated writing, filling pre-built templates with user content, or coaching services teaching writing resumes, cover letters, and interview skills.

Hosting ads

If your website gets considerable traffic, you can make money selling advertising space. The ads can appear as banners, buttons, and tile adverts and be related to your site’s niche or not.

Remember not to overcrowd the pages with ads to support the site’s credibility and positive UX.

If you’re interested in adding payment gateways to your job portal website, JetPlugins offer integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and other WooCommerce features.

Demo Job Board Site

If you’re wondering whether these elements are enough to build a full-scale job board website, check out LaborTime – a dynamic template for Elementor created by the Crocoblock team using tools we have seen in previous paragraphs.

Despite the apparent simplicity, LaborTime has an intricate structure and attractive design. Here is the list of its features that make it a perfect base for any employment site:

1. LaborTime is built using only Elementor page builder and JetPlugins. All plugins are mutually compatible and deeply integrated with WordPress’s most popular builder, and this guarantees flawless performance and makes it easy to modify the site’s options.
2. The design has a lot of white space that site owners can use for advertising and partners’ content. 
3. You can add many more features (advanced filters, featured profiles previews, etc.) to LaborTime, and the design will still not look congested. 
4. With the functionalities like CCT, this website can bear loads of data, which is essential for the successful work of the job portal.
5. LaborTime presents all the essential elements for a multi-niche job board website.

Most importantly, this demo site demonstrates that you can build an elaborate employment platform without having to write a single line of code. Furthermore, we provided detailed information on constructing every element of a website helping web devs to sharpen their skills.

FAQ

Summary

Job board websites are complex systems with specific sets of elements. WordPress provides many tools to build versatile employment sites with basic and advanced functionalities. 

Now you know the top features and essential elements that the job board must have. With a little effort and proper tools, you can build a full-scale site like LaborTime, even if you’re not a pro developer (yet).