Job-a-matic

WordPress, Meet Job-a-matic

Much love from the folks here at Job-a-matic to Suri Like. Suri runs The Operations Research / Management Science Blog and posted this step-by-step guide on integrating your Job-a-matic job board into your WordPress.org blog.

Thanks Suri!

Smarter Back-fill

We've received feedback from our Job-a-matic publishers asking for ways to make their back-fill job listings more relevant to the content of their sites.

Job-a-matic Back-fill Manager

Job-a-matic's existing back-fill manager is a friendly form that can help you construct advanced search commands. To help you understand the actual searches that we're performing, we thought we'd offer you the breakdown:

Back-fill Field	Actual Search Query
All the words	Engineering AND Manager
Exact phrase	"Engineering Manager"
At least one of the words	Engineering OR Manager
Without the words	Engineering NOT Manager
Job title	title:(Engineering Manager)
Company name	company:(Simply Hired)

Improved Job Search Relevancy

In addition to the Job-a-matic back-fill jobs manager, we let our publishers and Job Search XML-API partners search based on O*NET code.

Simply Hired classifies all of our jobs into a category based on the government's O*NET database -- part of SimplyHired's job search relevancy algorithm.

ONET searches can be a very useful tool for niche and occupation-based sites.  For example, a HR blog or website can use our O*NET categorization to display a more diverse and broad selection of back-fill human resources jobs (http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/o-13107), compared to simply using the terms "HR" or "Human Resources".

To construct an ONET query as your back-fill, you'll need to find the first two or three digits of the ONET category you're interested in and use the following search conventions: onet:(XX-X*):

Example ONET searches:

• Transportation jobs (http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/o-53) - onet:(53*)
• Science jobs (http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/o-19) - onet:(19*)
• Food and Beverage jobs (http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/o-19) - onet:(19*)
• Art and Design jobs (http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/o-271) - onet:(27-1*)

As always, feel free to contact us, if you need additional assistance.

How to replace the default “Post a Job” button

In previous posts, we’ve outlined how to remove the "Post a Job" button, but we recently received a comment from Chris, who wants to learn how to replace the default "Post a Job" button.

What’s Needed:
•    Basic Photoshop skills to create a new image (or a creative friend)
•    A place to host the new image
•    An open mind…this might seem technical, but we promise we can talk you through it.

Instructions to replace the "Post a Job" button:
1.  Create a new image that’s 280 pixels wide and 60 pixels high.  Upload this image to your main web site, noting the image’s URL.  (If you can’t easily upload it to your own site, adding it to Photobucket will work fine.)

2. Insert the following CSS into header field on the the Header / Footer Page to hide the current image:

<style>
.content .main #post_link_container{position:absolute; top:0px; left:360px;}
.content .main #post_link_container.theme {
width:280px;
height:55px;
background-image:none;}
</style>

3.  Insert the following Javascript into footer field on the Header / Footer Page to add your new image, where http://www.yoursite.com/image.gif is the URL of the image you created in step 1.

<script type="text/javascript">
if (document.getElementById('post_link')) {
  document.getElementById('post_link').innerHTML = '<img src="http://www.yoursite.com/image.gif" width="280" height="60" alt="" border="0" />';
}
</script>

4.  OPTIONAL: Adjust the positioning of the image.  Go to the the Header / Footer Page and modify the number of pixels to the top and left of your new image to suit your tastes.  Change the positioning by modifying this line:

.content .main #post_link_container{position:absolute; top:0px; left:360px;}

Need Help?
We're happy to assist -- give us a shout if you need any additional pointers.

How to add a logo to your job board

Our fabulous support team mentioned that some of our bloggers and web publishers need a bit of help getting their logo onto their custom job board. 

We've already covered some advanced job board customization tips, but we thought we'd take a step back for folks new to Job-a-matic.

Customization 101: how to add a logo

1. Upload your logo on the Name and Pricing page.
2. Cut and paste the following HTML, making sure to change "YOURSITE.COM" to your main website, into the header field on the Header and Footer page.

   <br><div id="c_partner_logo" class="clear"><a href="http://www.YOURSITE.COM"><img src="/a/jbb/partner-logo" border="0"></a></div>

3. Save your changes & enjoy!

Need other customization tips?
Shoot us an email or leave a comment below.

I Blog, Therefore I am….

Your Job-A-Matic job board is driving traffic to your site, making you some dough, and showing you to be a dialed-in, community-minded, entrepreneurial wunderkind. But if you’re still getting the feeling that it could do even more, make sure you are blogging about your jobs! By being your own PR team, you can:

• Encourage even more users to check out your posted jobs
• Showcase your job listings like Ruby Inside does with their ruby jobs
• Toot your own horn. One of the big advantages of niche job boards is your personal attention and connection to the jobs you’re posting. Posting success stories and validating remarks from your users makes you look totally indispensable. (Eric Peterson does a great job promoting his web analytics jobs.)

A weekly post is generally enough to keep your blog looking fresh, and you don’t have to write the Great American Novel every week or do tons of in-depth interviews to add value to your board. Simply using your blog as a forum to highlight and advertise interesting job listings and show off any positive feedback that comes your way can really help your users see you as a valuable resource.

The next thing you know, other bloggers in your sphere of interest will be talking about your board too, and voila – you become even more of a presence. It’s the Circle of Life. Happy blogging.

Spotlight: VentureBeat Job Board

Matt Marshall’s VentureBeat has its finger on the pulse of the entrepreneurial and venture community, focusing especially on Silicon Valley but with an interest in innovation hubs around the world. It provides news, data and insider information that decision makers count on.

VentureBeat’s job board fits right in, providing the latest information on high-end jobs for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, developers and architects. Since VentureBeat caters to some highly educated technocenti, it’s important to be able to provide well-filtered, relevant content for users with very specific interests. And that’s where Job-a-Matic comes in!

Job Board Customization
VentureBeat provides a consistent user experience by matching their widget and job board to the overall look and feel of the main site, highlighting important info such as job titles and the all-important advertiser’s link.  Notice that there is a also header link to the job board from every page, ensuring good visibility and integration.

Their board makes good use of Job-a-Matic’s filters, making it easy for job seekers to whittle down the listings by occupation and by job type, so there’s plenty of info for the perennial contractor, the intrepid freelancer, and the family guy who wants a fact-paced career and a health plan.

At $200.00 per 30-day listing, they are providing a great value to the movers and shakers who make up their user base and making some decent coin in the process.

How is Job-a-Matic working for you?
If you have a board you would like us to spotlight, drop us a line.

How to Hide the Ability to Post a Job

Q:  What do MySpace and Job-a-matic have in common?
A:  Both sites allow you to use CSS to customize your site.  (Oh, there’s also that Simply Hired powered MySpace Jobs site…)

If you don’t want to let visitors post jobs to your job board, you can hide the “Post a Job” functionality by adding the following CSS to your header on your Header & Footer Configuration Page:

<style>
#post_link_container{visibility:hidden;}
#no-jobs-message{visibility:hidden;}
#backfill-rule{visibility:hidden;}
</style>

CSS let you do all sorts of customizations to your job board to make it resemble your main site.  (See our Pimp Your Job Board post and this CSS cheat sheet for ideas.)

Job-a-Matic’s Got Your Back(fill)….

Backfill. We mention it a lot, but haven’t really explored it in detail. As you’ll recall, if you are running light on job listings, you can set your board up to populate with “backfill” jobs from Simply Hired’s database. You choose the search terms, and with five million listings to choose from, it’s a pretty sure bet you’ll find plenty that work for your site and your audience.

So, if sales are slumping, there’s no need to get that Glengarry Glen Ross feeling. Backfill listings appear as needed, making you look as busy as ever. Even if you’re selling job listings by the truckload, you can still use backfill to create even more relevant content for your users, and who doesn’t want that? What’s more, you still receive per-click revenue when your users click on our backfill jobs.

So, here’s how to make backfill work for you:
When you log into your Job-a-Matic account you simply select “configuration” and then “backfill” from the dashboard. Choose either “always show backfill” or “show backfill when 0 result” depending on your needs.

Below that you’ll see the fields for search terms. You can make this part as simple or as complicated as you want. Let’s say you put “Simply Hired” in the “with all the words” field. We’ll backfill your job board with listings that contain the word “simply” and the word “hired.” Which could generate a pretty wide variety of listings, and let’s say you actually want to show job openings at Simply Hired. Throw some quotes around “simply hired” or put it in the “with the exact phrase” field. Or put “Simply Hired” into the “within company name” field and you’ll get to us that way too. (See, this is actually pretty self-explanatory!). You can search for listings within a specific company (toss “McDonald’s” into the “within company name” search) or a specific profession (put “personal assistant” into the “within title” field and behold the wealth of Gal Friday opportunities that await you!). You can also exclude terms, so if you want your users to see veterinarian jobs but not large animal vet jobs, tell it to the “exclude” field.

You can apply the search terms in any combination, and you can return to the dashboard and change the terms at any time. 

Oh, and we can make your backfill listings location-based as well. Currently you just need to email us to make this happen – but soon you’ll be able to do it yourself, so stay tuned.

Pimp Your Job Site, Part 1: Customizing the Header

When you create your Job-a-matic account, your Job-a-matic job site comes with a default header that contains the name of your job site. It’s pretty simple and generic, so it should inspire you to bling it up to suit your tastes.  Wouldn’t it be nice if it matched your site’s look and feel?

In this tutorial we will walk through the process of adding a header to your job site to make it match your web site. If you are using Firefox as your main browser, it would be helpful to have the Web Developer Toolbar add-on installed. If you have Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar will make your life a lot easier.

 

1. First of all, you will have to identify the header that you would like to add to your job site.

Firefox: Using the Outline > Outline Current Element tool in Firefox's Web Developer Toolbar, hover your mouse cursor over the header of your web page. An outline should appear around the header elements.

IE7: Use the Select Element by Click tool in the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar, hover your mouse cursor over the header of your web page. An outline should appear around the header elements. Click on the area once.

Take note of the classes or IDs of the HTML elements that make up the header section.

2. Find the code for the header.

Firefox: Right-click on page and select View Page Source. Find the code for the header section by searching for the classes or IDs from the previous step.

IE7: Use the View Element Source tool. Scroll to the bottom of the window that pops up and you will see the code for the header.

Copy the code for the header. Login to your Job-a-matic account and go to the Configuration > Header-Footer section. Paste the code into the box labeled Header HTML.

3. Find the CSS for the header.

Firefox: Use the CSS > View Style Information tool and click on the header. The styles will be displayed in a split window. Copy the CSS.

IE7: Scroll back up to the top of the window that popped up in the previous step. Copy all the styles that pertain to the header.

Go back to the Configuration > Header-Footer section in the Job-a-matic dashboard. Paste the code into the box labeled Header HTML above the stuff that you previously entered. Wrap the CSS between

<style type="text/css">...</style> tags.

4. Firefox users may need to repeat the previous step for each element within the header section. Remember to remove line numbers and other mark-up that is not a part of CSS syntax.

 

5. The code should look something like this.
Click on Save Changes to apply your settings.

6. Click on View My Site in the top right to admire your handywork.

If the header does not include a link back to your website, it would be nice to add one so that visitors to your job site may find their way back.

A link can be added by surrounding any text or image with the following tags:

<a href="http://www.example.com/">...</a>

(Remember to replace example.com with the URL of your web site!)

If you have any problems with customizing your header, let us know! We have a crack team of HTML ninjas who can help!

Job-a-matic Promotion Guide

Simply Hired’s clever marketing team knows that it takes a lot of work to create a successful job site. (Do we ever!)  Read our new our Job-a-matic promotion guide, “Tips for Takeoff,” for simple advice on how to promote your new job site.

Download Job-a-matic Promotion Guide [pdf]

p.s. Use the comment area of this blog post to share your own promotion tips!