How to Migrate Your Job Board to New Software

You’ve had it with your job board software. You’re tired of the poor UX, the delayed product updates, the inconsistent customer support. You need new job board software. But you’re worried about the migration process. Should you do it alone? How long will it take? What if something goes wrong?

To answer those questions – and more – keep reading for a four-step process of what job board migration is like with a trusted software provider.

Step 1: Find Your New Job Board Software Provider

Plenty of job board owners funnel thousands of dollars into a software solution that feels more like a problem. But maybe you can’t quite put a finger on why. If that’s the case, here are some common signs your job board is the problem – not you:

1. Your customer support tickets are piling up.
2. You’re getting nickel and dimed.
3. Your job board software doesn’t help you win in search.
4. Adding jobs content is like pulling teeth.
5. You’re boxed in by limited customizations.
6. Your job board has a poor mobile UX.
7. You don’t have comprehensive search options (boolean, faceted, etc.).
8. You can only use templates for your design.

Use these pain points – and others – to inform the questions you ask providers. Better questions lead to more educated buying processes.

[For a deeper dive into the questions you should ask before buying job board software, check out this post!]

Step 2: Export Your Jobs, Candidate, and Employer Data via CSV Files

Once you’ve found your ideal job board software partner (👋), you can begin the data migration process.

If you work with us, you just need to export your jobs data, candidate data, and employer data into separate CSV files. Most platforms offer an export tool with this capability – or the option to install a plugin that does the work.

Once exported, confirm that each column in the CSV file is a field with its own data. For example, in your candidate data CSV file, your first column may be FirstName, the second column may be LastName, and the third column might be Email (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Formatting for a CSV file containing candidate data

Importantly, if your data includes pictures – like resume headshots or employer logos – you can’t insert these images into a CSV file. Instead, include links to those images in a designated “images” column.

Note: some job board software providers don’t handle data migration. If you don’t want to migrate data yourself, be sure to ask about this service.

What if I can’t export my site’s data via CSV file?

If this sounds like you, there’s a potential workaround: web scraping. (This is why having a partner that also offers web scraping is beneficial.) A web scraping firm can scrape your job board’s listings. If you have a list of employers on your site, they can likely scrape those, too. Unfortunately, candidate data is unavailable via scrape, as it’s behind registration walls.

The final portion of this step is sharing links to live data in a column of your CSV files.

Step 3: Identify Which Job Alerts You Need Migrated

Moving to a new job board isn’t just about recreating your current experience with a new vendor. It’s also an opportunity to rethink your job board experience today – and what you’ll want it to be in the future. In real terms, this might mean taking advantage of new features and functions that your software vendor offers.

One such feature: job alerts. Most job boards have limitations on the number of job alerts that can exist on your job board. This is why it’s best to consult with your provider ahead of time and confirm how many they can migrate.

A quick tip: Use this as an opportunity to audit your current job alerts. How much traffic do your alerts drive to listings? Do some drive more than others? Which job alerts include the highest-priority use cases for job seekers?

These questions help you evaluate what makes your job board effective and what changes can make it more valuable for your candidates and customers.

Step 4: Share Your Job Board Design via Reference Images

In addition to data, there’s also the design of your job board to consider. You may use this as an opportunity to overhaul your branding. Conversely, you may want to keep your job board’s appearance intact. Regardless, here are two ways to make this “design migration” easier:

• Find reference images. These images may be from your existing job board or from sites with designs that you want to emulate.

• Share PSD files of those images (if possible). Photoshop’s files include layers, channels, and vectors, which makes it easier for designers to edit.

While this design work isn’t a part of the data migration, it’s still important to consider. The look and feel of your site play a huge role in whether job seekers will continue to use it or look elsewhere for a job.

Make sure to play around with the design capabilities of your new job board. See whether you can, for instance, easily edit the design of your headers and footer. (We offer you access to the administrator panel, so if you know HTML or CSS, you can quickly make those changes). Remember, you may not need to update your branding today, but that doesn’t mean you won’t want to in the future.

A final note: some vendors offer basic and premium design customization options. Check in with your provider about which options may be best for you before setting up your job board.

The Right Job Board Software Provider Makes Migration a Breeze

Job board migration is a complex process. It involves data mapping, data standardization, backups, security testing, ongoing website monitoring, and more. These technical to-dos can stretch the migration from a weeks-long process to a months-long one if you’re doing it on your own.

So don’t do it on your own.

Find a job board software partner that can oversee your migration and continuously offer support once it’s finished. Have more questions about migrating your job board? Give us a ring – we’re here to help.