WFM UK: ATS: Job Board Integrations

Overview

A critical part of recruitment is to ensure that vacancies are sufficiently advertised, in order to attract the appropriate talent to submit their applications. To help with this, Fourth's ATS supports a number of integrations with a range of Job Boards (such as Indeed, LinkedIn, etc).

This article will outline the full range of Job Board integrations currently supported by the ATS including details of the necessary prerequisites to have them enabled.

Types of Job Board Integrations 

The ATS can integrate with Job Boards using two distinct approaches. The requirements for each type will vary from one Job Board to another:

1. API Integration 
2. XML Feed Integration

API Integration

Integrations with Job Boards that are API-based allow the ATS to directly communicate with the Job Board to publish and update vacancies on their site on an individual basis.  

This approach generally is used in conjunction with the Job Board Vacancy Approval workflow within the ATS which provides customers with more granular control over which vacancies are ultimately published and advertised within the Job Board. 

To set up and enable API-based integrations, the following details are generally required:

Live Customer Account with Job Board - a live customer account is required in order for Job Boards to set up an integration with the ATS.

API Credentials

1. Username - registered username for the API account that can be provided by the Job Board 
2. Password - registered username for the API account that can be provided by the Job Board

API Key - usually an alphanumeric string that is generated for the ATS by the Job Board so that the ATS can authenticate and subsequently post job advertisements on their site

Recruiter ID - usually a unique ID corresponding to the customer account within the Job Board

The above requirements are the most common prerequisites but may vary depending on the specific Job Boards.

XML Feed Integration

Unlike API integrations, XML Feed integrations are generally far simpler to enable. This form of integration simply populates all vacancies created within the ATS portal into an XML Feed which can subsequently be 'scraped' and indexed by a Job Board in order to publish the job advertisement(s).

Customers will not have the granular control of selecting which specific job vacancies to post to Job Boards when using an XML Feed-based integration due to its simplicity and nature of the functionality.

The key requirement for setting up an XML Feed is that ATS customers have a Live Customer Account with Job Board.

The ATS can also support the installation of Conversion Tracking Pixels within the platform for specific Job Boards (detailed in the table below). This will enable the corresponding Job Boards to be able to track and ascertain how many applicants were directed to the job application form and how many candidates subsequently submitted a completed application successfully. 

The above requirements outlined for both API-based integrations and XML Feed Integration are applicable only if wanting to enable an integration with a Job Board that the ATS already supports. Any new Job Board integrations for both approaches will require scoping and development in order to enable the ATS to successfully integrate. Please liaise with your Fourth contact to discuss your requirements should you need this.

Supported Job Boards 

The table below outlines the full list of Job Boards currently supported by the ATS.

	Job Board	Integration Type	Integration Requirements
	Caterer	API Integration	- API Credentials  - Live Account
	Hospitality Jobs	API Integration	- Username & Password - Specify Max Ad Days - API Key - Recruiter ID - Hospitality URL - Live Account
	Indeed	XML Feed	- Live Account - Conversion Tracking Pixel (If applicable)
	LinkedIn	XML Feed	- Live Account
	LeisureJobs	XML Feed	- Live Account
	Glass Door	XML Feed	- Live Account
	E4S	XML Feed	- Live Account
	Placed	XML Feed	- Live Account
	Hit Training	XML Feed	- Live Account
	BFRS	XML Feed	- Live Account

In addition to the above Job Boards, the ATS also supports integrations with the following providers to enable customers to promote job advertisements through a variety of recruitment marketing channels:

	Company	Integration Type	Integration Requirements
	Socially Recruited	XML Feed	- Live Account - Conversion Tracking Pixel (If Applicable)
	OME	XML Feed	- Live Account - Conversion Tracking Pixel (If Applicable)

ATS Sources - XML & API Integrations

When a candidate selects an Apply button or link within a Job Board advertisement they are redirected to the ATS using a URL provided via the XML Feed or the API. Then, once the candidate successfully submits their job application, the ATS will store the Source for the application i.e. where the candidate originated from. This is made possible by the use of a CID number which is a unique identifier assigned to each individual Job Board and included in the URLs Fourth provides either within the XML Feed or via an API call.

It is imperative that Job Boards utilise the URLs from the XML Feed or API to ensure that source tracking is accurate and representative of how candidates are actually applying to vacancies. This data is subsequently available within the ATS Reports area as well as Fourth Analytics for customers who have dashboards available.

Please note: If candidates are redirected to a job vacancy on a customer's careers site/candidate portal and they subsequently navigate away from this page to a different vacancy, the ATS will be unable to track the source.

This is due to the fact that the URLs provided within XML Feeds or APIs are specific to individual vacancies and the source can only be tracked if candidates successfully submit an application after being redirected to the vacancy page. 

ATS Sources - HTTP Referral

Source data is also captured through an HTTP Referral method for sites that do not offer a specific integration solution for Application Tracking Systems. These are usually social media sites whereby candidates and/or managers can share job vacancies to attract new candidate applications.

This approach is required to track source data when vacancies from the candidate portal have been shared on Social Media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter (see Fig.1).

Fig. 1 - Share on Facebook & Twitter

The Fourth ATS is able to track the ATS Source for the following sites using HTTP Referral:

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. Instagram

4. TikTok

5. YouTube

6. WhatsApp

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