How to Set Up XML Importer?
XML importer helps automatically import jobs from XML feeds directly into your job board. It can be used to import jobs from other job boards, employers' applicant tracking systems (job wrapping), or from job advertising networks like Appcast.
To create an importer, you just need to provide a link to the XML file that contains the jobs list and it will automatically import new jobs from the given link into your job board.
Here are detailed steps on how to configure the XML importer properly.
Click on the "Jobs Aggregation" section and click on the "Add Aggregator" button.
Click on the "XML Feed Importer" button.
Enter the URL of the XML feed from which you would like to import the jobs and click on "Start configuring XML importer" button.
For large XML files, you can also provide a URL to the Gzipped XML feed. Eg. https://www.example.com/feed.gz
If the entered URL was correct, you will see the following form on your screen.
The system automatically will configure most of the settings for you based on the provided XML feed, but you might need to set an additional configuration if needed. Here is a detailed explanation of available configuration options.
Name - Is just the display name of the importer. And will be used when displaying the list of the importers on the admin panel.
Active jobs limit - This is useful if you would like to limit the number of active jobs that will be imported from the given page. For example, if you set it to 10, the importer will import new jobs until the number of active imported jobs reaches 10. Next time importer will import a new job only once at least one of the 10 imported jobs becomes inactive.
Imported job status - When "Confirmed" is selected, all the imported jobs will be automatically visible on the job board. Select "Needs Confirmation" if you want manually approve imported jobs before they get visible on your job board.
Job title - Here you need to specify which field in XML contains the job title. In most cases it will be already automatically selected.
rss -> channel -> item -> title represents the path to the XML field, where the title is located. For any job field, that should be taken from the XML feed, you will need to specify the path by selecting the correct value from the dropdown.
Employer - If you are importing jobs from the employer's job board, we recommend you to select the "Select the employer manually" option and then select the employer, so the importer will assign all jobs to the given employer. Otherwise, select the XML feed that contains the employer name, in that case, the importer will check if an employer by the given name exists, it will assign the job to the existing employer, otherwise will automatically create a new employer for the given job.
Job Type (optional) - Similar to other fields you can get the job type from the XML feed or select one single job type for all imported jobs. When you are getting the job type from XML feed, the importer will create a new job type if the job type does not exists. Tip, if after the import you do not want to display some of newly created job types on the website, you can just mark them as inactive.
Category (optional) - Similar to other fields you can get the category from the XML feed or select one single category for all imported jobs. When you are getting the category from XML feed, the importer will create a new category if the category does not exists. Tip, if after the import you do not want to display some of newly created categories on the website, you can just mark them as inactive.
Job description - Select the field representing the job description in the XML feed. It can contain an HTML or just a plain text.
Apply link - Select the XML field that contains the apply link or you can set one single apply link for all imported jobs.
Location - Select the XML field that contains the location of the job. You can also assign one general location to all imported jobs.
Remote - Select the XML field that identicates if the job is remote or no. You can also just set the imported jobs as remove when the location field is missing in the XML feed.
Posting date - Set the "Posting date" of the imported jobs. Important note: When getting the "posting date" from the job, some of the imported jobs might become automatically expired right after the import, because the original posting date is pretty old. If you would like to prevent that, you will need to set either a higher "Job expires in days" number or just set the posting date as the date of the import, instead of the date of the original posting.
External identifier In order for the importer to not import the same job again, it needs the ID of the job. So when the next time the importer sees the same ID, it will update the job, instead of creating a new one. In most cases it's the job_reference or guid field, which will be automatically selected already. If the provided XML does not have a unique ID field, you can also select the apply URL as an ID, since in most cases apply URL is also unique per job.
Filter with keywords - Allows importing only jobs that are matching given keywords. For example, if you would like to import only jobs that have "software engineer" OR "designer" keyword, you can set "Filter with keywords" to software engineer, designer.
Exclude keywords - Allows skipping jobs that have ANY of the matching keywords. For example, if you set it to software engineer, designer. The importer will skip any job that contains software engineer or designer in the keywords but will not skip the jobs that contain only engineer in the keywords.
Check only in job title By default, both Filter with keywords and Exclude keywords are checking inside the job description and title. If you would like to perform the check only against the job title, check the "Check only in job title" for the given filter.
Now, all we have to do is just press the create button to create the importer.
Once the importer is created, it will run immediately. On average it takes 20-30 min to run the importer for the first time. But it might take as long as 6 hours, depending on the job board from which you are trying to import the jobs and also on the number of jobs that you want to import.
Once the importer finishes the job, you will see the status of the importer updated to green and it will show you how many jobs have been imported. You can view all the imported jobs in the "Jobs" section of the admin panel.
When an importer is created, it will run immediately and will import the first 1,000 jobs from the XML feed. If the feed has more than 1000 jobs, it will import all jobs during the next scheduled run(in the next 24 hours).
During the trial period, one importer will import only up to 1,000 jobs. This is usually more than enough in the majority of cases, but if you are importing a large file and would like to increase the limit, please reach out to the support.
To create an importer, you just need to provide a link to the XML file that contains the jobs list and it will automatically import new jobs from the given link into your job board.
Here are detailed steps on how to configure the XML importer properly.
Step 1: Open the Add New XML Feed Importer Page
Step 1.1: Open the "Jobs Aggregation" page
Click on the "Jobs Aggregation" section and click on the "Add Aggregator" button.
Step 1.2: Select XML feed importer
Click on the "XML Feed Importer" button.
Step 2: Enter the XML Feed URL from Which You Would like to Import the Jobs
Enter the URL of the XML feed from which you would like to import the jobs and click on "Start configuring XML importer" button.
For large XML files, you can also provide a URL to the Gzipped XML feed. Eg. https://www.example.com/feed.gz
Step 3: Configure the Importer
If the entered URL was correct, you will see the following form on your screen.
The system automatically will configure most of the settings for you based on the provided XML feed, but you might need to set an additional configuration if needed. Here is a detailed explanation of available configuration options.
Name - Is just the display name of the importer. And will be used when displaying the list of the importers on the admin panel.
Active jobs limit - This is useful if you would like to limit the number of active jobs that will be imported from the given page. For example, if you set it to 10, the importer will import new jobs until the number of active imported jobs reaches 10. Next time importer will import a new job only once at least one of the 10 imported jobs becomes inactive.
Imported job status - When "Confirmed" is selected, all the imported jobs will be automatically visible on the job board. Select "Needs Confirmation" if you want manually approve imported jobs before they get visible on your job board.
Job title - Here you need to specify which field in XML contains the job title. In most cases it will be already automatically selected.
rss -> channel -> item -> title represents the path to the XML field, where the title is located. For any job field, that should be taken from the XML feed, you will need to specify the path by selecting the correct value from the dropdown.
Employer - If you are importing jobs from the employer's job board, we recommend you to select the "Select the employer manually" option and then select the employer, so the importer will assign all jobs to the given employer. Otherwise, select the XML feed that contains the employer name, in that case, the importer will check if an employer by the given name exists, it will assign the job to the existing employer, otherwise will automatically create a new employer for the given job.
Job Type (optional) - Similar to other fields you can get the job type from the XML feed or select one single job type for all imported jobs. When you are getting the job type from XML feed, the importer will create a new job type if the job type does not exists. Tip, if after the import you do not want to display some of newly created job types on the website, you can just mark them as inactive.
Category (optional) - Similar to other fields you can get the category from the XML feed or select one single category for all imported jobs. When you are getting the category from XML feed, the importer will create a new category if the category does not exists. Tip, if after the import you do not want to display some of newly created categories on the website, you can just mark them as inactive.
Job description - Select the field representing the job description in the XML feed. It can contain an HTML or just a plain text.
Apply link - Select the XML field that contains the apply link or you can set one single apply link for all imported jobs.
Location - Select the XML field that contains the location of the job. You can also assign one general location to all imported jobs.
Remote - Select the XML field that identicates if the job is remote or no. You can also just set the imported jobs as remove when the location field is missing in the XML feed.
Posting date - Set the "Posting date" of the imported jobs. Important note: When getting the "posting date" from the job, some of the imported jobs might become automatically expired right after the import, because the original posting date is pretty old. If you would like to prevent that, you will need to set either a higher "Job expires in days" number or just set the posting date as the date of the import, instead of the date of the original posting.
External identifier In order for the importer to not import the same job again, it needs the ID of the job. So when the next time the importer sees the same ID, it will update the job, instead of creating a new one. In most cases it's the job_reference or guid field, which will be automatically selected already. If the provided XML does not have a unique ID field, you can also select the apply URL as an ID, since in most cases apply URL is also unique per job.
Filter with keywords - Allows importing only jobs that are matching given keywords. For example, if you would like to import only jobs that have "software engineer" OR "designer" keyword, you can set "Filter with keywords" to software engineer, designer.
Exclude keywords - Allows skipping jobs that have ANY of the matching keywords. For example, if you set it to software engineer, designer. The importer will skip any job that contains software engineer or designer in the keywords but will not skip the jobs that contain only engineer in the keywords.
Check only in job title By default, both Filter with keywords and Exclude keywords are checking inside the job description and title. If you would like to perform the check only against the job title, check the "Check only in job title" for the given filter.
Step 4: Create Importer
Now, all we have to do is just press the create button to create the importer.
Step 5: Wait till Import Finishes
Once the importer is created, it will run immediately. On average it takes 20-30 min to run the importer for the first time. But it might take as long as 6 hours, depending on the job board from which you are trying to import the jobs and also on the number of jobs that you want to import.
Once the importer finishes the job, you will see the status of the importer updated to green and it will show you how many jobs have been imported. You can view all the imported jobs in the "Jobs" section of the admin panel.
Notes:
When an importer is created, it will run immediately and will import the first 1,000 jobs from the XML feed. If the feed has more than 1000 jobs, it will import all jobs during the next scheduled run(in the next 24 hours).
During the trial period, one importer will import only up to 1,000 jobs. This is usually more than enough in the majority of cases, but if you are importing a large file and would like to increase the limit, please reach out to the support.
Updated on: 05/02/2024
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