Using the employer and candidate dashboards

One of the strongest arguments for a dedicated job board plugin over a generic classifieds setup is that both sides of the hiring relationship get a real self-service experience. With WP Career Board, employers manage their listings and applications entirely from the frontend Employer Dashboard. Candidates track every application and receive automatic status notifications from the Candidate Dashboard. Neither role needs wp-admin access.

This guide covers what each dashboard actually does, the tasks users can complete from it, and a few settings worth tuning to make the experience as smooth as possible for your users.

The Employer Dashboard

The Employer Dashboard block lives on the page the Setup Wizard created. By default it is called “Employer Dashboard” and the URL is /employer-dashboard/ - you can change the slug without breaking anything.

What employers see on first login

When an employer logs in and visits the dashboard, they land on the listings overview. This shows all job posts tied to their account:

From this view, employers can edit a listing, close it early, or repost an expired listing - without going to wp-admin.

Managing applications from the dashboard

Clicking the application count on any listing opens the applicant list for that job. For each application the employer sees:

• Applicant name and the date they applied
• Resume attachment (PDF, DOC, or DOCX - up to 20 MB)
• Cover letter or application note if the candidate included one
• Current status in the hiring workflow

Employers can update the application status directly from this list. The five statuses are: Submitted, Reviewing, Shortlisted, Rejected, and Hired. Each status change sends an automatic notification email to the candidate using the templates configured under Career Board > Settings > Email.

This is the core loop for small hiring teams running their process entirely inside the plugin. For teams that want a visual pipeline with configurable stages and drag-and-drop candidate movement, that is available with WP Career Board Pro’s Application Pipeline (Kanban view).

Posting a new listing from the dashboard

The Post a Job form is accessible directly from the Employer Dashboard via the “Post a New Job” link. It is the same form that lives on the dedicated Post a Job page - both routes create the same listing type.

If you are running a paid board where employers buy credits to post, the form checks for a valid credit balance before allowing submission. Employers who are out of credits see a prompt to purchase more rather than an empty form.

Keeping the company profile current

The dashboard includes a Company Profile section where employers maintain their organization’s public presence. Fields here populate the company page linked from every listing they post:

• Company name and logo (recommended 200x200 pixels or larger)
• Short description (appears on the company page and below the listing header)
• Company size and industry
• Location

Encouraging employers to fill this out is worth a short onboarding email when they register. Listings from companies with complete profiles convert candidates at a noticeably higher rate than listings that show only a job title and description.

The Candidate Dashboard

The Candidate Dashboard block is placed on a separate page by the Setup Wizard. Candidates who create an account and submit applications manage everything from here.

Application tracking

The main view shows every application the candidate has submitted, including:

• The job title and company name, linked to the listing
• When the application was submitted
• The current status (Submitted, Reviewing, Shortlisted, Rejected, or Hired)

Candidates do not need to check their email to know where their applications stand. Every status change they receive by email also updates this dashboard view.

This matters for candidate experience. A candidate who applied to six roles and can see at a glance that two are Reviewing and one is Shortlisted is a candidate who stays engaged with your board. One who applied and heard nothing is a candidate who does not return.

Resume management (Pro)

With WP Career Board Pro, candidates can build a structured resume inside the site. The resume form supports:

• Education history (institution, degree, graduation year)
• Work experience (employer, title, date range, description)
• Skills (selected from your skills taxonomy)
• A headline and short summary

Resumes built in the system are searchable by employers in the Pro resume database. Employers filter by skills, location, and years of experience to find candidates who have not yet applied to a specific listing. This turns the board from a one-directional application tool into a searchable talent pool.

Job alerts (Pro)

Candidates can subscribe to job alerts that match specific criteria - keyword, location, job type, or category. When a new listing is published that matches their criteria, they receive an email automatically.

Job alerts are the best mechanism for bringing passive candidates back to the board. A candidate who set up an alert for “remote copywriting” and receives a notification the day you publish a matching listing is far more likely to apply than one who would need to remember to check back.

To enable alerts, the candidate visits the Job Alerts tab in their dashboard and adds one or more subscriptions. No admin action is required per subscription.

Saved listings and deadline reminders

Candidates can save listings they are interested in but not ready to apply to. Saved listings appear in a tab on the dashboard.

The plugin sends automatic reminder emails to candidates with saved-but-not-applied listings at the 3-day and 1-day marks before the application deadline. These reminder emails go out in the free plugin - they are not a Pro feature. They bring candidates back to listings they showed intent on without any manual follow-up on your part.

Settings that affect both dashboards

A few settings under Career Board > Settings have direct impact on the dashboard experience:

Login and registration behavior. The plugin uses WordPress’s built-in user accounts. By default, new candidates and employers register through your existing WordPress registration flow. If you want role-specific registration pages (separate forms for “I’m an employer” and “I’m looking for work”), this requires a short customization but is a common request for boards that need to distinguish the two audiences clearly.

Email template branding. Templates for application received, status changed, listing approved, and deadline reminder all live under Career Board > Settings > Email. Each is editable plain HTML with placeholder tags for dynamic content. Update the sender name and any generic placeholder text before going live - the defaults reference “WP Career Board” in ways that may not match your board’s branding.

Applicant data export. Employers cannot export application data themselves from the frontend. If a client employer needs a CSV of all applicants for a role, you export it from Career Board > Applications in wp-admin with the bulk export action. This is worth mentioning in any employer-facing documentation you write.

Checklist: employer and candidate experience review

Before opening a board to the public, run through this from both sides using test accounts:

• Employer can log in and see their listings on the Employer Dashboard
• Employer can open applications for a listing and update an applicant’s status
• Applicant receives a status-change email within a few minutes of the update
• Employer can post a new listing from the dashboard and it routes to the correct moderation state
• Candidate dashboard shows all submitted applications with current statuses
• Saved listing reminder emails are sending (check with a test account + a listing with a near deadline)
• Company profile fields are visible on the public company page
• Resume form is accessible and saves correctly (Pro)

Running this checklist as the final step before launch catches the configuration gaps that are easy to miss when testing from the admin side only.

Getting the most from the dashboards

The dashboards work well out of the box, but two things consistently make the biggest practical difference for boards in active use.

First, write a short onboarding email for new employers explaining what the Employer Dashboard does. Many first-time employers look for a “manage my jobs” link in wp-admin out of habit and do not find the frontend dashboard. One email pointing them to the right URL saves a support question per employer.

Second, if you are running a board where candidate quality matters to your employers, enabling the Pro resume database and encouraging candidates to complete structured resumes moves the board from a listing aggregator to a talent source. Employers who can proactively search candidates come back - and they bring other employers.

For a step-by-step guide to getting the plugin installed and the pages created, see our install guide.