Migrating from Another Job Board Plugin

If you already run a job board on WordPress with WP Job Manager, Simple Job Board, WP Jobster, or a similar plugin, you can migrate to WP Career Board without losing data or breaking your existing URLs. This page walks through the path.

Before you migrate - make these decisions

1. Same URL structure or new one? Career Board registers its jobs CPT at the jobs slug, so single jobs live at /jobs/{slug}/ and the CPT archive is /jobs/. WP Job Manager defaults to /job/{slug}/ (singular), so even a WPJM migration needs a redirect from /job/... to /jobs/.... Set up redirects so the old URLs still work - covered below.

2. Move applications and candidate accounts, or only jobs?

   • Jobs only is the fast migration: ~30 minutes.
   • Jobs + applications + candidate accounts is the slow migration: 1-3 hours, more variables.

3. Hard cutover or soft?

   • Hard: deactivate the old plugin the moment Career Board is ready. URLs flip in one window.
   • Soft: run both plugins for a couple of weeks; the old plugin handles existing listings; new postings go through Career Board. Migrate old listings on a schedule.

4. Same theme or new? If your old plugin had a heavily-customised template, your theme likely has overrides for it. Plan a quick visual QA after switching.

Migration paths by source plugin

From WP Job Manager (Astoundify / Automattic)

The most common migration, and the only built-in importer. WP Job Manager migration ships in Free - you do not need Pro for it.

Prerequisites:

• WP Career Board (Free) installed and active.
• Old WP Job Manager still active during the migration so its data is readable.

Path:

1. WP Admin → Career Board → Import. The page shows a card for each importer and whether the source plugin is detected.
2. WP Job Manager → Jobs. This migrates job_listing posts to wcb_job, carrying:
   • Company (post meta _company_name → _wcb_company_name, logo included).
   • Categories (taxonomy job_listing_category → wcb_category).
   • Types (taxonomy job_listing_type → wcb_job_type). Each migrated job is tagged with _wcb_migrated_source = wp-job-manager, so re-running the importer safely skips records already migrated.
3. Run it. The importer works in batches and is idempotent (safe to run again).
4. WP Job Manager → Resumes. A separate card on the same Import page migrates WPJM Resumes (resume CPT) into wcb_resume. (Resumes are a Pro feature, so this card is useful when Pro is active.)
5. Verification: open /find-jobs/ (or the /jobs/ archive) in a new tab. You should see the old jobs. Note the new single-job URL is /jobs/{slug}/, so add a redirect from the old /job/{slug}/ (singular) pattern - see “Preserving URLs” below.
6. Deactivate WP Job Manager when you’re confident.
7. Test apply flow as a candidate - the apply form is the most common breakage point.

What doesn’t transfer automatically:

• Bookmarks/saved jobs in WPJM - the data model is different; bookmarks reset.
• Custom fields added through WPJM Field Editor - not mapped. Recreate them with Pro’s Field Builder.

From other plugins (Simple Job Board, WP Jobster, custom CPTs)

There is no dedicated importer for Simple Job Board, WP Jobster, or other plugins. The only non-WPJM path is the CSV importer, which is part of Pro’s Migration module (Career Board → Migration, Pro).

For any non-WPJM source:

1. Export old data to CSV - most plugins have an export tool; if not, query the database directly:

   SELECT post_title, post_content, post_date, post_status
   FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'your_old_cpt';

2. Use Pro’s CSV importer in WP Admin → Career Board → Migration (requires Pro).
3. Map CSV columns to Career Board fields.
4. Run import. Career Board creates one wcb_job per CSV row.

These migrations are more art than science - budget extra time and test thoroughly.

Preserving URLs (redirects)

Most plugins use different URL patterns. To avoid breaking SEO:

Career Board serves single jobs at /jobs/{slug}/.

Old plugin	Old URL pattern	Career Board pattern	Redirect needed?
WP Job Manager	/job/{slug}/	/jobs/{slug}/	Yes
Simple Job Board	/jobpost/{slug}/	/jobs/{slug}/	Yes
WP Jobster	/jobs/{slug}/	/jobs/{slug}/	Depends on slug overlap
Custom CPT	varies	/jobs/{slug}/	Yes

Setting up redirects

Option A - Redirection plugin (recommended)

1. Install Redirection.
2. Add a regex rule:
   • Source: /jobpost/(.*)$
   • Target: /jobs/$1
   • 301 permanent.
3. Verify with a sample URL in Redirection’s “Check Redirect” tool.

Option B - .htaccess (Apache)

RewriteRule ^jobpost/(.*)$ /jobs/$1 [R=301,L]

Career Board does not ship a built-in redirect-map UI, so use one of the two options above (a redirects plugin or .htaccess).

Testing the migration

A solid test path before going live:

1. Staging copy first. Run the migration on a staging copy, not live, the first time. Spend a day kicking the tires.
2. Sample 20 random old listings. Verify each one rendered correctly on Career Board. Check:
   • Title, description (formatting preserved).
   • Featured image (if any) carried over.
   • Application form works.
   • Old URL redirects to new URL.
3. Test the apply flow as a fresh candidate. The most common regression: the old plugin used a different field schema, and the application form expects fields the import didn’t set.
4. Run a few search queries that worked on the old board. The results should be similar (Career Board’s search is different - not pixel-identical results, but the relevant jobs surface).
5. Run an SEO crawl. A simple ScreamingFrog scan against the new site catches broken redirects, missing meta, lost canonicals.
6. Email your top 20 employers and top 100 candidates a week before the cutover, telling them what’s changing and what to expect (their login still works, their data is preserved, the URL of their saved searches may change).

After migration

Once live:

• Monitor the error log for the first 48 hours. Edge cases surface as PHP notices or warnings - check wp-content/debug.log for anything Career Board-related.
• Watch for support tickets about login issues. The user account table is unchanged, but roles / capabilities may have shifted. Career Board ships its own roles (Employer, Candidate, Job Moderator) backed by wcb_* capabilities; assign the Employer role to migrated posters if their old role doesn’t carry the Career Board capabilities.
• Update the FAQ / help docs on your site - old links, old screenshots, old terminology.
• Set a 30-day reminder to deactivate redirects you no longer need (after most traffic has stopped hitting old URLs).

What you’ll likely have to rebuild

Some things don’t migrate cleanly because the underlying models differ:

• Email templates - Career Board ships its own; old plugin’s custom subject lines / branding need to be re-created.
• Application form field order - Career Board’s order is consistent (name, email, resume, cover, custom fields); if your old plugin had a custom layout, re-create with the Field Builder.
• Theme template overrides - old plugin’s templates won’t apply to Career Board’s blocks. If you had heavy theme customisation, you may need to redo it with Career Board’s filter hooks instead.
• Integration with third-party tools - Zapier connections, ATS integrations, etc. The Career Board REST API is well-documented; you’ll rebuild the integrations against the new endpoints.

Where to go next

• 01-first-day-as-site-owner.md - set up Career Board correctly before importing.
• The built-in WP Job Manager importer lives on Career Board → Import (Free).
• Pro’s Migration module (with the CSV importer) is documented in the Pro docs - use it for non-WPJM sources.