Generating XML Feeds to Support the Customer's Job Distribution Requirements

The Feed Management section of Command Center allows consultants to view, manage, and run job feeds for the customer sites you manage. Feed Management creates and publishes the XML document lists of jobs that are syndicated to various job aggregators and job boards.

Feeds are generated on demand and reflect job content at the time of generation. Job boards pull the feed using the link that you provide, and import it into their database to post the jobs.

The delivery of XML feeds can be scheduled, but this is rarely done. Scheduled File Transfer Protocols (FTPs) are a push of the job data into the vendor database. That requires a host and credentials, and the FTP Scheduler is configured to determine how often the feed will be pushed. This is not an ideal solution due to workflow and maintenance.

As with SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Posting, unless it's a free job board, the customer must have a contract with the source they are providing the XML feed to, in order to post jobs there.

The implementation consultant generates XML feeds for their customer after moving the Career Site Builder site to Production, when active jobs are posted.

• Standard XML Feed: All Jobs Feed that involves no customization to set up and distribute to the receiving source. This is an effective alternative for direct scrapes to ensure proper source tracking in Advanced Analytics. One Standard XML feed is included in a standard Recruiting implementation.

  Examples:

  • Indeed
  • GlassDoor

• Custom XML Feed: Any Job Feed that requires client-specific customization.

  Examples:

  • Only Nursing Jobs are sent to a Niche Healthcare site.
  • Jobs with "Account Executive" in the job title are sent to a Niche Sales site.

Custom feeds typically are not included in the statement of work, but are discussed at the Job Delivery Intake Meeting. The customer pays separately for each custom feed. Note that if a new XML source template must be generated, a services engagement is required with SAP.

Remember that Professional Services can be engaged to support XML feed generation.

The XML feed templates include the following considerations:

• XML feeds are always created for each specific vendor.

• The vendor templates are customized by Professional Services to reflect how each vendor needs to receive the job data and import it into their system. The templates are aligned to the leading practice job field mappings, and also to the requirements needed for the vendor. See the Job Data unit and the Leading Practice Job Data for XML Feeds section for specific information about job data mapping to support XML feeds.

• Each vendor template has unique source tracking in place and should be used only for that vendor. For example, an XML Feed for Indeed would not be used to provide jobs to LinkedIn.

• Note that centralized collection feeds (all vendor feeds) are not recommended due to the inability to track the specific sources. The only exception would be if the receiving party will be using the specific CSB UTM (Urchin Traffic Module) source tags. The responsibility would be on the receiving party to maintain and append proper tracking.
• Proper source tags can be obtained within the Source Tracker or by requesting via a support ticket.
• Laws in some states and countries require that job postings include salary information. Some job boards, such as Indeed, require the salary range to be provided as a separate field on the job requisition. Be sure to map the salary range field to Product Service, and use the Indeed - Prodserv = salary template.

To access the XML feed tool, from the dropdown at the top of Command Center, select Feed Management. The Feed List page displays all feeds belonging to all of the sites that the user has permission to view.

Use the search filters at the top of the page to narrow the list of feeds displayed.

From the Feed List page, you can create a new feed, run a feed test, edit, or delete a feed.

Note that the Organic Network XML feeds are not listed on the Feed List page, as they are managed separately.

Feed Name

To create a standard XML feed, you can access the Feed List page and enter the name for the XML feed using the following format: ClientName – SourceName (ex. BestRun - LinkedIn).

Tokens

The Tokens section is empty until you select a feed source in the Source field.

Tokens are the base data unit of a feed. A source defines the format of the feed, whereas the tokens define the content of the feed.

There are four types of tokens that can be associated with a source. For this course, we will format only the feed tokens. See the Recruiting guide to learn about the other token types.

For our example, complete the Campaign field following this format: &utm_campaign=ClientName_SourceName.

• For our example, enter &utm_campaign=BestRun_LinkedIn.
• The customer may request a unique campaign code.
• See the section, Source Tracking for Agencies That Redistribute the Customer's Jobs, at the end of this lesson.

If this is a Standard Feed, you have finished. Choose Save. With no added rules, this feed pulls all of the customer’s jobs. Saving creates the feed.

To run a standard XML feed, proceed as follows:

1. To run the feed in your browser, choose Run Feed from either the Feed List or Feed Details page.

2. Select one of the three output options:

   • Debug Feed (1 job per rule): Runs a brief XML feed containing only the first job (if any) generated by each rule. Note that if no jobs are captured by a rule, it will be skipped.
   • Debug Rules: Generates a snapshot count and view of job titles by each rule. Duplicated jobs by rule will be notated and excluded.
   • Run Full Feed: Executes the XML feed live URL and full rundown of the feed to be shared with the vendor.
   

After running the feed, a window opens containing the active jobs. This is an active web file hosted on the server.

Provide the Feed URL to the customer to provide to their vendor. Each time the URL is accessed, the feed is run again and includes the current active jobs.

If the feed does not show like this (one jumbled paragraph) or pulls an error, the feed has broken due to a bad character or emoji. If this occurs, open the feed in Google Chrome. The last URL available is the broken job.

A tracking link is automatically associated with each feed, based on the template for the Source the feed was created for. In addition, campaign codes are typically added to the tracking link.

Custom XML feeds require rules to filter client jobs down to a specific subset. Some considerations regarding custom XML feeds include the following:

• The rule syntax must be exact.

  • Field names are listed in lowercase.

  • Values are identified in quotation marks.

  • A colon (:) separates the field names and values.

  • Boolean operators are represented in ALL CAPS.

• Example rules include:

  • country:"US"

  • title:"Manager"

  • title:("Marketing" AND "Manager")

  • department:("Plant" OR "Operations")

This site and others are a good reference for additional information: http://www.lucenetutorial.com/lucene-query-syntax.html

Simple Custom XML Feed

In this simple example for a custom feed for the Jooble job board, only jobs with "manager" in the title are included.

Generate a simple custom XML feed:

1. Start with a standard feed.
2. Choose Add Rule.
3. In the numbered edit box, enter the rule.
   • For our example, enter title manager.
4. Ensure that Activate Rule is set to YES.
5. Save and run the feed to test.
   • Note that FTP SETTINGS are not required. This section is only configured to schedule the delivery of XML feeds.

In another example, only English jobs would be included by using this rule: joblocale: "en_US".

• Normally all languages are provided unless there is a logistical issue. For example, there is a job board in Canada that must only receive French language jobs by using this rule: joblocale: "fr_CA".
• If the customer wished to deliver only the English jobs in the U.S., this rule could be used: joblocale: "en_US" AND country: "US".

Custom XML Feed with Multiple Rules

This example shows how to list jobs in Chicago first in the feed, then jobs in Los Angeles, then jobs in New York. The same campaign code is used for all jobs.

Custom XML Feed with Multiple Rules and Campaign Codes

The previous example has been modified. It still lists jobs in this order: Chicago, LA, New York City. But now each set of jobs has its own campaign code associated with it, in addition to the Campaign code assigned to the entire job at the "Feed Token" level. (Note that Rule Tokens override Feed Tokens.)

Also shown in this example: The blank rule at the bottom will add all other active jobs to the feed. These jobs will include the original Campaign code.

Note that jobs are never listed twice in a feed. So jobs in Chicago, LA, and New York will not appear again for the last rule.

Custom XML Feed with Keywords

In some situations, the customer may need to include a keyword term or job code in the job requisition so that a rule can be written on it. This requires minimal effort by the recruiter.

Note that the keyword is visible to candidates on the career site, so put it at the bottom of the job description.

Exclusion can be used to send all job except for a specific set of jobs. In the figure that appears below, the keyword "EX:OUT" was used in the job description to exclude this job from the feed.

Custom XML Feed Creation: Rules

The figure, Custom XML Feed Creation: Exclusion Rules, shows how the rule is written for the first exclusion example.

Custom XML Feed with Multiple Variables

The figure, Custom XML Feed Creation: Multiple Variables, shows how to use rule strings with multiple variables using "AND NOT".

"SF:LINK" is another example of using a code in the job description, for example, to designate jobs that are to be distributed to LinkedIn.

Custom XML Feed with Country Keywords

In the figure below, the keyword "#SAPSFSF" is used in the job description. For the #SAPSFSF jobs, US jobs are listed first, then India, and then China.

For customers who maintain their CSB jobs on their externally hosted corporate site, an XML feed provides the jobs, and the customer parses it as necessary for their job description layout.

For this use case, use the Career Site - Hardcoded template because it maintains the site tracking automatically, and contains the necessary fields for most scenarios.

Some customers work with a third-party agency that redistributes their jobs to partnering sites such as social media, Google AdWords, programmatic advertising using AI, and so on. Some examples of third-party strategic/purchasing agencies are https://www.recruitics.com/ or https://www.radancy.com/ (formerly TMP), or https://bayardad.com/.

Typically, the agency wants to import the jobs with no tracking, and they append the tracking tag for each vendor they advertise to. Use the XML feeds source template built specifically for each agency. Tags can be generated from Source Tracker, or request assistance with tags via a support ticket. The complete list of all tracking tags is not available as it is always expanding, but a list of tracking tags by vendor and product can be provided. Examples: Indeed versus Indeed PPC, paid versus organic, and so on.