Your environment has been delivered. The website is in your house style, the pages are built, the connections work and the first jobs are on it. Yet something is still missing: the content only you know. Which photo belongs to which branch, what you call a type of contract, who is the face of a vacancy, which colleague may log in. Booston cannot invent that for you, and you would not want it to.

This article is the checklist for exactly that part. At delivery Booston already sets up a lot: folders with images, a workable set of attributes, the page elements and the design. You sharpen that to your own practice. The end goal: an environment that works well by itself from the first week: every new job automatically gets the right image, the right filters and the right face, without anyone having to look at it again.

There is a big difference between clients who create jobs directly in Booston and clients with a connected ATS. That is why this article starts with the steps that apply to everyone and ends with what comes on top when your jobs come from your ATS. Every step is deliberately kept short and points to the in-depth article on that topic.

Before you start

• You need the Manager role. With it you see every part of this article; with the Recruiter role you miss the settings and user management.
• Your environment has been delivered and you have received your login details. The design, the pages and any ATS connection have been set up by Booston and you do not have to build them yourself.
• Keep your images at hand: logos, branch photos, portraits of recruiters and a few atmosphere shots. Almost every step below asks for an image.
• Reserve half a day. All in all this is not a big job, but you preferably do it in one go and in the order of this article.

What Booston sets up and what you do

The division is always the same: Booston puts down the structure and a workable filling, you complete it with what only you know. So you know what to expect before you start.

What you do not see in this table is deliberate: the design, the pages, the page elements and the connections have been set up by Booston and are in place. If you do want to change something there later, you can via Pages and Page elements, but that is not part of this checklist.

Step 1: add images in logical folders

Everything you create in Booston sooner or later asks for an image: an attribute value, a job, a blog, a team member, a story. That is why you start here. Once your images are neatly ready, you pick them in every next step with one click, instead of interrupting the work each time to search for and upload something.

All your images, videos and documents live in the file browser, in the menu under Media. At delivery Booston already used a folder structure there and filled it with the images that are now on your website. Within images you find, among others, the folders identity (logo and house style), pages (website pages), job_images (job images), recruiters (portraits), locations (branches) and blog. Keep that structure and put your own images in the same folders. Not because you have to, but because in a year you still want to find what is there, even if a colleague uploaded it.

1. Go to Menu → Media and open the folder where the image belongs, for example images/recruiters for portraits.
2. Click Upload and drag your files into the area. Several at once is fine.
3. Set a Focal Point on portraits and on images where the subject is not in the centre. Booston crops your image automatically for every spot on the website; with the focal point you decide what always stays in view.

You do not have to resize or crop anything yourself. Booston automatically makes the right, optimised version for every placement. How the library works exactly, which files you can store and how you work with folders and focal points is in Images and files: uploading, optimising and reusing.

Step 2: sharpen attributes and give them images

Attributes are the fields of a job next to the text: hours per week, contract type, region, experience level, salary. They decide what a visitor filters on, what a job alert triggers on, what Google for Jobs understands of your job and which audience a campaign reaches. You do this step before you start entering jobs: every value you prepare now is one click in the job form later, instead of a field you have to invent on the spot.

At delivery Booston has already switched on a workable set of attributes, with values. Sharpening and extending them to your own situation is the smart move: the labels in your words, the values you really use, and no more than that. Think this through. Too many attributes make the job form heavy and the filters on the website cluttered; too few means a visitor cannot find what they are looking for.

1. Go to Settings → Attributes and open the Job Attributes tab.
2. Switch on what you need and off what you do not use. Adjust the Label per language for each attribute, so it matches what you call it.
3. For a select field, click the icon with the three horizontal lines in the overview. The screen Edit attribute values for: … opens, with all the values that exist now.
4. Click Add new value and fill in the Label per language: what the visitor will read. Under Google for Jobs Value choose the value Google expects if there is one, for example for contract type or salary period.
5. Add an Image to every value: a branch photo for a region, a workplace photo for a discipline. Drag the values into the order a visitor wants to see them and click Save & close.

This is how you add extra disciplines, for example. Every discipline you create here is immediately a filter on your website, a choice in the job form and, later, a filter for your campaigns: you can run a Jobboard network campaign on exactly those disciplines. You reach the same screen from the edit screen of an attribute too, with the Manage Attribute Values button.

That image on every value is worth it. A job without its own image automatically gets the image of the first attribute value that has one, and only when that is missing too the general Default header from Settings → Design → Images. In the job form you see next to the image which of the three applies at that moment: Attribute image, General image or Manual image. So put a good photo on every region or discipline once, and every new job comes in with relevant imagery, including the jobs your ATS creates overnight.

The same screen has three more tabs: Candidate Attributes decides which fields are on your application form and which are required, Recruiter Attributes which data you record for a team member, and Blog Attributes the categories of your blogs. They come back in the steps below. All details on types, values, the Google mapping and what happens when your ATS fills the attributes are in Managing attributes for jobs and candidates. If you want more questions on your application form, also read Extending application forms.

Step 3: complete and manage team members

Every job needs a face: the name, function, photo and phone number of the colleague who is in charge of it. You arrange that with team members, in the menu under Recruitment → Team members. Per job you choose one team member, and that team member automatically appears on the job page, in the job boxes and in the team overviews on your site. So you fill in the details once and never again per job.

1. Go to Recruitment → Team members and click Create.
2. Fill in the name, function, email address and phone number and choose a portrait from the images/recruiters folder.
3. Switch on the toggle on the card as soon as the profile is ready; only then is the team member visible on the website.
4. Drag the cards into the order in which visitors should see your team and click Save Order.

Why you do this before you create the first job: for every job you choose a team member, and you can only do that if the team member already exists. A job without a team member is on the website under Unassigned, without a name and without a photo. That is exactly the moment a hesitant candidate closes the tab. If you work with an ATS you do not have to create most team members yourself; what you do then is in Switching on and completing recruiters. All fields, the profile page per team member and the link with users are in Team members: who is the contact person for your job.

Step 4: create jobs (without ATS)

If you work without a connected ATS, you create your jobs directly in Booston. If your jobs come from your ATS, skip this step and go to Working with an ATS? This is what comes on top.

Because you have already prepared the attributes and the team members, creating a job is now mostly choosing instead of typing. You choose the languages, the recruiter who belongs to the job, the values from your attributes, and you write or paste the text. If you only have a job title or a rough briefing, let the AI write the text and pre-fill the attributes; you check the result before the job goes live.

1. Go to Jobs and click New job, or Create with AI if you want the AI to draft the text.
2. Choose the Languages and under Select a recruiter the team member from step 3 who becomes the face of this job.
3. Go through the steps: the text, the attributes, the salary and the location. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
4. Check the job page and set the job to active.

Why you do this now and not when the first real vacancy comes along: the first job is the test of everything you set up in step 1, 2 and 3. Is the image right, are the right filters on the website, does the job page look the way you want? Now you can still adjust without a candidate noticing. How the form is built and how you use the AI is in Writing and optimising job texts with AI. For the text itself, Writing a job text: what are the guidelines and rules? helps.

Step 5: write blogs

A careers site with only jobs is a notice board. Blogs turn it into a place where a candidate lingers: what a working day looks like, what applying with you involves, why a colleague switched. And they do something a job cannot: they are found on keywords for which no job exists, and they stay when the job has already closed.

You create blogs under Content → Blog. Every blog has a title, an image, an author (one of your team members), a category and the text itself, per language. You publish immediately or schedule a publication date. You manage the categories under Settings → Attributes → Blog Attributes; give every category an image right away, then a blog without its own image still has a fitting picture.

Why you do this now: the blog blocks on your website are already in place and show, next to a job, the blogs that belong to that discipline or region. As long as there are no blogs, those blocks stay empty or invisible. Two or three blogs at the start are enough to make the site feel filled; after that one blog a month is a good rhythm. The in-depth explanation of blogs, categories and their place on the job page is in Blogs. Where the blog blocks sit on your pages is in Page elements.

Step 6: add stories

A story is the story of a colleague: who they are, what they do and why they work with you, with a photo, a score in stars and optionally a video. For a candidate it is the proof that the promises in your job are true. You create stories under Content → Stories.

Every story has a Headshot (the portrait), a Page header (the wide image above the page), a Job title, an Introduction and a Description, per language. With Number of stars you give the score shown with the story, and with Youtube video ID you add a video. Under Attributes you link the story to a discipline or region: the story blocks on your website can then show, next to a job, only the stories that fit. With the boost you highlight a few stories, for example on the homepage.

Why you do this now: just as with blogs, the blocks on your website are already in place. Three stories, spread over your most important disciplines, are enough to start; you do not have to wait until you have a story from everyone. Which blocks show stories and how you set them up is in Page elements.

Step 7: create users and invite colleagues

So far you have done everything yourself. Now you give colleagues access, so jobs, blogs and candidates do not all have to go through you. A user is a login account for the dashboard, with its own email address and one role. You manage them under Settings → Users & Permissions.

1. Go to Settings → Users & Permissions and click Create User.
2. Under User role choose the role: Manager for whoever manages the account, Recruiter for whoever works with jobs and candidates daily.
3. For a Recruiter, link the team members from step 3 under Team members. The user then sees and edits the jobs and candidates of those team members.
4. Fill in name and email address and click Save & close. The colleague automatically receives an email to choose a password themselves.

If you hesitate between the roles, start with Recruiter; you can always upgrade. If you work with an ATS that supports SSO, you do not even have to create most users; see Letting users in through SSO. Everything about roles, passwords, deactivating and handing over is in Users: giving access, choosing roles and logging in through your ATS.

Working with an ATS? This is what comes on top

If your jobs come from a connected ATS, step 4 falls away and your ATS does part of step 2, 3 and 7 for you. That saves work, but it also means things appear in your environment that you did not create yourself. This is what you check and complete then.

Attributes your ATS fills

With an ATS connection, Settings → Attributes has an extra column Sync with ATS. If it is on for an attribute, your ATS fills it with every import and new values from your ATS are added automatically. Those values come in the way your ATS names them, with a technical name as label. What you do yourself: rewrite the labels per language to what a visitor understands, link the Google for Jobs value and add an image per value. That stays in place with the next import; only the mapping itself is managed by your ATS. How that works exactly is in Managing attributes for jobs and candidates.

Switching on and completing recruiters

You do not have to create your recruiters yourself. For every job that comes in from your ATS, Booston looks at who is attached as the contact person and creates a team member from it. That team member gets the label ATS and is off by default: that way you decide who appears on your website, not your ATS. You find them as grey cards at the bottom of the overview under Recruitment → Team members.

1. Go through the grey cards and switch on the toggle for the recruiters who may be on the website.
2. Open every active team member and complete what your ATS does not supply: the portrait, the extended text, the social links, a video.
3. Leave the fields that are grey alone. They come from your ATS and are overwritten with every import; if a name or phone number is wrong, change it in your ATS.

This is not a one-off job. Booston creates a team member the moment a job comes in for the first time with a recruiter Booston does not know yet. If a new recruiter takes over a job, or a colleague joins, a grey card appears again. So check the overview weekly in the first weeks, and after that with every new colleague. Which data your ATS sends exactly depends on your ATS; see Team members that come from your ATS.

Letting users in through SSO

If your ATS supports SSO (single sign-on), you do not have to create users for your recruiters. They log in to their ATS, click through to Booston from a job and are in, on exactly that job. The first time, Booston creates the user automatically. Today that works with Carerix (Booston as a tab inside Carerix), ForceFlow (click-through from ForceFlow) and Otys (both); for Easyflex it is being built. SSO is switched on per environment by Booston and is not a toggle you flip yourself.

What you keep in your own hands is on Settings → Users & Permissions:

• Auto-activate iFrame / SSO users decides whether a new SSO user can start right away or first has to be set to active by a Manager. By default it is off: you then decide per person who gets in. If you want to change the setting, email support@booston.io.
• A new SSO user gets the Manager role by default. For most recruiters Recruiter is more fitting; set the role right after the first login and link the right team members.
• If you work with an ATS without SSO, you create users as in step 7.

How SSO works exactly, how Booston finds the right user and what you do when a colleague "cannot get in" is in SSO: working in Booston from your ATS without a separate login.

What you cannot arrange yourself

• Adding a completely new attribute. Switching existing attributes on and off, renaming, translating and giving them values you do yourself; a new field goes through support@booston.io, so it also lands correctly on the website and in the connections.
• The design, the pages and the page elements of the delivery. These have been set up by Booston. Small adjustments you make yourself via Settings → Design and the page settings; bigger changes you discuss with us.
• Switching on or changing the ATS connection and SSO. Booston sets that up together with you and your ATS vendor.
• Flipping Auto-activate iFrame / SSO users. The toggle is visible, but Booston changes the setting for you.
• Permanently deleting a user. That is irreversible and changes the owner of jobs and content; set a user to inactive instead.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to do all seven steps before the website can go live?

No. The website is already live at delivery. The steps make it better and ensure that everything you create afterwards is right by itself. In any case do step 1, 2 and 3 immediately; you can add blogs and stories in the weeks after.

What happens if I delete an attribute Booston has put there?

All jobs lose that value, and if it is an attribute linked to Google for Jobs or a campaign, the job disappears there or arrives incomplete. Rather switch an attribute off or rename it. If in doubt, email support@booston.io before you throw anything away.

I work with an ATS, but no team members appear.

A team member only comes into being with the first job that recruiter is attached to. If there are no jobs in Booston yet, there are no team members yet either. Check whether the import is running in Connecting your ATS and Booston. If your ATS does not supply a contact person, the job comes in under Unassigned.

Can I still change an image on an attribute value later?

Yes, and that carries through immediately to all jobs that have no image of their own. That is exactly why it pays off: replace one photo on the region, and all jobs in that region look fresh again.

I am the only one working in Booston. Do I still have to create users?

Not now. But as soon as a second colleague joins, give them their own account instead of sharing your login details. Then you can later see who created what, and switch off an account when someone leaves.

Coming soon

• Choosing yourself which image a job uses. For the image of a job you will explicitly choose between your own image, the image of an attribute or the general Default header, and see straight away what each choice gives. If you later change the image on the attribute, the jobs set to it follow automatically.
• Blog attributes in the new dashboard environment. You will then manage the categories of your blogs in the same screen and with the same layout as the job and recruiter attributes.
• A choice screen for a new job. Under New job you will choose in one screen between creating manually and creating with AI, also based on an existing job url.
• AI optimisations that survive an ATS update. If you optimise a job from your ATS with AI, that text stays until your ATS itself changes that field. The original text stays visible and can be restored with one click. As soon as this is live, we will update this article.

Need help?

Are you stuck, or unsure what to start with? Email support@booston.io or call 085 0044 215 and mention:

• the name of your environment;
• what you want to achieve;
• the message you see, if there is an error message.

Would you rather go through the settings together? Book a free 30-minute online demo — then we will go through it together. Job Done!