Employers need a radius-based filter to view applications whose location ZIP Code falls within a radius from main office.
An increasing number of sites offer job postings to attract companies and job seekers. Several plugins help developers address this goal, with WP Job Manager with an apparent leading popularity. A reason for its status as the “go to” job management solution is the ability to add custom functionality, and developers see the benefits immediately.
Radius-Based Application Filtering
Employers connect to their account and review applications to posted positions. Several filters will narrow down the list based on familiar criteria. For example, employers wish to view only applicants whose resume includes experience with several programming languages. The user interface will list available programming languages. From this list, the employers checks the programming languages included in applicant resume.
Should the employer wish to see applicants whose address is in a ZIP code, the approach should be the same. A potential reason employers wish to consider applicants from a list of ZIP codes is the distance to the office as it effects the commute time and potential additional work expenses. The traditional filter with list of values is of limited help because it requires employers to estimate the distance between company main office and applicant’s location.
The plugin we created allows employers to specify the distance from main office and retrieve only applicants whose location is within that distance. To calculate the distance, we linked WP Job Manager with GEO Mashup plugin – a popular plugin geocoding WordPress posts. Both locations (main office and applicant) are subjected to geocoding to maintain the latitude and longitude. GEO Mashup computes the distance between two locations, so the plugin uses the location of the main office and applicants to compute the distance. Our plugin checks whether the calculated distance is within the radius the employer requires.
User Interface Element
To offer the radius-based filter, the interface uses a simple text box where employers type the target distance. When applications are filtered, the radius filter compares the computed distance between the main office and applicant’s location against the target distance. Only those applicants whose location is within the target distance are listed.
Extended Benefits
The plugin not only meets the intended goal, but it does so using reputable plugins as foundation blocks. The extended benefits stemming from this plugin include:
- GEO Mashup and WP Job Manager are free, reliable, and well maintained – future updates will likely increase current individual value.
- WP Job Manager has caught the attention of Automattic, the “parent” company of WordPress – it is interesting to see how the plugin will evolve given Automattic’s magic touch and determined support to all its products.
Conclusions
Radius-based Job Search enhances the functionality of the popular WP Job Manager plugin, creating a more flexible search and filtering mechanism for employers:
- The Radius-based Job Search plugin serves job posting sites, allowing employers to filter applicants within a radius from main office.
- WP Job Manager and GEO Mashup work together to determine the longitude and latitude of locations and determine the distance between locations.
- You can find GEO Mashup at https://wordpress.org/plugins/geo-mashup/
- WP Job Manager demo is available at https://wpjobmanager.mystagingwebsite.com/jobs/
- Employers specify the target distance to applicant location in a text field included in the user interface.
Here’s the code if you want to reuse it for yourself:
