What is Backfill?

Backfill automatically imports job listings from company careers pages into your board. Instead of waiting for employers to post directly, you define rules for which roles and companies to track, and matching jobs appear on your board as they become available.

Why backfill matters

Every new job board faces the same problem: candidates won't visit a board with no jobs, and employers won't post on a board with no candidates. Backfill breaks this cycle by giving you a steady stream of relevant content from day one. Your board looks active and useful to job seekers while you build direct employer relationships in the background.

Beyond launch, backfill remains useful for filling content gaps in categories where you don't yet have direct employer postings, maintaining a high volume of fresh listings to keep candidates returning, and building a larger content base that improves your search engine visibility.

How backfill works

Cavuno uses an external scraping service to extract jobs from company careers pages. When you enable backfill for a company or create a target role rule, the system monitors those sources and imports matching jobs automatically. This is career page scraping handled for you: coverage comes through Cavuno's integrated ATS systems, so there are no scrapers for you to build or maintain. Cavuno deduplicates jobs by source URL to prevent repeat imports of that URL. If you delete a backfilled job, it's excluded from future imports so it won't reappear.

Not every careers page can be scraped by default. When a company uses a fully custom careers page or one that cannot be accessed, backfill marks it unsupported. Two options cover those companies:

• Universal Backfill (beta): extends scraping to careers pages outside the integrated ATS coverage. The beta is invite only; contact us to get your board on it.
• Imports: bring the company's jobs in yourself with a one-off CSV or XML import or a recurring XML feed that Cavuno pulls on a schedule.

Backfilled jobs are published automatically unless you have job moderation enabled. With moderation on, backfilled jobs arrive as drafts that you review and publish manually. Jobs that disappear from their source careers page are automatically expired on your board.

Backfill vs. direct jobs

Backfilled jobs and directly posted jobs appear identically to candidates on your board. The difference is behind the scenes: backfilled jobs are imported from external sources and typically link applicants to the employer's own application page, while direct jobs are posted by employers through your board and can generate revenue through posting fees.

Backfilled jobs count toward your plan's active jobs limit. Direct posts from employers do not: paying customers are never blocked from posting, even when backfill has paused at the cap. You can also set your own lower ceiling with the Backfill limit setting, for example to keep backfill to a few hundred roles while your direct postings grow.

Backfill is a content strategy, not a revenue source. Its purpose is to attract candidates and build traffic that you then monetize through direct employer postings, featured listings, and other paid products.

Phasing backfill into your business model

One possible progression is to use backfill for initial relevant inventory, then approach employers whose roles are already represented and test direct posting or premium services. When an employer begins posting directly, remove that company from company-based backfill so its careers-page roles are no longer imported alongside its direct posts. Adjust the mix from candidate engagement, employer demand, content quality, and revenue rather than assuming one path fits every board.

The goal is not to eliminate backfill entirely but to use it strategically while your direct employer base grows. For example, if candidates repeatedly view backfilled security roles, you can use that evidence to prioritize outreach to security employers instead of guessing which category to sell first.

Next steps

• Configure backfill: choose companies, write matching rules, and tune AI filtering
• Job moderation: review imported jobs before they become public