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. Jobs are deduplicated by URL so the same listing never appears twice. If you delete a backfilled job, it's excluded from future imports so it won't reappear.

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.

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

Most successful job boards follow a progression. At launch, lean heavily on backfill to build a content base and start attracting candidates. As traffic grows, reach out to employers whose jobs you're already backfilling and offer them premium placement, analytics, or direct posting options. Over time, shift toward a mix where direct employer postings generate revenue and backfill supplements categories where you have gaps.

The goal is not to eliminate backfill entirely but to use it strategically while your direct employer base grows. A niche board with 200 backfilled jobs and 50 direct employer postings is more useful to candidates than a board with 50 jobs total.