Based on the client's requirements, Icreon developed the Marmotti website as a robust and feature rich application that provides employers and job seekers with a platform to post, search and apply for jobs online.
Employers can register with the site and post job classifieds by opting for the desired classified validity and entering details and descriptions of the job requirements. Charges for posting a classified are based on the validity period and the nature of the classified i.e. urgent or normal. The payment rates and the validity period can be set by the Administrator. By making additional payments (the amount fixed by the Administrator), employers have the option to highlight their classified and set the display of their posting to the top of the search results page. They can choose from among the predefined highlight options available and can preview the display of the classified before publishing it the website. Email notifications are sent before the expiry of their classified, giving them options to renew and extend the validity of their posting. The iDeal payment gateway has been integrated with the application to facilitate online payments. Employers can make payments via their credit cards or through direct bank account transfers. An invoice, including details such as date, transaction details, VAT, Registration number etc, is generated and displayed to the employer, with provisions to print the same. Employers can login to the website and view the view responses to their postings.
Job seekers can search for job postings on the basis of keywords or on the basis of advanced search options such type of work, category, province, city etc. Options to save the criteria as a cookie has been provided thereby enabling the search criteria to be pre populated the next time the job seeker visits the page. Up to three types of search profiles (cities, urgent jobs and full defined profiles) can be created and saved by a user. These profiles can be used to search for job postings based on the criteria defined. For each profile, a job application letter can be saved and this can be used by the applicant at the time of applying to the jobs. Apart from the search profile, applicants can also create and store personal profiles, containing education details and attached resumes etc, which can be used at the time of job application. They can browse through the postings and apply for the same by either by providing details afresh or by using their saved personal profiles and application letters. Provisions have been built enabling job seekers to email desired postings to friends and send feedback to the administrator on the same.
One of the major features of the solution is the in-built support for multiple languages such as Dutch, English, Spanish, German and French. The current version of the application is entirely in Dutch but provisions have been made to easily convert it, at any point of time, to any of the other supported language, with minimum effort. To provide multilingual support, Icreon decided not to rely on language translators alone, instead multilingual support was provided through the use of XML files and custom created DLLs. Multilingual support at the database level was provided by opting for the nvarchar datatype, which supports multiple languages, for relevant data fields. To easily covert the static content and related images to the desired language, Icreon decided on the use of XML files. For each static page (i.e. content not stored in the database) on the website a corresponding XML file is created containing the language specific content and images. These XML files are stored in language specific folders on the server. The choice of language is set through the configuration file and based on this parameter the application accesses and displays the contents of corresponding XML files. DLLs were created enabling the .netcontrols such as labels etc to be customized and modified according to the language chosen.
All users i.e. job seekers and employers can login to the website and access their personalized homepages. The homepage displays a list of postings that match the user's search profile criteria (if defined by the user), a list of classifieds that have been saved by the user and classifieds that have been posted and the responses to the same. Options to create and save search profiles, application letters and personal profiles have been provided. Users can register for email alerts i.e. alerts for responses to postings, alerts for fresh postings based on a user's search profile, alerts for urgent job postings etc.
The solution has been divided into two main modules:
Administrator Console
This module enables the Administrator to manage and maintain the entire website. Administrators can view a list of users registered with the website, details of classifieds posted. They can define and set VAT rate, classified categories (normal, urgent etc), duration, classified rate etc. Administrators can create and manage values for master entries such as province, city, work categories, type of work. Extensive reports, for analytical purposes, can be generated detailing total revenue earned, total classifieds, number of visitors, average time spent on the website etc.
Administrators can select newsletters, from available templates, and send them to users. They can create and manage a list of email addresses of unregistered users. When a user registers with the website, his/her email address is checked against this list. After registration the user's details are moved from the list or unregistered users to the list of registered users.
The banner ads appearing on the website can be uploaded and managed by the Administrator through the back-end. The date range between which the banner will be displayed can be specified.
Front End
The front end is the main website that can be accessed by users to search and post classifieds. Users can also view general information such as FAQs, company overview, search tips, terms and conditions etc. AJAX technology has been implemented, in section such as advanced search, for faster retrieval and display of contents. In the advanced search form, the number of postings available for each criterion is displayed.
