Everything You Need to Know About XML Feeds

If you’re constantly hiring or have many positions to fill, you can’t waste time manually creating a job posting for each of your open positions on every job board you’re using.

The easiest and most secure option is to integrate your ATS (and with iHire, connecting your ATS to post jobs automatically gets you 6x more applications). Another option is utilizing an XML feed, which also helps you save time by letting you easily manage all your company’s job postings.

But what is XML, and do you need to be tech-savvy to take advantage of it? We break it down below. 

What Is XML?

Simply put, XML is a tool for storing and transporting data. Similar to HTML, XML is information wrapped in tags. However, unlike HTML, XML is focused on what data is as opposed to what data looks like. One example of this is that XML does not use predefined tags – the author defines both the tags and the structure, and the XML will continue to work as expected even if new data is added or removed.

Are you confused yet? I know I was when I first looked into XML feeds. If you’re not a software developer, basically all you need to know is that XML simplifies things. 

How frequently have you had to deal with compatibility issues when trying to exchange data between different computers or systems? Quite often, you’re trying to convert a large amount of data and any incompatible data could get lost.

What XML does is store your data in plain text format. This allows XML to be independent of any software or hardware constrictions and makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new systems, new applications, etc. without losing any data. Any machine can be an XML feed reader, whether it’s a computer, an online news feed, or even a person.

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When Would You Use an XML Feed, Site Wrap, or Job Feed?

XML should be used whenever you have data that will be shared across various networks or devices. Some XML feed examples could be a CD catalog, a food menu, or a list of job postings a company is looking to fill.

Still not convinced? Here are the top 9 reasons to create an XML feed for your open opportunities:

1. It’s endorsed by software industry market leaders and is W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standard
2. There are no limitations on tags or attributes
3. It opens up new possibilities for highly intelligent search engines and data mining
4. The look of a document can be changed without compromising the content
5. It supports Unicode and multilingual documents
6. Its “tree structure” allows documents to be aggregated efficiently by element
7. It can contain any possible data type (image, sound, video, Java applets, etc.)
8. It can embed existing data structures
9. There has been rapid adoption by many different industries

Something to remember: If you’ve never generated XML before, you’ll want to syntax-check your XML via an XML feed validator. W3Schools has a great validator tool.

How iHire Automates Your Job Postings

By integrating your ATS or providing an XML feed or career site URL, iHire captures job ads from your ATS or website, job board, or select group of external sites. Any jobs listed will then be automatically posted to the appropriate iHire community, where you’ll be able to reach a unique pool of industry-focused candidates you won’t find anywhere else. You can save time, find high-quality applicants, and make the job market work in your favor.

Interested in learning more about automating your job ads? Explore our ATS integrations or contact one of our Hiring Solutions Advisors today at (877) 316-3696 to get started!