Using Locations and Operating Areas in CareerPlug

To learn about enabling Operating Areas for your account, contact CareerPlug's Hiring Expert team.

Depending on what type of business you run (brick-and-mortar vs. territory-based) and what type of job you want to post (on-site vs. field-based), you can configure where your job is posted in one of two ways: Locations or Operating Areas.

Should I use Locations or Operating Areas?

First, ask yourself this: "Do my customers come to me, or do I travel to my customers?"

If your business operates from a fixed physical location (e.g., restaurant, retail store, office, warehouse) where both your employees report to work and your customers visit, you should use Locations in CareerPlug.

If your business operates across a territory and your employees travel to meet and service your customers (e.g., cleaning service, landscaping, pest control), you should use Operating Areas in CareerPlug.

Why is this important?

In order to comply with our partner job boards' policies, it's essential that every job posted through CareerPlug is posted to the most specific and accurate location possible. This ensures job seekers have accurate information about where a job takes place and any associated commute time, and helps you avoid duplicate job postings and reduced job visibility.

If your account uses Locations, you should post jobs to the fixed location where your business operates.

If your account uses Operating Areas, you should post jobs to a consistent starting location (if one exists) and any territories where the job will be performed.

What are Locations?

Locations are ideal for CareerPlug users with brick-and-mortar businesses.

Locations in CareerPlug refer to fixed physical locations in the real world. If you operate a brick-and-mortar business, this is the specific location where your employees report and your customers visit.

You'll set up Locations in CareerPlug as profiles composed of address details (e.g., street address, city, ZIP Code), which you'll apply to every job you post through CareerPlug.

You can view your Locations by navigating to Settings (gear icon) > My Organization > Locations.

If you don’t see any Locations available, you need to add a Location to your account first. Only Admin users can add Locations to an account. An Admin user must contact CareerPlug to delete Locations in their account.

What if I manage multiple locations?

If you have multiple physical locations and want to post jobs from all of them, you should add each physical location as a separate Location in CareerPlug.

And if you manage franchise locations across state lines, consider separate CareerPlug accounts for each state.

How do I add a new Location to CareerPlug?

1. To add a Location to your CareerPlug account, navigate to Settings (gear icon) > My Organization > Locations.

2. Click the plus icon (+) in the upper left corner of the page.

Don't see a plus icon (+) in the upper left corner of your Locations page? Contact CareerPlug Support and we can help you add Locations to your account.

3. Fill in all fields for your new Location:

Name
Location Number/ID
Street Address
City
State
ZIP Code
Country
Phone Number

Create New Location (10.14.25) (Top) (highlights)

The Name of your location can be a city name, a building name, or a cross street near it — it's up to you. The Location Number/ID can be the location's name if you don't use unique location identifiers.

4. Add Participating Users to your new Location by typing their name in the field and selecting it from the drop-down menu. These are users who you want to have access to jobs and applicants associated with this Location.

5. If your CareerPlug account is integrated with Universal Background Screening, enter the Background check account and Background check username in the associated fields. If your account doesn't use Universal Background Screening, skip this step.

6. Click the Save button in the bottom-right (or top-right) corner of the page.

If your plan requires that you purchase a new location before you adding it to your account, click the Billing details page link in the Purchase location pop-up to get redirected to your Plan Details page.

7. At the bottom of the Plan Details page, enter the number of locations you want to add (or use the plus and minus icons) and click the Add locations button.

How do I use Locations?

1. When you're creating a job, your primary Location should automatically be selected. If you want to post a job to a different Location, select it from the Hiring Location drop-down menu.

When your job is sent to job boards, the Location associated with your job will be copied over, ensuring it is posted in the correct city and ZIP Code on job boards.

Even if your account uses traditional Locations, you'll still see an Operating Area listed when you create or edit a job. This is mapped to your Location's address. If you need to edit your location, click the Edit Location link.

You can also use Locations to grant or restrict users' access to jobs in your account. Full and Limited Access users must be associated with at least one Location in order to take any action or view any jobs or applicants in their CareerPlug account.

Can I post a job to multiple Locations at once?

If you need to make multiple hires for a job posting across multiple cities or ZIP Codes and want to use the same job description and settings, you can click the Select Locations link below the Hiring Location drop-down menu to add more locations when you're creating a new job.

What are Operating Areas?

Operating Areas are ideal for CareerPlug users with territory-based or field-based businesses.

Operating Areas in CareerPlug represent the ZIP Code(s) where your jobs are actually performed. This includes any physical locations where employees must report (e.g., restaurant, retail store, office, warehouse) as well as any areas where you send employees to service customers.

You'll set up Operating Areas as a part of a Location's profile. You can view your Locations and their Operating Areas by navigating to Settings (gear icon) > My Organization > Locations. Click the Edit button to the right of whichever Location you want to view/modify.

Territory-based and field-based jobs require extra care — these jobs need to reflect the real-world location where work will happen. Operating Areas help prevent duplicate postings, reduce confusion, and ensure job seekers find real jobs tied to real places.

How many Operating Areas do I need?

You can add up to three Operating Areas to each Location in CareerPlug, but how many you should add is determined by how you do business and what kinds of jobs you need to post.

Does your job require employees to travel to both a consistent starting location (warehouse/office) and field-based customer locations?
- Use the ZIP Code associated with the consistent starting location for your primary (i.e. first) Operating Area.
- Use the ZIP Codes of up to two field-based areas where employees perform work as your additional Operating Areas.
Is your job performed exclusively in field-based customer locations?
- Use the ZIP Codes of up to three field-based areas as your Operating Areas, ordering them however you'd like.
  - If unsure, we recommend ordering Operating Areas according to which receives the highest traffic/activity.

How do I set up Operating Areas?

You'll set up Operating Areas in CareerPlug as part of a Location's profile. You can add up to three Operating Areas to a single Location.

1. Navigate to Settings (gear icon) > My Organization > Locations.

2. Click the plus icon (+) in the upper left corner of the page.

To set up or edit Operating Areas for an existing location, click the Edit button to the right of a Location instead.

3. Enter a Name and Location Number/ID.

4. Fill in all fields for each Operating Area you want to add:

ZIP Code
City
State
Country

5. Enter all users who you want to have access to the jobs and applicants in this location in the Participating Users field.

6. If your CareerPlug account is integrated with Universal Background Screening, enter the Background check account and Background check username in the associated fields. If your account doesn't use Universal Background Screening, skip this step.

7. Click the Save button in the bottom-right (or top-right) corner of the page.

How do I use Operating Areas?

1. When you create (or edit) a job posting in CareerPlug, you'll need to select which Hiring Location to associate with your job using the drop-down menu.

2. If a Location has more than one Operating Area, you'll need to select which Operating Area to associate with your job using the drop-down menu.

Note: If a Location only has one Operating Area, it will be selected by default. To add more Operating Areas while creating or editing a job, click the Edit Location link, set up your additional Operating Areas in the Edit Location drawer, and click the Save button.

When you edit a Location — while creating a job (as in the above screenshot) or from the Locations page — you'll see a map that displays each of your Operating Areas as a pin. Use this map to visualize your Operating Areas and ensure they are far enough apart to avoid location blasting.

The Operating Areas in the screenshot above are well-placed. They're spread out across a wide territory to avoid overlap and location blasting.

The Operating Areas in the screenshot below are clustered too close together. Posting the same job in each of these Operating Areas would likely result in jobs being flagged by job boards for location blasting and, subsequently, removed.