Simple Jobs Portal With PHP MYSQL (Free Download)

Welcome to a tutorial on how to create a simple jobs portal with PHP and MYSQL. Have some available job positions? Want to add a jobs section to your website? Let us walk through a simple jobs portal in this guide – Read on!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

PART 1) THE DATABASE

1A) COMPANIES TABLE

-- (A) COMPANIES
CREATE TABLE `companies` (
  `company_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `company_name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `company_desc` longtext NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;
 
ALTER TABLE `companies`
  ADD PRIMARY KEY (`company_id`),
  ADD KEY (`company_name`);
 
ALTER TABLE `companies`
  MODIFY `company_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

• company_id Primary key, auto-increment.
• company_name Name of the company.
• company_desc A description of the company.

This one should be self-explanatory. Feel free to add more fields as required – Email, webpage, telephone, industry, etc…

 

1B) JOBS TABLE

-- (B) JOBS
CREATE TABLE `jobs` (
  `job_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `company_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `job_title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `job_desc` text NOT NULL,
  `job_detail` longtext NOT NULL,
  `job_type` varchar(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'F',
  `job_date` DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

ALTER TABLE `jobs`
  ADD PRIMARY KEY (`job_id`),
  ADD KEY (`job_title`),
  ADD KEY (`company_id`),
  ADD FULLTEXT(`job_desc`),
  ADD FULLTEXT(`job_detail`),
  ADD KEY (`job_type`),
  ADD KEY (`job_date`);

ALTER TABLE `jobs`
  MODIFY `job_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

• job_id Primary key, auto-increment.
• company_id The company offering this job. Foreign key.
• job_title Title of the job.
• job_desc A short description of the job.
• job_detail Full page description of the job.
• job_type Full time, part-time, contract, freelance, temporary, etc…
• job_date Date when the job is posted.

Once again, feel free to add more fields as required.

 

 

PART 2) PHP JOBS LIBRARY

2A) INITIALIZE

<?php
class Jobs {
  // (A) CONSTRUCTOR - CONNECT TO THE DATABASE
  private $pdo = null;
  private $stmt = null;
  public $error;
  function __construct () {
    $this->pdo = new PDO(
      "mysql:host=".DB_HOST.";dbname=".DB_NAME.";charset=".DB_CHARSET,
      DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, [
      PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
      PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC
    ]);
  }
 
  // (B) DESTRUCTOR - CLOSE DATABASE CONNECTION
  function __destruct () {
    if ($this->stmt !== null) { $this->stmt = null; }
    if ($this->pdo !== null) { $this->pdo = null; }
  }
 
  // (C) EXECUTE SQL QUERY
  function query ($sql, $data=null) : void {
    $this->stmt = $this->pdo->prepare($sql);
    $this->stmt->execute($data);
  }
  // ...
}
 
// (H) DATABASE SETTINGS - CHANGE TO YOUR OWN!
define("DB_HOST", "localhost");
define("DB_NAME", "test");
define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8mb4");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASSWORD", "");
 
// (I) JOB TYPE DEFINITION
define("JOB_TYPE", [
  "F" => "Full Time", "P" => "Part Time", "L" => "Freelance"
]);
 
// (J) JOBS OBJECT
$_JOB = new Jobs();

The library looks massive at first, but keep calm and look closely.

• (A, B, J) When $_JOB = new Jobs() is created, the constructor will connect to the database. The destructor closes the database connection.
• (C) query() is a helper function to run an SQL query.
• (H) Database settings. Remember to change these to your own.
• (I) The job types. Feel free to add more of your own.

 

 

2B) JOBS FUNCTIONS

// (D) SAVE COMPANY
function saveCo ($name, $desc, $id=null) {
  $sql = $id==null
    ? "INSERT INTO `companies` (`company_name`, `company_desc`) VALUES (?,?)"
    : "UPDATE `companies` SET `company_name`=?, `company_desc`=? WHERE `company_id`=?";
  $data = [$name, $desc];
  if ($id!=null) { $data[] = $id; }
  $this->query($sql, $data);
  return true;
}
 
// (E) SAVE JOB
function saveJob ($co, $title, $desc, $detail, $type, $id=null) {
  $sql = $id==null
    ? "INSERT INTO `jobs` (`company_id`, `job_title`, `job_desc`, `job_detail`, `job_type`) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)"
    : "UPDATE `companies` SET `company_id`=?, `job_title`=?, `job_desc`=?, `job_detail`=?, `job_type`=? WHERE `job_id`=?";
  $data = [$co, $title, $desc, $detail, $type];
  if ($id!=null) { $data[] = $id; }
  $this->query($sql, $data);
  return true;
}
 
// (F) GET JOBS
function getJobs ($search=null, $type=null) {
  // (F1) SQL & DATA
  $sql = "SELECT j.`job_id`, j.`job_title`, j.`job_desc`, j.`job_type`, j.`job_date`, c.`company_name`
          FROM `jobs` j
          LEFT JOIN `companies` c USING (`company_id`)";
  $data = [];
  if ($search != null) {
    $sql .= " WHERE `job_title` LIKE ? OR MATCH(`job_desc`) AGAINST (? IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE)";
    $data[] = "%$search%";
    $data[] = $search;
  }
  if ($type != null) {
    $sql .= $search == null
      ? " WHERE `job_type`=?"
      : " AND `job_type`=?" ;
    $data[] = $type;
  }
  $sql .= " ORDER BY `job_id` DESC";
 
  // (F2) FETCH JOBS
  $this->query($sql, $data);
  return $this->stmt->fetchAll();
}

// (G) GET JOB
function getJob ($id) {
  $this->query(
  "SELECT * FROM `jobs`
   LEFT JOIN `companies` USING (`company_id`)
   WHERE `job_id`=?", [$id]);
  return $this->stmt->fetch();
}

There are only 4 “actual job library functions”.

• (D) saveCo() Save a company.
• (E) saveJob() Save a job.
• (F) getJobs() Get/search for jobs.
• (G) saveJob() Get the specified job.

 

 

PART 3) JOB SEARCH PAGE

<?php
// (A) LOAD LIBRARY & GET JOBS
require "2-lib-jobs.php";
$jobs = $_JOB->getJobs(
  isset($_POST["search"]) ? $_POST["search"] : null,
  isset($_POST["type"]) ? $_POST["type"] : null,
); ?>
 
<!-- (B) PAGE HEADER -->
<div id="pgHead"><div>
  <h1>PHP Jobs Portal</h1>
  <div>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</div>
</div></div>
 
<!-- (C) SEARCH -->
<div id="pgSearch"><form method="post">
  <input type="text" placeholder="Find a job" name="search" value="<?=isset($_POST["search"])?$_POST["search"]:""?>">
  <select name="type">
    <option value="">Everything</option>
    <?php foreach (JOB_TYPE as $t=>$j) {
      printf("<option %svalue='%s'>%s</option>",
        (isset($_POST["type"]) && $_POST["type"]==$t) ? "selected " : "" , $t, $j
      );
    } ?>
  </select>
  <input type="submit" value="Search">
</form></div>

<!-- (D) LISTING -->
<div id="pgList"><?php
  if (is_array($jobs)) { foreach ($jobs as $j) { ?>
  <a class="jCard" target="_blank" href="4-demo-job.php?j=<?=$j["job_id"]?>">
    <div class="jCoTitle">
      <img src="X-potato.png">
      <div>
        <div class="jCo"><?=$j["company_name"]?></div>
        <div class="jTitle"><?=$j["job_title"]?></div>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div class="jDesc"><?=$j["job_desc"]?></div>
    <div class="jTypeDate">
      <?=JOB_TYPE[$j["job_type"]]?><br>
      Posted: <?=$j["job_date"]?>
     </div>
  </a>
<?php }} ?></div>

This page is easier to understand in this order:

• (B) <div id="pgHead"> Nothing much, just a “nice header” to make things look… nice.
• (C) <div id="pgSearch"> The jobs search bar.
• (A) When the search form is submitted, we will do a search for the jobs. If not, just fetch all jobs.
• (D) <div id="pgList"> List of available jobs.

 

 

PART 4) JOB DETAILS PAGE

<?php
// (A) LOAD LIBRARY & GET JOB
require "2-lib-jobs.php";
$job = $_JOB->getJob($_GET["j"]);
if (!is_array($job)) { exit("Invalid job listing"); } ?>
 
<!-- (B) COMPANY HEADER -->
<div id="pgHead">
  <h1><?=$job["company_name"]?></h1>
  <div><?=$job["company_desc"]?></div>
</div>
 
<!-- (C) JOB DETAILS -->
<div id="pgBody">
  <h2 id="jTitle"><?=$job["job_title"]?></h2>
  <div id="jType"><?=JOB_TYPE[$job["job_type"]]?></div>
  <div id="jDetail"><?=$job["job_detail"]?></div>
  <div id="jDate">Posted: <?=$job["job_date"]?></div>
</div>

Lastly, just a simple page to show the job details.

 

 

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EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here for the source code on GitHub gist, just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

 

IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

Before the trolls start singing crazy tunes, this is only a simple example. There is a lot that can be done.

• Proper pagination, so the jobs don’t “overflow”.
• Maybe add a “job status” flag. Give “sponsored” or “highlighted” jobs search priority, and hide jobs that are “obsolete”.
• Maybe add more search options – Search by company, search by region, or search by salary range (add your own fields).
• A proper admin panel and a text editor to manage entries (see links below).
• If you want to open up for company and user registrations, see the links below.
• If you want to let companies enter their own jobs, or allow users to upload their CV/resume – You will have to deal with possible spam.
• Add a payment processor – Paypal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc…

The possibilities are endless, and I cannot provide free consultations – It is up to you to complete your own system now.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• TinyMCE – WYSIWYG Text Editor
• Simple Admin Panel – Code Boxx
• Simple User Registration With PHP MYSQL – Code Boxx
• Simple User Role Management System With PHP MySQL – Code Boxx