Troubleshooting & FAQ

You can use this page to find the cause of common problems and fix them.

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Setup wizard

The setup wizard shows an error and won’t advance

The wizard uses the WordPress REST API to create pages. This can fail when:

• Pretty permalinks are off - go to Settings → Permalinks, select any option other than Plain, and save.
• REST API is blocked - a security plugin, firewall, or hosting rule is blocking /wp-json/. Temporarily deactivate security plugins and try again.
• Auth cookie not sent - if your site uses basic HTTP auth (common on staging), the REST request won’t carry your session. Disable basic auth temporarily or add an exception for /wp-json/.

After fixing the underlying issue, go to Career Board → Settings and click Re-run Setup Wizard at the bottom of the page. Pages that already exist are kept.

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Pages were created but they’re blank or show a 404

If a page is blank, it may not hold the right block. Edit the page in the block editor and insert the matching block:

Page	Block to insert
Find Jobs	Job Search + Job Listings
Post a Job	Job Form
Employer Registration	Employer Registration
Employer Dashboard	Employer Dashboard
Candidate Dashboard	Candidate Dashboard
Find Companies	Company Archive

Then go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to flush rewrite rules.

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Jobs not appearing

The Job Listings block shows “No jobs found”

1. Confirm you have published jobs - go to WP Career Board → Jobs and check the status column.
2. If jobs are pending review, go to WP Career Board → Settings → Jobs and check whether Auto-Publish Jobs is enabled. If off, you need to approve each job manually from the Jobs list.
3. Check the active filters on the page - a filter may be set to a value that returns no results.
4. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to flush rewrite rules.

Jobs appear in wp-admin but not on the frontend

Check these in order:

1. Status. Only Published jobs list. Pending, Draft, Closed and Expired jobs do not.
2. Deadline. When End jobs at their deadline is in effect (see Settings), a job past its deadline is Expired within the hour and leaves the listings. Its page still opens and says it has expired.
3. Hidden by moderation. The Jobs list shows Hidden: reported or Hidden: employer banned on such jobs. See Moderation.
4. Permalinks. If the job page returns a 404, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes.

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Application form

The “Apply” button does nothing / the application form doesn’t open

• Guest applications are supported by default - no setting needs to be enabled. If the form still doesn’t open, check that the user’s browser is not blocking JavaScript.
• If using a page caching plugin (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache), purge the cache after activating WP Career Board.
• Check the browser console for JavaScript errors - a JavaScript conflict with another plugin can prevent the form from loading.

Candidates can’t submit the application form

• The job may have a deadline that has already passed. Applications for it are closed.
• If Resume Required is on (Settings → Applications) and the candidate attached no resume, the form blocks submission.
• If Require login to apply is on (Settings → Sign-ups), guests see Sign in to apply instead of the form.
• Nobody can apply to their own job.
• Make sure file upload limits in your hosting’s php.ini (upload_max_filesize, post_max_size) are large enough for resume files (at least as large as Settings → Applications → Application Resume File Size).

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Email notifications

Emails are not being sent

If emails aren’t arriving:

1. Check spam - the notification emails from a local WordPress install often land in spam.
2. Install an SMTP plugin - the default wp_mail() uses PHP’s mail() function, which most shared hosts reject. Install an SMTP plugin (e.g. WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP) and connect it to a transactional email service (Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark).
3. Verify the sender address - go to WP Career Board → Settings → Emails and confirm the From Email in the Sender card matches your domain. Some hosts reject mail from mismatched domains.
4. Check notification toggles - each notification type can be enabled or disabled further down the Settings → Emails tab. Confirm the relevant notification is enabled.

The wrong email address is receiving notifications

Admin notification emails go to the address set in Settings → Emails → Admin Notification Email (in the Sender card). This defaults to the WordPress admin email but can be overridden.

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Employer & candidate accounts

A user registered but isn’t showing up as an employer or candidate

The role is assigned at registration based on which form the user used:

• Employers register via the Employer Registration page (which contains the Employer Registration block) and get the Employer (wcb_employer) role.
• Candidates register on the same Employer Registration page by choosing Find a Job, and get the Candidate (wcb_candidate) role.

If a user registered via the standard WordPress registration page, they won’t have a job board role. Edit the user under Users and set their role to Employer or Candidate, or assign the relevant capabilities with a role manager (see Capabilities & Roles).

An employer can’t post jobs

1. Check the employer’s account in WP Career Board → Employers - confirm they have the Employer role.
2. If a board charges credits (Pro), confirm the employer has enough credits. The Pro documentation explains how credits are held and spent.
3. Confirm the employer can access the Employer Dashboard, where job posting is done.

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Credit system (Pro)

For missing credits after a purchase, a wrong balance or a payment gateway that does not grant credits, see the Pro documentation: Credit system - overview and Manual Credit Adjustments & Refunds.

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Block issues

The block editor shows “Your block contains unexpected or invalid content”

This usually means the block’s HTML was hand-edited or copied incorrectly. Click Attempt Block Recovery when prompted - this will restore the block from its saved attributes.

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Performance

The jobs page is slow

• If you use a page caching plugin, exclude the Candidate Dashboard and Employer Dashboard pages. They are specific to each member and must not be served from cache.
• Use Query Monitor to find slow database queries.

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Still stuck?

If none of the above resolves your issue:

1. Enable WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG in wp-config.php and check wp-content/debug.log for PHP errors.
2. Deactivate all plugins except WP Career Board to rule out conflicts, then reactivate one by one.
3. Open a support ticket at wbcomdesigns.com/support with your WordPress version, PHP version, active theme, and a description of what you tried.