Overview
This article helps you configure the integration between PeopleXD Recruitment and your Access Volcanic careers website.
Access Volcanic is a recruitment website platform that powers your external careers site where candidates can browse jobs and submit applications.
How the integration works:
PeopleXD is the single source of truth for all vacancy information.
Jobs are created and managed in PeopleXD.
Vacancies publish automatically to your Access Volcanic careers website.
Applications flow back from your careers website into PeopleXD.
You'll learn how to set up permissions, configure vacancy publishing, manage application forms, and handle candidate data flowing from your careers website.
⚠️ Important: Any manual changes made to jobs directly in Access Volcanic will be overwritten the next time the job is updated in PeopleXD.
Key benefits
Publish vacancies from PeopleXD directly to your Access Volcanic careers website without manual updates.
Manage internal and external candidates in a single system with unified workflows.
Capture application data automatically through customised Access Volcanic forms.
Control which users can publish, authorise, and manage vacancies based on department access.
Screen candidates automatically using killer questions configured in your application forms.
Handle candidate anonymisation and CV parsing for fair hiring processes.
Track applications through automated status updates and email notifications.
Streamline your recruitment workflow by bringing external and internal hiring into one system.
Before you start
Before configuring the integration, make sure you have:
Admin access to both PeopleXD Recruitment and your Access Volcanic website.
Department structure configured in PeopleXD to control vacancy visibility and user access.
Security profiles set up for recruitment administrators, managers, and hiring teams.
Clear understanding of which team members need to publish vacancies and manage applications.
📌 Note: This article focuses on integration configuration rather than detailed PeopleXD security setup or Access Volcanic website design.
Understanding the integration workflow
The PeopleXD and Access Volcanic integration follows a structured recruitment flow with clear data direction.
Job data flow:
Jobs are created and managed exclusively in PeopleXD.
Vacancies publish automatically to your Access Volcanic careers website.
PeopleXD acts as the single source of truth for vacancy information.
Access Volcanic serves as the publishing and application capture layer.
Application data flow:
External candidates apply using your Access Volcanic website's application forms.
Applications appear automatically in PeopleXD for recruiters to manage.
Internal candidates continue to see vacancies through PeopleXD portals.
External candidates access vacancies on your careers website.
After hiring:
Once hired, successful candidates move from recruitment to the People Management system for ongoing HR administration.
📌 Note: Job disciplines are managed in Access Volcanic and pulled into PeopleXD to prevent duplication issues. Set up disciplines in Access Volcanic before they become available in PeopleXD.
Setting up user access and permissions
Understanding access levels
PeopleXD controls user access through two layers:
Menu and security access determines which screens and dashboards users can see.
Data access controls which departments' vacancies and applicants users can work with.
Both layers work together to protect sensitive recruitment information while giving teams the access they need.
Common user roles
Your recruitment users typically fall into three groups:
Employees can view internal vacancies and apply for roles.
Managers review applications, participate in interviews, and make hiring decisions.
Recruitment administrators create vacancies, publish to your careers website, and manage the full applicant lifecycle.
Granting Recruitment Dashboard access
To let users open the Recruitment Dashboard, assign these permissions.
Navigate to Security in PeopleXD.
Search for the user profile.
Assign CorePortal → eRecruitment for dashboard access.
Assign CorePortal → CorePortal - eRecruitment - Toolbox - Recruitment Admin for admin functions.
Save the profile.
📌 Note: Dashboard widgets respect data access rules, so users only see vacancies and applicants for departments they can access.
Managing department access
Department access controls which vacancies and applications each user can view and manage.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard.
Click Toolbox, then Manage Users.
Search for the user by name or employee number.
Toggle on the departments they need access to.
Click Save.
🤓 Tip: Data access can also be maintained through Assign Access in People Management for organisation-wide changes.
Publishing vacancies to your careers website
Understanding vacancy publishing permissions
Publishing to Access Volcanic requires specific menu options and web services.
Users need access to:
The Vacancy Status screen.
The Volcanic publishing web services.
Without both, the Publish, Unpublish, and Relist buttons won't appear when managing vacancies.
Required web services for publishing
Enable these web services for users who publish vacancies. The word "volcanic" in these service names refers to the Access Volcanic platform integration.
Get vacancy volcanic retrieves vacancy status and overview from the careers website integration.
Update vacancy volcanic saves vacancy status and overview changes to the integration.
Update vacancy volcanic publish publishes vacancies to your Access Volcanic careers website.
Update vacancy volcanic unpublish expires or unpublishes vacancies from your careers website.
Update vacancy volcanic relist relists expired vacancies on your careers website.
Assign the CorePortal → CorePortal - Recruitment Vacancy Status menu option to provide screen access.
Authorising vacancies before publishing
Vacancies must be authorised before they can be published to your careers website.
Create and configure your vacancy in PeopleXD.
Navigate to Authorise Vacancy.
Review the vacancy details.
Approve the vacancy for publishing.
📌 Note: Users need the CorePortal → eRecruitment - Authorise Vacancy menu option to complete this step.
Configuring the Reports To field
The Reports To field shows candidates who they will report to if successful.
To configure this correctly, follow these steps:
Navigate to CoreHR Back Office.
Click CorePersonnel → Recruitment → Reference → Recruitment Parameters.
Verify your Reporting to Org Group and Reporting to Role settings.
Open People Management → Data Centre → Maintain Organisation Roles.
Assign the correct reporting manager to your organisation roles.
Publishing a vacancy to your careers website
Once authorised, you can publish your vacancy.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard.
Navigate to the Vacancies tab.
Select your vacancy and open Vacancy Status.
Check that Job Posting details are complete including advertise channel and dates.
Click Publish to make the vacancy live on your careers website.
The vacancy appears on your Access Volcanic website according to the opening and closing dates you've set.
📌 Note: Featured vacancies appear at the top of job searches on your careers website.
Updating live vacancies
Changes to published vacancies need to be pushed to your careers website.
Make your changes in the relevant vacancy tab such as Job Advert or Job Description.
Click Update Live Job to push changes to all live channels including your Access Volcanic website.
Managing vacancy expiry dates
PeopleXD calculates expiry dates automatically from your closing dates.
How expiry dates work:
The system uses the latest closing date across all job posting channels as the expiry date.
If you set an expiry time, applications close at that time.
Without an expiry time, candidates can apply until the end of the expiry date.
Default expiry behaviour:
If no expiry date is provided when publishing from PeopleXD, Access Volcanic automatically applies a default 30-day expiry from the publication date to prevent jobs remaining open indefinitely.
🤓 Tip: Always set closing dates in PeopleXD before publishing to control expiry dates precisely and avoid relying on default behaviour.
Managing vacancy content and structure
Job descriptions and formatting
Job descriptions support rich formatting including headings, bullet points, and numbered lists.
Key features:
Your formatting appears on your Access Volcanic careers website exactly as you create it in PeopleXD.
The job description field supports extensive content without restrictive character limits.
You can include detailed role descriptions, responsibilities, requirements, and other relevant information.
Adding vacancy documents
Upload documents to provide additional information to candidates.
Open your vacancy and navigate to Vacancy Documents.
Click Add to upload a document up to 10MB.
Choose where the document appears such as Job Specification, Application Form, or Online Interview Panel.
Save your changes.
Documents marked as Job Specification appear before candidates start their application. Application Form documents appear during the application process.
Creating question categories
Question categories are reusable question sets you can add to multiple vacancies.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard.
Click Toolbox, then Vacancy Question Categories.
Click Add to create a new category.
Enter a reference code up to 13 characters and description up to 40 characters.
Set the Active flag and save.
🤓 Tip: Use question categories for standard question sets like right-to-work checks or business-unit-specific profiles.
⚠️ Important: Application questions can be created in both Access Volcanic and PeopleXD, but only certain question types with specific permalinks map correctly between systems.
Standard fields like phone number, address, country, and postcode transfer reliably.
For complex screening questions needed for reporting in PeopleXD, create them within PeopleXD itself rather than relying on Access Volcanic questions.
Adding questions to categories
Build your question sets by adding individual questions.
In Vacancy Question Categories, click View Questions for your category.
Click Add to create a new question.
Choose an answer type such as drop-down, free text, numeric, or radio button.
Set the sequence, active status, and whether the question is mandatory or private.
Save your question.
📌 Note: Questions marked as Private are hidden from managers and interview panel members but visible to recruitment administrators.
Configuring killer questions
Killer questions automatically screen out unsuitable candidates based on their answers.
Step 1: Configure the unsuitable status
Open Administrator Dashboard.
Click Site Manager → Admin Settings.
Search for erq_unsuitable_status.
Set the value to your unsuitable applicant status code (typically a code like UNS meaning "unsuitable").
Step 2: Mark unsuitable answers
In your question setup, enable Unsuitable Answer for any answer option that should disqualify candidates.
When candidates select an unsuitable answer and submit their application, their status changes automatically to the unsuitable status you configured.
⚠️ Important: Killer questions only work with select or radio button answer types.
📌 Note: Access Volcanic vs PeopleXD killer questions: Access Volcanic has its own killer questions feature that works differently:
Volcanic killer questions prevent candidates from submitting applications immediately when they select an unsuitable answer.
PeopleXD killer questions allow applications to be submitted but automatically change the applicant's status to unsuitable after submission.
You'll need to choose which approach works best for your recruitment process.
Adding ad-hoc questions to single vacancies
Questions added directly to a vacancy only appear for that specific role.
Open your vacancy and navigate to Current Questions.
Click Add Question.
Configure your question including type, mandatory setting, and privacy.
Save the question.
These questions work the same way as category questions but aren't reusable across other vacancies.
Managing applications from your careers website
Viewing submitted applications
Applications from your Access Volcanic careers website appear in the Applicants widget.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard.
Click the Applicants tab.
Select an applicant to view their details.
On Competition Details, click View to see their complete application form.
The application form shows all responses from your Access Volcanic careers website including any vacancy-specific questions.
📌 Note: Recruitment administrators see all application details, but managers and interview panel members cannot see diversity questions or questions marked as private.
Required permissions for viewing applications
Users need specific permissions to access application data:
CorePortal → eRecruitment - Applicant Status View for viewing application details and status history.
CorePortal → eRecruitment - Applicant Status Update for updating applicant records.
Recruitment → Get vacancy application details web service for viewing dynamic application form content from your careers website.
Using Applicant One View
Applicant One View provides a central location for reviewing all candidate information.
What it includes:
Questions from both PeopleXD and your Access Volcanic application forms.
Diversity data.
All attachments including files uploaded by applicants and merged process documents.
Application responses, assessment scores, and activity history.
This unified view gives recruitment administrators access to everything about a candidate in a single screen.
Configuring Volcanic mapping for custom fields
Understanding custom field mapping
Some organisations use Volcanic mapping to control which PeopleXD fields are sent to Access Volcanic as custom fields.
How it works:
The integration typically supports up to five custom fields.
These can be mapped from PeopleXD hierarchy fields and a Recruitment Custom field.
This lets you automatically choose which Access Volcanic application form to use based on PeopleXD field values.
📌 Note: Standard job fields use fixed, predefined mappings that cannot be customised.
Setting up custom categories
If using job advert custom categories, set up your reference data first.
Open People Management.
Navigate to Reference Data → Recruitment Custom Data.
Create your custom categories.
Ensure matching custom categories exist in your Access Volcanic website.
Your Access Volcanic application forms can then use these custom fields through usage conditions to display different forms based on vacancy attributes.
⚠️ Important: Access Volcanic custom categories have limited flexibility in PeopleXD integrations:
Custom Category 1 maps to Company.
Custom Category 2 maps to Management Unit.
Custom Category 3 maps to Department.
You cannot repurpose these mappings for other uses such as job type or work arrangement. Consider alternative approaches rather than relying on custom categories for PeopleXD integrations.
Managing candidate anonymisation and CV parsing
Enabling candidate anonymisation
Anonymisation hides personal data at selected recruitment stages to support fair hiring.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard.
Click Toolbox → Applicant Status.
Open Status Details for the relevant status.
Enable Anonymise Applicant Data.
Save your changes.
📌 Note: Cover letters and application answers are not anonymised, and email previews may still include personal data.
Enabling CV parsing
CV parsing extracts structured information from uploaded CVs to help assess candidates quickly.
Open the Administrator Dashboard.
Click Site Manager → Admin Settings.
Search for enable_cv_parsing.
Set the value to Y and save.
Parsed CV information and summaries appear in Applicant One View on the CV Profile tab.
📌 Note: CV parsing is only available with XD Recruitment Premium and requires your new Access Volcanic careers website.
Setting up status-driven emails
Configuring sender details
Set up the from name and email address for recruitment emails.
Open Administrator Dashboard → Site Manager → Admin Settings.
Search for cp_recruit_email_fromn and set your sender name.
Search for cp_recruit_email_frome and set your sender email address.
Save your changes.
Creating email templates
Email templates generate automatically when applicant status changes.
Open Recruitment Dashboard → Toolbox → Applicant Status.
Select your status and click Email Template.
Choose a data source such as Application Detail.
Configure your subject and body using merge fields. Merge fields are placeholders shown as <<field>> that automatically populate with candidate or vacancy data when emails are sent.
Save your template.
Back on Status Detail, enable Email Template after status change.
Save your status configuration.
📌 Note: Emails are created per applicant and don't automatically trigger from all screens that change status.
Using Broadbean integration
Publishing to multiple job boards
Broadbean lets you post vacancies to multiple job boards from a single interface.
What PeopleXD exports to Broadbean:
Job title, description, and grade.
Salary information.
Organisation unit and location.
Contact details.
What you need:
A Broadbean account with your username, password, API key, and default currency configured.
Exporting vacancies to Broadbean
Send your vacancy to Broadbean for wider distribution.
Open the Recruitment Dashboard and navigate to Vacancies.
Click Edit Vacancy for your chosen vacancy.
Open the Broadbean menu.
Click Export to Broadbean.
Review the pre-populated details and enter skills keywords.
Click Export to launch Broadbean and complete your posting.
Managing Broadbean postings
Extend or remove postings through the same interface.
To extend advertising:
Open Export to Broadbean and click Resend.
This automatically extends your posting by the same number of days as your original posting duration.
To delete a posting:
Open Export to Broadbean and click Delete.
Export Summary shows:
Boards selected.
Delivery status.
Posted date and expiry or deletion date.
Number of responses received.
Best practices
Always make job updates in PeopleXD rather than directly in Access Volcanic to prevent changes being overwritten.
Set up department access before granting users recruitment permissions to prevent unauthorised vacancy access.
Configure job disciplines in Access Volcanic first before they become available in PeopleXD.
Set closing dates in PeopleXD before publishing to control expiry dates precisely and avoid default 30-day expiry behaviour.
Create critical screening questions needed for reporting directly in PeopleXD rather than Access Volcanic to ensure reliable data capture.
Test the full workflow from vacancy creation to application submission before going live.
Use question categories for standard question sets rather than recreating questions for each vacancy.
Configure killer questions carefully to avoid accidentally screening out qualified candidates.
Review email templates before enabling automated status emails to ensure professional messaging.
Avoid repurposing custom categories for uses other than their fixed mappings to Company, Management Unit, and Department.
Train recruitment administrators on both PeopleXD and Access Volcanic to support end-to-end processes.
Contact your Customer Success Manager rather than attempting to self-configure the integration as it requires internal team involvement.
📌 Note: The People XD' recruitment Help Centre contains additional recruitment configuration guidance. Also see People XD's Recruitment user guides covering all aspects of PeopleXD recruitment functionality.
FAQs
Q1: Why can't I see the Publish button on Vacancy Status?
Answer: The Publish button doesn't appear when you're missing required permissions. You need both the Vacancy Status menu option and the Volcanic publishing web services enabled in your security profile. Check with your PeopleXD administrator to assign these permissions to your user account.
Q2: How do I know which application form will be used for a vacancy?
Answer: Access Volcanic uses usage conditions and custom field values to determine which application form displays. Review your Volcanic mapping configuration or contact your Customer Success Manager for details about your setup.
Q3: Are diversity questions visible to managers in application forms?
Answer: Managers and interview panel members cannot see diversity questions in application forms. Questions marked as private are also hidden from managers and panel members. Only recruitment administrators can view all application responses including diversity questions and private questions.
Q4: What happens if I unpublish a vacancy that's already live?
Answer: The vacancy is removed from your Access Volcanic careers website immediately. PeopleXD recalculates the expiry date from any remaining job posting channels.
Q5: Do already-published vacancies need re-authorisation when updating them?
Answer: You don't need to re-authorise changes to vacancies that are already published. Once a vacancy is live, you can make updates and use the Update Live Job button to push changes to your careers website without going through additional authorisation steps.
Q6: How do killer questions screen out candidates?
Answer: When a candidate selects an answer marked as unsuitable and submits their application, their status changes automatically to the unsuitable status configured in Admin Settings. This is how PeopleXD killer questions work within the integration. Access Volcanic also has its own killer questions feature that works differently by blocking candidates before submission rather than allowing them to complete their application.
Q7: What's the difference between Access Volcanic killer questions and PeopleXD killer questions?
Answer: Access Volcanic killer questions stop candidates immediately when they select an unsuitable answer, informing them they're not eligible and preventing application submission so unsuitable applications never reach PeopleXD.
PeopleXD killer questions allow candidates to complete and submit their application normally, then automatically change the applicant's status to unsuitable after submission, meaning all applications reach PeopleXD including unsuitable ones that need management or review.
If using Access Volcanic killer questions, the PeopleXD killer question functionality won't apply because ineligible candidates are blocked before submission, so consider whether your process benefits more from preventing unsuitable applications entirely or from receiving all applications but having unsuitable ones automatically flagged for potential review.
Q8: Can question categories be reused across multiple vacancies?
Answer: Question categories can be used across multiple vacancies. They're designed to be reusable, which ensures consistency in your screening questions and saves time when creating new roles. Once you create a question category, you can add it to as many vacancies as needed.
Q9: Why is my Reports To field empty on new vacancies?
Answer: The Reports To field derives from your organisation role configuration in PeopleXD. Check your Recruitment Parameters and Maintain Organisation Roles settings to ensure reporting managers are correctly assigned.
Q10: What's the difference between Job Specification and Application Form documents?
Answer: Job Specification documents appear before candidates start their application, while Application Form documents appear during the application process. Online Interview Panel documents are only visible to interviewers.
Q11: Can I edit a vacancy after publishing it to my careers website?
Answer: You can edit vacancies after publishing them to your careers website. Make your changes in the relevant PeopleXD screens, then click Update Live Job to push the updated information to your Access Volcanic careers website. The changes appear on your website immediately.
Q12: How do I extend a vacancy that's about to expire?
Answer: Update the closing date in Vacancy Status, then click Update Live Job to push the new expiry date to your careers website. Alternatively, use the Relist button after a vacancy has expired.
Q13: What happens to applications if I delete a vacancy?
Answer: Existing applications remain in PeopleXD and can still be processed. However, new candidates cannot apply once the vacancy is removed from your careers website.
Q14: Can I edit job details directly in Access Volcanic?
Answer: You should not edit job details directly in Access Volcanic when using the PeopleXD integration. PeopleXD is the single source of truth for all vacancy information, and any manual changes made in Access Volcanic will be overwritten the next time the job is updated in PeopleXD.
Q15: What happens if I don't set an expiry date in PeopleXD?
Answer: If no expiry date is received from PeopleXD, Access Volcanic automatically applies a default 30-day expiry to the vacancy. To control expiry dates precisely, always set closing dates in PeopleXD before publishing.
Q16: Can I set up the PeopleXD integration myself?
Answer: The integration cannot be fully set up by customers alone. Setup requires involvement from both Access Volcanic internal teams and PeopleXD internal teams to configure API keys, webhook endpoints, and permissions correctly. Contact your Customer Success Manager to initiate integration setup.
Q17: Is it possible to customise field mappings between PeopleXD and Access Volcanic?
Answer: Field mapping between PeopleXD and Access Volcanic is predefined and cannot be customised. The integration uses fixed mappings for fields like job title, location, salary, and job type. You cannot remap these fields to different destinations.
Q18: Where are job disciplines managed in the integration?
Answer: Job disciplines are managed in Access Volcanic and then pulled into PeopleXD. This prevents duplication or mismatch issues between the two systems. Set up your disciplines in Access Volcanic first before they become available in PeopleXD.
Q19: Which system should I use to create application questions?
Answer: You can create application questions in both Access Volcanic and PeopleXD, but with important limitations. Only certain Access Volcanic question types with specific permalinks map cleanly to PeopleXD fields, such as phone number, address, country, and postcode. Questions created in Access Volcanic apply to all jobs, while questions created in PeopleXD can be job-specific. For complex screening questions needed for reporting in PeopleXD, create them in PeopleXD itself.
Q20: Can I use Access Volcanic custom categories with PeopleXD?
Answer: Custom categories have limited support in PeopleXD integrations. Access Volcanic custom categories map automatically to fixed PeopleXD fields: Custom Category 1 maps to Company, Custom Category 2 to Management Unit, and Custom Category 3 to Department. You cannot repurpose custom categories for other uses like job type or work arrangement. Consider custom categories largely unsuitable for PeopleXD integrations.
Q21: How can I confirm an application has successfully synced to PeopleXD?
Answer: There is no customer-facing confirmation mechanism to verify successful application sync. Applications are typically confirmed by checking for application notification emails or verifying the candidate appears in PeopleXD. If applications are consistently missing, contact Support to check webhook logs and verify the integration is working correctly.
Q22: What should I do if applications are missing from PeopleXD?
Answer: Missing applications are one of the most common integration issues. First, verify the candidate received a confirmation email from your careers website, which indicates the application was submitted successfully. Then check PeopleXD to see if the application appears. If applications are consistently missing, contact Support to review webhook logs and investigate the data flow between systems.
Q23: Why do locations appear differently in PeopleXD compared to Access Volcanic?
Answer: Location mismatches occur when location data is structured differently between systems. This is another common integration issue. Ensure your location reference data is configured consistently in both PeopleXD and Access Volcanic. If mismatches persist, contact Support to review how location data is being mapped in the integration.
Q24: Are there separate charges for the PeopleXD integration?
Answer: The PeopleXD integration is considered part of the Access Volcanic product and is not typically charged separately, unlike some third-party ATS integrations. Integration setup is generally handled during onboarding or platform migration. If you're an existing customer adopting PeopleXD, speak with your Account Manager or Customer Success Manager about the integration process.
Q25: What happens if I create a custom question in Access Volcanic that doesn't match a PeopleXD field?
Answer: The behaviour for unmapped Access Volcanic questions is not fully defined. Questions with standard permalinks like phone, address, and country map correctly, but custom questions without corresponding PeopleXD fields may not transfer properly. For critical screening questions needed in PeopleXD, create them within PeopleXD itself to ensure they're captured and reportable. Contact your Customer Success Manager if you need clarification on specific question types.
Q26: Can the Access Volcanic support team help with PeopleXD setup questions?
Answer: The Access Volcanic support team aren't experts in PeopleXD setup or functionality. For any questions or queries about PeopleXD configuration, features, or troubleshooting, you should refer to the PeopleXD team directly. You can check out the PeopleXD Recruitment Help Centre and access detailed PeopleXD Recruitment user guides to learn more about the system.
Q27: Why won't my vacancy publish or why are publish actions missing?
Answer: Check user permissions and vacancy authorisation first. Confirm the user has Vacancy Status menu access and that Volcanic publish, unpublish, and relist web services are enabled. Ensure the vacancy has been properly authorised before attempting to publish.
Q28: Why is application form content not visible in PeopleXD?
Answer: Enable the required web service and check user permissions. Confirm the Recruitment → Get vacancy application details web service is enabled. Check the user has Applicant Status View access to see application forms.
Q29: Why can't managers see certain questions or answers?
Answer: Review question privacy settings and user type. Check whether questions are marked as Private. Recruitment administrators see all answers, but managers and panel members never see diversity or private questions.
Q30: Why isn't killer question screening working?
Answer: Verify your configuration at both system and question level. Confirm erq_unsuitable_status is set to the correct applicant status code in Admin Settings. Check your question uses select or radio button answer type. Verify the answer option is flagged as Unsuitable Answer. Remember that Access Volcanic and PeopleXD killer questions work differently, so if using Volcanic killer questions, unsuitable candidates are blocked before submitting applications and won't appear in PeopleXD. Contact your Customer Success Manager if you need clarification on specific question types.