{"id":1908,"date":"2026-08-13T11:59:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/?p=1908"},"modified":"2026-08-13T14:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:33:34","slug":"8-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/8-years\/","title":{"rendered":"From WP Job Openings to HireZoot: Eight Years of Building for Better Hiring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today,&nbsp;WP Job Openings turns eight!&nbsp;What started as a simple solution to a problem we faced while working on WordPress projects has grown into a recruitment product used by businesses around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this year, it has a new name:&nbsp;<strong>HireZoot.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A New WordPress Plugin for a Recurring Requirement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our story began in 2016, when we started working on WordPress projects under the Awsm Innovations banner. We noticed that almost every client needed a career page to display job openings. But there weren&#8217;t many simple WordPress plugins that could do the job well. So we kept building career pages from scratch\u2014and it was consuming valuable development time and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We finally decided to build a solution of our own: an intuitive plugin that would let businesses create and manage job postings without custom development. There was just one catch. We could only work on it in our spare time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fphoto.php%3Ffbid%3D874298556110356%26set%3Da.494246002714014%26type%3D3&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"444\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After plenty of evenings and weekends,&nbsp;we finally released it in the WordPress Plugin Repository on August 12, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And here we are, eight years later!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Eight Years of Keeping Things Simple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, HireZoot has a&nbsp;4.5\/5 rating in the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-job-openings\/#reviews\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-job-openings\/#reviews\">WordPress Plugin Repository<\/a>, including 175 five-star reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-1024x926.png\" alt=\"5-Star reviews about HireZoot plugin from the WordPress Repository.\" class=\"wp-image-2587\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have another piece of happy news too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to technology profiler&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wappalyzer.com\/technologies\/recruitment-staffing\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wappalyzer.com\/technologies\/recruitment-staffing\/\">Wappalyzer<\/a><\/strong>, HireZoot ranks&nbsp;#1 by percentage of websites using a recruitment and staffing technology, ahead of popular SaaS recruitment platforms such as BambooHR and iCIMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-1-1024x565.png\" alt=\"Donut chart showing 2026 recruitment and staffing technology market share, with WP Job Openings leading at 28.1%, followed by BambooHR at 14.6% and iCIMS at 11.4%.\" class=\"wp-image-2593\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-2-1024x756.png\" alt=\"Wappalyzer ranking showing WP Job Openings leading recruitment and staffing technologies with 20% market share, ahead of BambooHR and iCIMS.\" class=\"wp-image-2594\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a plugin that started by solving a problem we encountered in our own projects, that&#8217;s a pretty incredible milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Growing With Addons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ve also expanded HireZoot through addons, allowing users to add functionality without bloating the core plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, we&#8217;ve introduced:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wpjobopenings.com\/add-ons\/job-alerts\/\"><strong>Job Alerts<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Automatically send daily email alerts to subscribers when new jobs are posted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wpjobopenings.com\/add-ons\/user-access-control\/\"><strong>User Access Control<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Manage user roles and restrict access for advanced HireZoot users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/auto-delete-applications-add-on-for-wp-job-openings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Auto Delete Applications<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Automatically delete job applications and uploaded files after a designated period to help businesses with GDPR compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And there&#8217;s more coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Busy 2026 So Far<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May 2026, with the release of&nbsp;<strong>Version 4.0, WP Job Openings officially became HireZoot.<\/strong> Our team handled the rebrand smoothly without getting even a single complaint from the users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">HireZoot Pro<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, Pro has received:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>8 updates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>8 bug fixes and code improvements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>8 improvements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>15 new features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 fixes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Free Version<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The free version has received:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>6 updates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4 bug fixes and code improvements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>13 improvements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>23 new features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5 fixes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Addons:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Job Alerts Addon<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>5 updates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 new features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5 bug fixes and code improvements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>User Access Control<\/strong> <strong>Addon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2 updates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 new features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 bug fixes and code improvements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Auto Delete Applications<\/strong> <strong>Addon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1 update<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 bug fix and code improvement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s Next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our users have been asking for better ways to manage interviews, and we&#8217;ve been listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re almost finished with a new addon that will help businesses&nbsp;<strong>schedule interviews and manage applicant evaluation and assessment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More addons are on the way, and we can&#8217;t wait to share them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Eight Years In. Just Getting Started.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From a spare-time project in 2016 to a WordPress plugin with a growing ecosystem\u2014and now to&nbsp;<strong>HireZoot<\/strong>\u2014it&#8217;s been an incredible journey. We&#8217;ve learned from our users, improved the product, added new capabilities, fixed countless bugs, and continued to build toward a bigger vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To everyone who installed HireZoot, left a review, sent feedback, requested a feature, reported a bug, purchased Pro, or simply recommended the plugin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thank you for being part of this journey. \u2764\ufe0f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t forget to keep track of our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/roadmap.hirezoot.com\/roadmap\">progress<\/a>, share your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/roadmap.hirezoot.com\/boards\/feature-requests\">feedback<\/a>, and request\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/roadmap.hirezoot.com\/boards\/feature-requests\">new features<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here&#8217;s to the next chapter\u2014and the next eight years! \ud83d\ude80<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today,&nbsp;WP Job Openings turns eight!&nbsp;What started as a simple solution to a problem we faced while working on WordPress projects has grown into a recruitment product used by businesses around the world. And this year, it has a new name:&nbsp;HireZoot. A New WordPress Plugin for a Recurring Requirement Our story began in 2016, when we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1908"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1917,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions\/1917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirezoot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}