How do I link a local employer to the Pathful Opportunities job board?

Last updated About 3 hours ago

Your school's local employer list and the employers posted on the Pathful Opportunities job board are two separate systems that can both have a record for the same business. Linking them together prevents duplicate employers and makes sure features like Approved Employers filtering and direct placement work correctly.

Two ways to link employers

From the Employers page, the Opportunities dropdown gives you two options:

  • Find New — browse and import employers directly from the WBL Opportunities job board that you haven't added locally yet.

  • Match Existing — opens Reconcile Local Employers, for employers you've already entered locally that haven't been linked to a job board record yet.

Unlinked local employers also show a Link to WBL Opportunities row action. Once linked, an employer displays an Opportunities badge.

Linking a single employer

  1. Click Link to WBL Opportunities on an employer's row (or Match Existing for a specific one).

  2. The Link to WBL Opportunities window shows the local employer's name and address at the top.

  3. Search for the matching employer on the job board using the Search WBL Opportunities employers box.

  4. Review the suggested matches — each shows a match Score, an address, and a short list of reasons (for example, matching address, exact or similar name, or a matching contact email).

  5. Click Link on the correct match.

If nothing looks right, try adjusting your search term — you'll see "No strong matches found. Try a different search." if there's nothing close.

Reconciling employers in bulk

Reconcile Local Employers is built for cleaning up a backlog of unlinked employers all at once:

  1. Open Reconcile Local Employers from the Opportunities → Match Existing menu.

  2. You'll see a queue of local employers that aren't linked yet, each with its address and a Suggested Match from the job board (if one was found).

  3. For each row, choose to:

    • Link the suggested match directly,

    • Search for a different match if the suggestion isn't right, or

    • Skip it for now and come back later.

The description at the top of this screen sums it up: "Local employers not yet linked to WBL Opportunities. Confirm a match to attach the remote record without creating a duplicate."

Why linking matters for opportunity search

Your WBL Opportunities settings include a Show Opportunities from option set to either:

  • Approved Employers — students and coordinators only see opportunities whose employer is linked to your local employer database (and, if your school requires it, has a completed partnership form)

  • All Employers — every opportunity on the job board is visible, regardless of local linking

If your school uses Approved Employers, keeping employers linked using the steps above is what keeps opportunities from disappearing from search unexpectedly. See How do I configure general Work-Based Learning settings? for where that setting lives.