Matador Jobs exists at the intersection of two very different worlds, that of the open-source Software community centered around WordPress and that of the Employee Recruitment industry. In the WordPress world, a lot of great plugins are provided for free to the community and others via subscription like Matador but at a lower cost. Meanwhile, most of the Employee Recruitment industry is served by SaaS software with high monthly fees.
We joke with some of our peers that we are simultaneously one of the most expensive WordPress plugins and least expensive Employee Recruitment software products on the market.
If you’re new to the space of “paid plugins” for WordPress and are used to the way things work in the rest of the Employee Recruitment software world, this help doc will help you get your head around the key differences and how this model works.
Matador Jobs is Open-source Software
Matador Jobs is open-source software. Unless otherwise stated, it is licensed under the GNU General Public License. As our software is derivative work of the open-source GNU-licensed WordPress software, we are obligated under the terms of the GNU to also be open-source.
Open-source is often associated with “free.” Anyone with a copy of the software can use it. But open-source is actually even more “free” than most “free software”, like a “free” app you find on a cell phone app store, because open-source software allows the person with a copy of the code the ability to modify it and/or “fork” the code.
This means if you find we are not maintaining the software to your satisfaction or for some reason stop trading, you are free to hire a developer to support or extend the existing code.
A company is allowed under open-source licenses to charge for the distribution of the code (both at initial purchase and distribution of regular updates), which is one aspect of what you pay for with your Support and Updates license, but once you have a copy of the code, you have free use of it.
So is Matador Jobs a SaaS Product?
No.
SaaS, or Software as a Service, while the dominant business model of the Recruiting Industry Software, is not an accurate way to describe what you pay for with Matador Jobs.
You instead purchase a renewable “Support and Updates” subscription.
So What Does Matador Jobs Subscription Cover?
When you buy a Matador subscription, you are paying for four things:
- Access to complete, compiled distributions of the Matador Jobs code. These are packages ready for installation and operation on your website without modification.
- Automatic distribution of updates to the Matador Jobs code made by the team at Matador Software. We are the experts on the software and we have unique access to Bullhorn to ensure our software is working as consistently as possible on their platform. We will make these updates “free” of charge but to get your copies updated, your subscription grants you access to our updates system.
- Access to the support tools, including our support self-help docs and email/phone support. Free software that you can’t get to work is useless. But we are just an email away.
- Matador Jobs to remain actively developed. Your annual payment ensures that Paul and Jeremy and our other developers can continue to keep Matador updated both with new features as well as bug fixes and updates as required by changes to Bullhorn, WordPress, Google, and other technologies our tools connect with.
Your Support & Updates subscription entitles you to download and update Matador Jobs Pro and access unlimited email or (as needed) phone support related to the default installation, functionality, and implementation of Matador Jobs plugin(s) for one year. You can renew your subscription each year at your same rate to keep support and updates beyond that year.
(For full details, please see Terms and Conditions and Refund Policy – Matador Jobs)
What is not covered by a Matador Jobs subscription?
First, your subscription does not cover installation or configuration of Matador Jobs on your website. You, or your web developer, are expected to install Matador Jobs and follow our help docs to configure it for your site.
Further, your subscription does not cover customization of your website. While many users will find the out-of-the-box look and feel of Matador Jobs to be sufficient, some prefer to have styles updated. Depending on the desired level of customization, this can take a few as a few hours and is easy for a new WordPress developer, while some highly customized sites may require up to 10 to 15 hours of developer time by a skilled WordPress developer.
We strongly encourage you to use your own local WordPress developer. Local developers are often those that live in your same time zone, can take a call right away from you, and likely charge rates appropriate for local economies. Find a local developer and provide them access to our site and have them contact us for help, and we provide them with direct support to complete the integration you want and maintain your site.
If you cannot locate a local developer and you need us to do this work for you or to write code specific to your needs, we have limited capacity to provide customization services invoiced separately of your Support & Updates subscription.
Why do I pay extra in the first year and what do I get for it?
When new subscribers sign up for a Matador Jobs Pro Support and Updates subscription, they are charged a one-time $200 “new subscriber” fee. There are two ways to look at the $200 extra you pay in the first year of a subscription. One is that upon your annual renewal we “thank you” with $200 off. Another, and totally the primary reason, is that we know new users have greater support needs as they get set up and running and in order to price our software fairly for users, new users pay a slightly higher rate in the first year so we can be there for you but then enjoy lower costs thereafter when you don’t need us (as much).
Why would I need support and updates license once my Matador Jobs Job Board is up and running?
Things change! With Bullhorn and WordPress, with your industry, and with you.
Both Bullhorn and WordPress make regular updates to their code and sometimes our code needs to be modified in response to their changes. There have been several occasions where Bullhorn announced changes to their API that required we make a change to Matador Jobs in order to keep consistent behavior for our software.
Sometimes larger impacts on the industry require changes to Matador Jobs. In 2020, the CoViD-19 pandemic made the “Work From Home” job popular, and Matador needed to be updated to support changes at Bullhorn and Google so that our users could market these “Work from Home” jobs. On July 13th, 2021, Google posted an announcement with changes to their handling of the Job Posting Structured Data, which we dissected for our users in a post two days later, and only days later on July 19th Matador Jobs 3.7.5 was released, including changes necessitated by that change at Google. And Salary Transparency regulations in various jurisdictions as of early 2023 required yet another round of changes.
All that said, you too change. Several of our users have been with us long enough to have experienced a website redesign. A handful of our users have rebranded their entire company with a new name, logo, and website. Many of our companies saw marketing teams leave for other firms and new people came in to oversee their tech stack which included Matador and required a quick how-to phone call and old questions being re-asked by new leaders.
Just because you are up-and-running doesn’t mean you don’t want us “always on the job” for you.
What other benefits are there to this model?
Your subscription supports ongoing development and additional features. You only need to look at the release notes for the major update, Matador Jobs 3.8.0 to get a sense of the way in which we are constantly working to improve and add to our plugin.
The subscription model allows us to respond to needs identified by clients, whether as part of the core code or new add- ons (included in All Access subscriptions) We do this when we feel that a feature is relevant to a large number of clients. Where a client needs a specific feature that may not have such a broad appeal, we are also open to bespoke development or partner development.
By maintaining an ongoing relationship with our clients, we are much more able to pick up and respond promptly to any bugs. Some issues only show up in the context of specific uses. It benefits us and our other clients when you alert us to something not working as you expect.
Conclusion
We hope this article gave you a sufficient understanding of what you get when you sign up for a Matador Jobs Pro subscription. We know it is uncommon for those of you coming to us via the Recruiting Industry (as opposed to via WordPress first) but we hope you can see the value in our model and our fee structure. You are welcome to reach out to us if you have any other questions.