Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Pillar & Post. Can't find what you're looking for? Email us.
Getting started & pricing
How long is the free trial?
Your trial lasts 14 days from the moment you sign up. No payment details are required to start — just your name, company name, and email address. You get access to the features available on your chosen plan from day one.
What plans are available?
We offer three plans. Eco at £10/month gives you a professional recruitment website with up to 9 live job adverts, direct email application delivery, and site analytics. Agency at £20/month raises that to 99 live jobs and adds the ability to connect your own domain name. Premium at £30/month includes everything in Agency, plus three premium pages you name and write yourself, Insights & News articles on your site, and an AI page-writing helper that drafts page text for you to review. All plans are billed monthly with no minimum term.
Are there any setup fees or long-term contracts?
None. You pay monthly, you can cancel anytime, and there are no setup or exit fees. You won't be locked in to anything.
Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?
Yes. You can switch plans at any time from your dashboard. Upgrades take effect immediately and you are charged pro rata for the rest of the billing period. Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period. If you switch plan during your free trial, the change is immediate and your trial end date stays the same.
Common questions
How quickly can I get my recruitment website live?
Your site is ready about five minutes after you start. Our assisted setup lets you shape the design while it suggests colours, type and copy, and afterwards you change the pictures and words in the Site Editor. Your site is available at yourcompanyname.pillarpostweb.com from the moment you create your account.
Do I need technical knowledge to build a recruitment website?
No. Pillar & Post is built for recruiters, not developers. Our AI-assisted setup asks a few questions about your business and builds your site for you — suggesting a design, matching your colours, and writing your content. You can then customise everything from a simple dashboard. No code, no design tools, no plugins required. Your site is ready about five minutes after you start.
Will my jobs appear on Google?
Every job you publish on Pillar & Post is automatically structured for Google for Jobs — the search panel that appears at the top of Google results. That makes it eligible to appear there without any extra work on your part; Google decides which jobs it indexes and shows. Each job also gets a descriptive web address — for example, /jobs/finance-manager-london/ — so the role and location are visible in the link itself. How long Google takes to index a new site varies; sharing your jobs page helps in the meantime.
What makes Pillar & Post built for recruitment?
Everything a recruiter needs is built in from day one — no plugins, no configuration required. Every job you publish is automatically structured for Google for Jobs. Candidates apply directly from your site and the application lands in your inbox instantly, CV attached. You can run branded or confidential job adverts, control exactly where each application goes, and manage your entire vacancy list from one simple dashboard. A general website builder can be adapted to work for recruitment. Pillar & Post is built for nothing else.
How your website works
What web address will my site have?
When you sign up, your site is created at yourcompanyname.pillarpostweb.com. This is live immediately and works from day one — you can share it with candidates and clients straight away. On our Agency and Premium plans you can connect your own domain. This may take up to 48 hours to start working.
Can I use my own domain name, like www.smithrecruitment.co.uk?
Yes, on the Agency and Premium plans. You'll need to own the domain already — you can buy one from providers like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Cloudflare if you don't have one yet. Once you have it, the process takes about 10 minutes: you add a small piece of text to your domain settings so we can verify you own it, then point it at your Pillar & Post site. We walk you through every step in your dashboard. SSL (the padlock in your browser) is handled automatically at no extra cost via Cloudflare. This connection can take up to 48 hours to come in to effect.
Do I need to know anything technical to set up a custom domain?
No. Your dashboard explains each step in plain English. If you get stuck, email us and we'll help.
Can I customise the look of my site?
Yes. You shape the layout and design direction during setup, then choose your colours, fonts, logo, pictures and copy. After that you can change anything, any time: your whole design and homepage layout, with your content staying put, every heading and paragraph, the colours of individual sections, which sections show, and the words and order of your menu. Changes save as you make them.
Can you build a bespoke site for me?
Yes. I design a site around your business on our own recruitment platform, with jobs and applications already in place, which keeps it great value and quick. You agree one design fee up front, then pay £30 a month. Have a chat with us and we'll work it out.
What does the AI page-writing helper do?
On the Premium plan, the helper drafts text for your Home page, About page and premium pages from a short brief, and nothing changes on your site until you choose which suggestions to use. You can undo the last use. Up to 20 drafts per site each day, shared across your Home, About and Premium pages. AI drafts can contain mistakes, so review and edit them before you publish.
Does Pillar & Post handle my email?
No. Pillar & Post manages your recruitment website — it does not provide or manage email addresses. If you want an email address at your own domain (e.g. hello@smithrecruitment.co.uk), you'll need to set that up separately with your domain provider or a service like Google Workspace or Zoho Mail. Applications from your site are forwarded to whatever email address you provide — it doesn't need to match your domain.
Job applications
How do I receive applications?
Applications are emailed directly to you the moment a candidate submits. The email includes the candidate's name, contact details, an optional covering note, and their CV if they attached one. You can reply directly from your inbox — the candidate's email address is set as the reply-to. You do need to ensure that you keep your email address up to date and maintain your inbox.
Where are applications sent?
By default, applications go to the email address you registered with. You can update this in your dashboard settings at any time, and you can set a different email address per job if you want applications for specific roles to go elsewhere.
Are applications stored anywhere?
Applications themselves are not stored — they are forwarded to you by email only. As a safeguard against email delivery failures, CVs are held securely on our servers for up to 72 hours after submission. After that they are permanently deleted. They are never shared with anyone. If you believe an application email may not have arrived, contact us within 72 hours and we can retrieve the CV for you.
Can I limit who can apply?
The application form is open to anyone who visits your site. Pillar & Post does not screen or filter applicants. You can close a job at any time by saving it as a draft, which hides it from your public site immediately.
Your data & GDPR
Who owns my data?
You do. Your job listings, company profile, and any content you create on Pillar & Post belongs to you. We do not use your data for advertising or share it with third parties for marketing purposes.
Is Pillar & Post GDPR compliant?
Yes. Pillar & Post is operated by SwiftSparrow Ltd, a UK-registered company. We are registered with the ICO (the UK data regulator). Your data is stored on servers in the United States with providers who are covered by Standard Contractual Clauses, which is the legal basis for transferring personal data outside the UK under UK GDPR.
Are candidate CVs stored?
Only temporarily. CVs are held for up to 72 hours as a safety net, then permanently deleted. They are never used for any purpose other than delivery to you. You should disclose this storage in your own privacy policy, which you can publish on your Pillar & Post site.
Can I download all my data?
Yes. Your dashboard includes a "Download my data" option that exports all your job listings, company profile, and policies as a ZIP file. We recommend doing this before cancelling your account.
What data does Pillar & Post actually hold about me?
We hold the minimum necessary to run the platform: your company name, email address, the content you create (jobs, profile, legal pages), and your subscription status. We do not hold payment card details — those are stored securely by Stripe, our payment provider. Pillar & Post never sees your card number.
Is my data kept separate from other customers?
Yes, completely. Every Pillar & Post customer has their own isolated section of our database. Your job listings, candidate data, and company information cannot be seen by, or mixed with, any other customer's data — even in the event of a technical error. This is a core part of how the platform is built, not just a policy.
Google & search
Search visibility is built into every Pillar & Post site from day one — no plugins, no configuration required.
How does Pillar & Post help my jobs get found on Google?
In three main ways. First, every job page includes structured data that tells Google it is a job posting — this is what makes your jobs eligible for the Google for Jobs feature at the top of search results. Second, every job URL contains the job title and location (for example, /jobs/finance-manager-london/), so the role and location are visible in the link itself. Third, your site has an automatic sitemap listing all your pages and jobs, making it easy for Google to find everything. You can submit this to Google Search Console to speed up indexing — see the dashboard FAQ for how to do this, and connect your custom domain first if you plan to use one.
What does a job's web address look like?
Each job gets its own address containing the job title and location — for example, www.yoursite.co.uk/jobs/finance-manager-london/. This puts keywords directly in the URL, which helps Google match your jobs to relevant local searches. It is generated automatically when you publish the job and does not change if you edit the title later, preserving any Google ranking or saved links.
What happens to a closed job on Google?
When you save a job as a draft it disappears from your jobs list immediately. Any candidate who follows an old link — from Google, a bookmark, or a message you shared — will see a clear page explaining the role is no longer accepting applications, not an error page. This gives candidates a better experience and allows the page to fade gracefully from Google's index rather than creating a broken link. It happens automatically — nothing for you to do.
Can AI tools like ChatGPT find my jobs?
Your site is set up so AI tools can read it. Each job carries structured data, and your site includes a short summary at yoursite.co.uk/llms.txt listing your current roles. It needs no setup and updates automatically. We can't promise any tool will use it, because each one decides what it reads and recommends.
Cancellation
How do I cancel?
From your dashboard, go to Account Settings and click Cancel my account. You'll be asked to type your company name to confirm. If you are on a paid plan, your subscription ends at the end of the period you've paid for and your site stays live until then; your data is deleted 7 days after that. Before the subscription ends, use Reverse Cancellation on your dashboard. After it ends, log in and choose Reactivate your account. On a trial, you have 7 days from cancelling.
What happens to my data when I cancel?
We want to be upfront about this. When you cancel a paid plan, your subscription ends at the end of the period you've paid for. You then have a further 7 days to reactivate through the suspended page. If you don't, all your data — your site, job listings, company profile, and any candidate data — is permanently deleted from our live systems. Deleted data is never restored into live use; copies in our encrypted backups are removed within 35 days (see our Privacy Policy). We recommend downloading your data before cancelling.
Can I reactivate after cancelling?
Before your paid subscription ends, log in to your dashboard and choose "Reverse Cancellation". After it ends, log in and choose "Reactivate your account" on the suspended page before your deletion date. On a trial, you have 7 days from cancelling to reverse cancellation. After deletion, the account cannot be recovered.
Still have a question?
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