Job Board API

Overview

Create a complete job board backend and frontend. Employers post jobs, candidates browse and apply, admins moderate. Implement JWT auth with role-based permissions, pagination, search, and application state machine (applied → reviewed → interviewed → offered → rejected).

The job board is a rich domain that exercises every aspect of full-stack development: multi-role authentication and authorization, complex database relationships, state machine workflows, full-text search, and a responsive frontend. The three user roles (employer, candidate, admin) create a natural permission matrix that tests your ability to design role-based access control properly.

The application state machine is particularly interesting because it models a real-world workflow with constraints: only employers can advance application status, certain transitions are invalid (you cannot go from rejected back to screening), and every transition must be logged for audit purposes. This pattern appears in countless business applications from order processing to insurance claims.

For interviews, this project demonstrates REST API design proficiency, authentication architecture, database schema design with multiple relationships, and the ability to model business logic as a state machine. It is especially relevant for startup roles where you would build exactly this kind of multi-stakeholder platform.

Interview questions

• What should the API design look like?
• How do I implement role-based access?
• How should the application state machine work?
• What database schema should I use?
• How do I implement full-text search for jobs?
• How should JWT authentication work with refresh tokens?

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