Get started with Career Bird: admin setup guide
This guide walks org admins through setting up Career Bird, from your first sign-in to the moment managers start reviewing roles.
Each step links to a detailed article. How long setup takes depends on how many job descriptions and employees you have.
Who can do this: Org admins.
Tip: Want help getting started? Email support@careerbird.ai to book a free 30-minute setup session, where we'll work through your leveling framework and competency model with you, live.
Before you begin
- Gather your current job descriptions, one file per role. Roles without a job description can still be created from a title and job family.
- Decide how you'll add employees: a connection to your HRIS, or a CSV upload.
- Decide who should review roles. Usually this is each team's manager, but any employee can be made a role reviewer.
Step 1: Sign in and look around
When you first sign in, the Organization dashboard shows your setup progress. You'll get a welcome email from Matt Moog, our founder, followed by a short series of setup emails, one for each step below, to help you pick up where you left off.
Step 2: Define your leveling framework
Your leveling framework describes how responsibility grows from one level to the next. Career Bird uses it to suggest a level for each role.
- Go to Role management > Leveling framework (open it in Career Bird).
- Choose the template closest to your organization's size.
- Rename levels, edit the dimensions (for example scope, autonomy and impact) and adjust the number of levels to match how your organization works.
Learn more: Customize the leveling framework
Step 3: Build your competency model
Your competency model is the set of skills you expect across the organization, such as core and leadership skills. You choose the skills, and Career Bird suggests the proficiency expected at each level.
Learn more: Build your competency model
Step 4: Upload your job descriptions
Career Bird standardizes your job descriptions and maps skills to each role.
- Go to Admin > Settings > Upload job descriptions.
- Drag and drop your files. Upload each job description as a separate file.
- Processing usually takes 10 to 30 minutes, depending on volume.
Career Bird suggests a level for each role. You can change a role's level at any time.
Learn more: Import job descriptions
Step 5: Add your employee list
- Go to Admin > Settings > Import data.
- Choose Connect your HRIS, or Upload a CSV file using the template.
Your employee list includes each person's title. Career Bird matches each title to a role, and you can review and approve the matches. If a title doesn't match an existing role, Career Bird creates a new role using the title as context. Levels belong to roles, not to individual employees.
Importing doesn't send any invitations. Everyone is added as not invited, and you choose when to invite them. To bring in later changes from your HRIS, return to Import data and click Import data.
Learn more: Connect your HRIS to Career Bird · Add and invite people to Career Bird
Step 6: Invite managers to review roles
Role reviewers check that each role description reflects the work done today and suggest changes. You then approve and publish each role.
- Go to Role management > Roles.
- To let Career Bird suggest reviewers from your org chart, click Auto-assign on the Roles without a reviewer card. Review the suggestions, change any you want, then click Confirm assignments.
- To choose reviewers yourself, filter by department or job family, select the roles and click Assign > Assign reviewer.
- Invite the reviewers from Admin > All employees.
Prefer to review roles yourself? Open a role marked "Needs Review" and click Publish. You don't need to assign a reviewer first.
Learn more: Role management
What happens next
Once roles are published, invite your employees. They then take the skill survey, explore learning resources and start a development plan. The Organization dashboard shows progress across each step.
If something goes wrong
| Issue | What to check |
|---|---|
| A role is stuck generating | Wait 30 minutes, then contact support@careerbird.ai with the role title. |
| Employees didn't get an invitation | Uploads and HRIS imports don't send invites. Invite people from Admin > All employees. |
| You've reached 10 roles or 10 people | That's the free plan limit. Everyone you add counts, whether or not they're invited. |