SkillSphere 🌐

SkillSphere is a premium, full-stack recruitment and skill assessment platform built with Django. It bridges the gap between talented candidates and top-tier recruiters by integrating automated skill verification, job matching, and streamlined interview scheduling into a single, cohesive ecosystem.

---

🚀 Key Features

For Candidates 🎓

• Dynamic Profiles: Build comprehensive profiles detailing education, specialized sectors (e.g., Fullstack, Mobile, DevOps), and experience.
• Skill Assessments & Quizzes: Prove your expertise through automated assessments. The platform features an intelligent scoring system with penalty tracking and limited attempts to prevent fraud.
• Certificate Verification: Upload external certificates for admin verification to bolster your profile.
• Job Applications: Apply for jobs with a single click and track application status (Applied, Shortlisted, Offered, Hired).
• Interview Dashboard: View scheduled interviews, meeting links, and HR contact details.

For Recruiters 🏢

• Job Posting & Management: Create detailed job postings with specific skill requirements (Beginner, Intermediate, Expert) and mandatory flags.
• Automated Candidate Matching: Automatically filter and rank candidates based on their verified skills and assessment scores.
• Interview Scheduling: Organize multi-round interviews (HR, Technical, Final), assign interviewers, and manage schedules.
• Job Offers: Generate, send, and track job offers directly through the platform.
• Shortlisting & Notes: Keep track of top candidates with custom notes and statuses.

Platform-Wide ✨

• Role-Based Access Control: Secure, isolated dashboards for Candidates and Recruiters.
• Premium User Interface: Modern, tech-focused design featuring glassmorphism, background animations, responsive layouts, and staggered entrance effects.
• Real-time Notifications: Alerts for interview schedules, job offers, and application updates.

---

🛠️ Technology Stack

• Backend: Python 3, Django 5.0+
• Database: PostgreSQL (Production via Railway), SQLite3 (Local Development)
• Static File Serving: WhiteNoise
• WSGI Server: Gunicorn
• Image Processing: Pillow (for profile photos and certificates)
• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3 (Vanilla CSS with premium styling, CSS Grid/Flexbox for responsiveness), JavaScript (Vanilla for interactions)

---

🏗️ Project Architecture

The project is structured into four main Django applications:

1. accounts: Manages the custom User model, Candidate/Recruiter profiles, and real-time notifications.
2. skills: Handles the core skill taxonomy, question banks, candidate assessments, skill progress (penalty/locking), and certificate verification.
3. jobs: Manages job postings, candidate applications, matching scores, hiring invitations, and job offers.
4. interviews: Facilitates scheduling, managing interviewers, shortlisting candidates, and tracking interview feedback/scores.

---

💻 Local Setup & Installation

Follow these steps to run SkillSphere locally on your machine.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Git
• PostgreSQL (optional for local, uses SQLite by default)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd DjangoProject-skillsphere

2. Set Up a Virtual Environment

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows use: .venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the skillsphere directory (where settings.py is located) or at the project root, using .env.example as a template.

DEBUG=True
SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here

5. Apply Migrations

cd skillsphere
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

6. Seed the Database

To populate the database with initial skills and assessment questions, run the custom management commands:

python manage.py seed_skills
python manage.py seed_assessment_questions

7. Create a Superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

8. Run the Development Server

python manage.py runserver

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/ in your browser.

---

☁️ Deployment (Railway)

This project is configured for seamless deployment on Railway.

1. Connect your GitHub repository to a new Railway project.
2. Add a PostgreSQL database service in Railway.
3. Railway will automatically detect the railway.toml and Procfile.
4. Ensure the following environment variables are set in your Railway project:
   • DEBUG=False
   • SECRET_KEY (Generate a secure, random string)
   • ALLOWED_HOSTS (Your Railway domain)
   • CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS (e.g., https://your-app.up.railway.app)
   • Database Variables (Automatically added by Railway Postgres, or manually add DATABASE_URL)
5. Deploy the application!

---

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions to SkillSphere!

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature).
5. Open a Pull Request.

---

Built with ❤️ for better recruitment and career growth.