diff --git a/brozzler/frontier.py b/brozzler/frontier.py
index 9a95a53..dd3ceb3 100644
--- a/brozzler/frontier.py
+++ b/brozzler/frontier.py
@@ -63,7 +63,9 @@ class RethinkDbFrontier:
         self.logger.info("inserting into 'sites' table %s", site)
         result = self.r.table("sites").insert(site.to_dict()).run()
         self._vet_result(result, inserted=1)
-        site.id = result["generated_keys"][0]
+        if not site.id:
+            # only if "id" has not already been set
+            site.id = result["generated_keys"][0]
 
     def update_job(self, job):
         self.logger.debug("updating 'jobs' table entry %s", job)
diff --git a/brozzler/job.py b/brozzler/job.py
index e36f401..276f924 100644
--- a/brozzler/job.py
+++ b/brozzler/job.py
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ def new_job_file(frontier, job_conf_file):
         new_job(frontier, job_conf)
 
 def new_job(frontier, job_conf):
-    job = Job(id=job_conf.get("id"), conf=job_conf, status="ACTIVE", started=datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"))
-    frontier.new_job(job)
+    job = Job(id=job_conf.get("id"), conf=job_conf, status="ACTIVE",
+        started=datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"))
 
     sites = []
     for seed_conf in job_conf["seeds"]:
@@ -48,9 +48,12 @@ def new_job(frontier, job_conf):
                 extra_headers=extra_headers)
         sites.append(site)
 
+    # insert all the sites into database before the job
     for site in sites:
         new_site(frontier, site)
 
+    frontier.new_job(job)
+
 def new_site(frontier, site):
     site.id = str(uuid.uuid4())
     logging.info("new site {}".format(site))