The candidate’s journey ends when the job title is uncommon or confusing. The reason why so many companies struggle to attract applicants to their jobs is often due to job titles and then the job description.
Common vs Uncommon Job Titles
Job seekers usually search for jobs using standard job titles. For example, a software developer with multiple skills will click on Software Engineer before they click an Angular Developer job title. Not every software engineer is called an Angular Developer. Therefore, the right person will never see, find, or even consider this job because they won’t search for it. To remedy this, talent acquisition teams need training and the tools to provide data on proper job titles, like talent intelligence tools.
Confusing Job Titles
When possible, avoid using abbreviations because this will impact SEO rankings for your jobs, for example, Sr. SW Developer. Google places more emphasis on keywords, such as software rather than SW. And, job seekers usually search for jobs without abbreviations. But, sometimes using an abbreviated word in a job title is the norm, like DBA (database analyst), AWS (Amazon Web Services), or QA tester (quality assurance).
Job Title Tools
LinkedIn Insights is an excellent tool that provides data on common job titles and skills. Using this platform gives your talent acquisition teams talent data on your competitors’ job titles including their hiring activity. For example, if a company wants to hire a Director of Business Development in Atlanta Georgia, LinkedIn Insights provides its users with the following:
- Common titles used by companies in Atlanta
- Percentage of professionals with that title
- Number of similar job posts in Atlanta
- New emerging skills
LinkedIn Insights is not the only platform, others like Talent Neuron, will analyze your job description and provide relevant data on common job titles and even trending titles. When these tools are used to improve job SEO, a company can determine if a job title should be Business Partner Manager or Human Resource Manager, for example.
Candidate Journey
The candidate’s experience really begins with the job title. A video testimonial or image helps create awareness and consideration, but they will not apply to job titles that are confusing. If the job title doesn’t clearly define what the role is, then they will not apply. The candidate’s journey has many starting points, and the job title is one of them.
