How to Write a Good Job Title for an Online Job Board

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Writing a job title for a job board that catches people’s attention without coming off cheesy or sales-y is definitely more of an art than a science. That being said, there are some tried and true guidelines that will help achieve this difficult balance for any company.

You don’t have to be an HR professional to create a pro job description (or at least avoid a no!). Following these six rules will get you headed in the right direction.

 

1. Describe the position clearly and concisely

Pro: Bilingual Care Coordinator

No: Work for a Great Company!

While it may seem inspirational, posting a title like “Work for a Great Company!” is far too vague for any job seeker to get a sense of the opportunity for which you’re hiring. This position could be anything at any company and is neither clear nor compelling.

Since job seekers will be scanning through dozens, if not hundreds of job titles per sitting, chances are they’ll simply scan right over a vague title and never get to see how great your company is.

 

2. Optimize for search results

Pro: Customer Service Representative

No: Success Agent

Use the same terms in your that job seekers would use to search so that your results will come up easily and often. Give candidates as much information about the position as quickly as possible and don’t make them guess.

Keep in mind that the job title you use as your job post title doesn’t have to be the same title you give someone once you hire them. For example, if customer service representatives at your company are traditionally called Success Agents, there’s no need to change that title. Just think twice before using that as your job post title since it’s not a recognizable title to job seekers.

 

3. Reflect your company culture

Pro: Customer Delight Support Representative

No: Sales Rep NEEDED…HIRING ASAP!!!! (NO COLD CALLING!)

Company culture is among the top considerations that today’s job seekers, particularly Millennials, take into account when evaluating a new opportunity–even above the position’s salary. Given the importance of culture, why not craft your job post title to attract candidates that would be a great cultural fit for you?

The title “Customer Delight Support Representative” is recognizable enough to candidates to be easily understood, but emphasizes the company culture in a unique way by calling attention to the importance of delighting customers.

 

4. Stick to one job at a time

Pro: Support Specialist at a Top Hospitality Company

No: Account Manager / Customer Service / Support Specialist – $22.00/hour – Great Benefits!

One mistake that we see recruiters make at LocalWork.com is to advertise more than one position per job post. At first glance this option might seem efficient and economical, but in fact trying to be “everything to everyone” results in being “nothing to no one.” You’ll maximize the spend, but you miss out on the return.

Another reason this strategy doesn’t work very well is it communicates a degree of stinginess and unprofessionalism to job seekers. It indicates that your company doesn’t value the position enough to dedicate a single job post for hiring and may imply that you won’t pay attention to employees as individuals once they’re hired.

 

5. Promote curiosity

Pro: Design Professional Needed. Voted AZ Best Place to Work!

No: Are You Looking for the Chance of a Lifetime? Apply NOW!

Promoting curiosity with your job title is very helpful in attracting great talent and standing out from the other job posts your candidate sees during their search. Including selling points like awards, recognition, or special benefits in your job title can be extremely appealing to job seekers right away.

Just avoid overselling the benefits with outlandish, ridiculous, or unbelievable language. Including phrases like “the chance of a lifetime” can undermine the position and ultimately doesn’t attract the type of talent that you want. You want genuine curiosity about the position. Show job seekers that you’re confident in the opportunity you provide by keeping your descriptions realistic and grounded, but don’t shy away from tooting your own horn a bit!

 

6. Be careful with management-level terms

Pro: Office Administrative Professional

No: Chief Welcoming Officer

When you use terms like “manager,” “director,” and “chief,” candidates will assume that these positions are management level roles. For example, if your company calls support representatives “Success Engineers,” your job title will appear in results for engineering jobs. If you call account representatives “Customer Experience Managers,” you’ll probably get a lot of applicants looking for a management position.

In the “No” example above (which is a real job title I’ve seen posted!), the office administrator position was advertised as the “Chief Welcoming Officer” role, which at first glance appears to be a C-level position like CEO or CFO. Unfortunately for this company, they probably just attracted the wrong candidates in search results with this confusing title.

 

Bottom line: be as descriptive and straightforward as possible with your job post titles. Don’t be afraid to infuse culture and promote curiosity with some unique language or selling points, but use those elements alongside the basics so that job seekers can find and recognize your positions for what they are.

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