How to write an effective Job title for a job ad

What are the secrets to writing a magnetising job title, that guarantees the attention of the best applicants?

This is an important question because often it is effective job titles (the title of the job ad) that make a difference: according to our data based on the thousands of job ads served through our Applicant Tracking System, the job title is the part that has the greatest impact on the number of applications received in response to an ad. Consequently we always remind our clients that candidates spend an average of less than five seconds to decide whether or not to click on an ad, so choosing an effective job title really is a crucial step for the success of your recruitment campaign.

When the job title isn’t optimised it can lead to two potential problems. First of all, if the title isn’t effective the candidate will have difficulty finding the ad in a Google job search. Or, alternatively the ad may appear among the search results but those reading the title may find it difficult to evaluate whether the ad is in line with their skills and decide not to apply.
To get good results in response to their ads, we always advise our clients to follows these guidelines to choosing job titles:

1. Be specific in writing the job title

The goal of the job ad is to obtain a pool of candidates for the sought position. Therefore it is important to write a specific job title that filters applicants immediately at source, so that you have to invest less time at the screening phase. Here are some examples to explain the concept:

Ineffective job title: Legal – Effective job title: Legal Counsel (Business Law)
Ineffective job title: Programmer – Effective job title: Frontend Developer

2. Use the most important key words at the beginning of the job title

Several studies have shown that candidates only read the first words of the job title before deciding whether or not to open the ad. Therefore it is critical to put the important keywords at the beginning of the job title. Some examples for the keyword “sales”:

Ineffective job title: Experienced and Proven Sales person
Effective job title: Sales Representative

3. Avoid evocative job titles

One of the latest trends in recruitment is to choose an evocative, but non specific, job title. Our experience leads us to advise against this option because it can be counterproductive. The reasoning behind an evocative job title can be fair: to make your ad tantalising and to attract discerning candidates. Unfortunately however, these ads experience a low number of views and receive few CVs. More and more ads are appearing on Italian Job boards with titles such as:

• Digital Marketing Magician

• Social Media Rockstar

• Chief Marketing Guru

• Chief Thinker

The main problems with these job titles is that they can easily confuse candidates: on the one hand they can be taken seriously, on the other hand they are misleading and result in potential candidates who do not have the required skills. In almost all cases we recommend that our clients opt for a more conventional job title.

4. Eliminate industry jargon

In some examples, a job title has more meaning for ‘insiders’, but that meaning is generally unknown by the general public and potential candidates who are looking at the vacancy. In these cases it is useful to leave the technical jargon aside, especially if the goal is to attract a broad pool of candidates for the next phase of screening.
In some cases the issue can be more complex: some companies use their own definitions which are different – even for the same role – to that of their competitors. Even in this second example, when you decide to publish a job ad on a Job board, we recommend that you use a job title that is more conventional and recognised by the market you are hoping to attract (but internally you can still keep the old job title).

5. Whether to include the level of seniority in the job title

When you publish a job ad a common problem is that you receive too many applications, and lots of them are too junior or too senior to what you require. This happens because the level of seniority is often left out from the most visible part – the job title.

Ineffective job title: Recruiter

Effective job title: Senior Recruiter

6. Don’t use too many abbreviations or acronyms in the job title

It’s always recommended to avoid the use of abbreviations and acronyms in the job title. This is because your ad will not show up in searches if the candidate uses the full and extended form of the job title.

Ineffective job title: Sr. Mgr

Effective job title: Senior Manager

7. Evaluate whether to publish the same ad using different job titles

It can happen that a role has many definitions and can be identified with more than one job title. In this case, why not consider publishing more ads but with different job titles? In this way the job ad will be found by all candidates, even if they use different key words to each other.
The principle is the classic A/B test used in marketing: publish two ads with only one element that is different (in this case the job title) and evaluate which one performs the best.
Obviously this practice should be used with discretion because, for example, publishing dozens of similar vacancies when there is only one can be harmful to the company’s reputation. However, used properly, this is a practice sanctioned by some of the leading Job boards.