A Job Seeker’s Dictionary

Job descriptions can be difficult to understand, with all the business buzzwords and technical jargon. That’s why we created this graphic guide job seekers dictionary to help decipher even the most jargony job description!

A/B testing

Testing two versions of something to see which performs better on chosen metrics. An example could be a website design, in which half of the users see one homepage and half see another and time spent on the pages are measured and compared.

Analytical skills

Today, data is all around us and it’s imperative for business. Being able to understand data you are presented with is an attractive skill to many employers.

Analysing data includes the conceptualising and articulation of data and using it to solve problems.

Adobe Design suite

A software suite including graphic design, photo editing, video editing and web development programmes, developed by Adobe Systems.

AdWords

A form of advertising on Google, which allows the placement of your website at or near the top of the search engine. You must bid on what key terms you want to rank for and compete with others. The more competitive the term, the higher the cost will be.

B2B

Business to Business. This refers to businesses who provide a product/ service for other businesses. This is opposed to B2C, which refers to business to customer, whereby customers are the end-users.

Business relationship management

Business relationship management consists of knowledge, skills, and behaviours that foster a productive relationship between a service organisation (e.g. Human Resources, Information technology, a finance department, or an external provider) and their business partners.

CMS

Content Management System is a programme you use to edit your website. Common ones include WordPress and Wix.

CTA

Call to Action – for example a ‘Buy now’ button. The action is what you want your customers to do, the call is the way in which they perform the action.

CRM

Customer relationships management refers to the management of a companies’ relationships and interactions with customers/clients and potential customers/clients.

Cold calling

Calling someone you’ve had no previous interaction with to pitch a product or service or spread awareness of your services, in the aim of securing a sale. The contrary is warm-calling which refers to calling up someone you’ve already liaised with.

Conversion rate

Conversion rates refer to the percentage of people who made the call to action, out of everyone who it reached.

Competitive salary

This generally means the salary being paid is above that of the average rate for similar roles in the area.

Communications skills

Being an effective communicator is a very important business skill. This could include verbal and non-verbal communication, such as face-to-face, over email and telephone.

This includes any written material used to market and advertise the company.

Computer proficient

Level of computer proficiency will depend on the role but as a general rule of thumb, you should be very comfortable in Microsoft Office (Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote).

Other frequently mentioned programmes and skills are; touch typing, Adobe Photoshop/ Illustrator, HTML, CSS, Google Analytics and Mail Chimp.

Client-facing

A client-facing role is one where an employee interacts directly with a client or customer, whether it be over the phone, email, in person or a combination of all of these.

Detail-orientated/ attention to detail 

Being detail-orientated means not just looking at the bigger picture of a task or problem, but all the facets which make it up.  It means wanting to understand the causes, rather than just the effects of actions.

Dynamic

As opposed to static, meaning still. A dynamic person is energetic, confident and always providing new ideas and suggestions. They take on new tasks happily.

Email campaign

The sending of mass emails to promote a product, deal or inform customers about company news.

Engagement

People who interact with content (sharing, commenting, liking etc.) Often recorded as a percentage of those who the content reached.

Engaged

An engaged person is committed to a cause. Whether that’s finishing the blog by the end of the day or getting the sales figures over to the boss. They are focused, driven and don’t let work pile up.

eCommerce

An ecommerce company is one that sells its products primarily over the internet.

Fast-paced

This term refers to roles which require high productivity, deadlines and juggling tasks. This might not suit everyone, however, for some people, fast-paced roles are exciting and watching the clock is not common.

Flexible

This means that day to day tasks will likely not be fixed. Tasks could include assisting other departments with tasks. This is great if you like your day to be varied and don’t mind spontaneity.

FMCG

Fast moving consumer goods. Often known as fast-moving consumer goods sales, or FMCG, this area of sales involves showcasing products (anything from food to toiletries) to retailers.

Google Analytics

A programme offered by Google to track a website’s traffic and other metrics.

Headhunting

Headhunting is a tool used in recruitment. Recruiters search for those employed elsewhere who have desired skills for a role and approach them to fill a particular role.

Hootsuite

A programme which allows you to access a dashboard with multiple social media accounts in one place. It also allows the scheduling of content.

HTML/CSS

A common coding language used to build websites. HTML is the code used to format a page, CSS is used for the aesthetical design.

Infographic

A visual representation of information or data, e.g. as a chart or diagram.

KPI

Key performance indicator refers to a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.

Lead generation

The action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services.

 Mailchimp

A programme which allows the mass send of emails and tracking how many people receive and click on them.

Media sales

Media sales is a term that covers sales in various media outlets. This includes advertising in magazines, newspapers, online newspapers, TV and radio.  It also includes selling sponsorship for conferences and events, selling advertising space on billboards and selling subscriptions.

Microsoft Office Suite

One of the most widely used office suites is Microsoft Office. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.

Metrics

A metric is a quantifiable measure that is used to track and assess the status of a specific process.

Motivated

A motivated person is always enthusiastic to take on tasks and determined to do them to the best of their ability. They want to succeed, even at the small tasks and they approach work with an element of excitement and drive.

OTE

On target earnings. This is something normally offered alongside a salary as a form of commission (or bonus). So £20k (+OTE £30k). This means the standard salary is £20,000 but with OTE the salary would be £30,000.

Paid social

Rather than utilising free social media tools, paid social includes the use of sponsored content and paid advertising to promote a website, product or service.

Proactive

When a proactive person sees a potential problem, they act to solve the problem before it manifests. If they see the opportunity to change something to make it better, they ensure it’s controlled.

Problem-solver

A problem-solver is always trying to find solutions to business problems. Maybe sales figures and website traffic were down last month, or they spotted a flaw on the website. They will take the initiative to work out the causes of these problems.

Project management

A project manager sees a project through from start to finish. This includes planning, negotiating, delegating roles and recording results. They also deal with changes and problems that may arise during the project.

PPC

Pay per click. This is a form of advertising whereby the person or company advertising pay a fixed amount every time someone clicks on their advert. Companies pay for ad placements in the search engine when someone searches a keyword related to their business.

PR

Public relations – the communication of news about a company to the world. PR is essential for promoting a business and maintaining a good reputation or rebuilding a bad reputation. Someone that works in PR would write and send press releases to news outlets and build relationships with journalists to get coverage on their clients.

Results-oriented

In business, everything is measured quantitatively. Whether that’s clicks on the latest advert, the latest Google ranking or last month’s profits. We are in the age of data, therefore, data managers are crucial players in every company.

Therefore, being results-orientated refers to someone who is interested in the impact each task will have, and how this impact can be measured quantitively.

Revenue generation

The way a company sells its services and goods to make an income.

ROI

Return on investment is a performance measure, used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment. The formula is: total sales – cost of investment = ROI.

Sales force

A commonly used CRM programme. A way to interact with customers and make sales and answer customer service queries. Other commonly used CRM programmes include SAP and SugarCRM.

Self-starter

This term simply refers to someone who takes the initiative to carry out a task without being asked.

Switched-on

In other words, not the kind of person who would fall asleep at their desk. They are alert and aware of what’s going on around them as well as staying up to date with the latest developments, news stories and innovations.

SEO

 Search engine optimisation. This refers to the process of getting a website ranking as high as possible in the search engine (Google, Yahoo etc.) for their domain name and related keywords. For example, a recruitment company might aim to rank first for their domain name, “jobs in marketing” and “jobs in London”.

SEO campaign

A campaign aimed at improving a website’s Google ranking.

Team player 

A team player doesn’t keep to themselves all day and are instead open to engaging and collaborating with teammates.

Telesales

The selling of goods or services over the telephone.

 UX

User experience refers to how users find the website they are using in terms of ease of use and enjoyment of use. A website with a good UX is easy to navigate, functional and attractive.

Workflow

the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.