Top 8 Ways to Utilize Job Postings Data
Alternative data types have become an extremely important part of data analytics for business and investment. In a world that is changing fast and with even faster-developed digital technologies, one can never tell what is going to be the next big thing in the data world.
Today we will look at job postings data and the many ways it can be utilized for advancing investment and business goals. The potential of job data is being recognized more and more as different creative ways to apply it are tried out.
What is job posting data, and where does it come from?
Job postings data is defined as all the pieces of information that come from online job advertisements. These advertisements are posted on various job-related websites. Such websites include both leading portals that are dedicated to posting jobs and professional networks with broader functions like LinkedIn.
Jobs data can be taken to indicate various features of jobs, companies, industries, and markets. At face value, job postings data reveal the pieces of information that are in the postings themselves. The following examples of these pieces of information are expected to be found in job postings data sets.
- Job titles and descriptions,
- Job location,
- Salary ranges,
- Perks and benefits offered by the firm,
- Requirements for the position.
These are, however, just the basic information that job seekers expect to see in advertisements. For a data analyst that looks at job postings with particular research questions in mind, these data sets can have much wider implications. For example, the following information can be derived from them.
- What types of positions take the longest to fill?
- Which skills are looked for the most?
- What kinds of additional benefits are companies emphasizing?
- Are there relatively new job titles getting prominence?
- Which firms, industries, and geographical locations hire the most?
And, of course, there are many other interesting questions to be answered by looking at online job postings. The limits to what you can get out of them are only the researcher’s imagination. Thus, let us look at some suggestions for useful ways to leverage job postings data.
Top 8 use cases
Many of the use cases for job postings data have already been employed by businesses to boost their intelligence and decision-making. As mentioned, however, there is always room for new ideas. Here are some of the most useful ways to utilize such data to get you started.
Competitive analysis:
Looking at how competitors are hiring can, firstly, help to beat them for the best talent in the market. Secondly, researching competitors with job postings data generally adds to your competitive intelligence, allowing a better understanding of what you are up against in the market.
Investment intelligence:
Investors look at job postings data to keep track of the growth and potential of various companies. Research shows that changes in job posting activity are positively associated with future performance, especially when representing growth of positions instead of replacement. This is a strong indicator of the firm’s potential for investors.
Boosting internal HR procedures:
Learning from others is a never-ending enterprise. Job postings might reveal some good practices worth adopting when advertising for an open position.
Researching new job titles:
When data scientist was still considered a relatively new position, researchers looked at job postings for a comprehensive definition of it. In today’s versatile climate, new positions come all the time and what better way to understand them than by looking at what firms are requiring for those positions?
Changing local economics and labor markets:
By looking at increasing job postings for particular positions in specific locations, you can identify new tech hubs or growing industrial regions. This is useful for both economic analysis and determining local conditions when considering expansion into new markets.
Identifying the most marketable skills:
Knowing the market value of skills is useful not only for job seekers but also for companies aiming at the correct evaluation of their workforce. Additionally, this information allows companies to offer employees related training, thus increasing the value of working for the firm.
Brand research:
Employee branding is one of the key components of the brand image. Job postings enable examining how businesses aim to represent themselves as employers.
Seeking out the relevant perks:
Companies attract candidates not only by salary but by additional perks and benefits as well. Figuring out which of these additional perks work the best on particular types of talent can provide invaluable insights on how to advertise for the job.
Summing up
Online job postings provide a versatile and potent source of information for analyzing everything work-related. Whether you are an investor, HR manager, or just an interested researcher, getting your hands on job postings data will likely prove worthwhile. At least, it will certainly be interesting to see how much one can tell from changes in the way companies craft their messages to potential employees.