Glossary
Every hiring term, in one line
The words recruiters use, explained without jargon.
A
- ATS
- Software that screens CVs before a human reads them.
B
- Behavioural interview
- Questions about past situations, answered with a story rather than a theory.
- Benchmark salary
- The going rate for a role in a market, used to anchor a negotiation.
- Blind CV
- A CV with name, photo and personal details removed to reduce bias.
C
- Counter-offer
- Your current employer's attempt to keep you after you resign.
- Cover letter
- A short letter explaining why you, for this role, right now.
- Culture fit
- Whether your working style matches the team's. Often used loosely — ask what it means.
- CV
- A written summary of your experience, education and skills.
D
- Deal-breaker
- A condition you will not accept, such as relocation or shift work.
E
- EQ
- Awareness of your own and others' emotions, and handling both well.
F
- Fresher
- Someone entering the workforce with little or no professional experience.
G
- Grid
- A fixed salary band per job grade, common in large Gulf employers.
H
- Headhunter
- A recruiter who approaches candidates directly, usually for senior roles.
I
- Iqama
- The Saudi residency permit for foreign workers.
J
- JD
- The posting that describes duties, requirements and conditions.
K
- KPI
- A measurable target your performance is judged against.
L
- Lattice
- The level structure of roles in a company, from junior to principal.
N
- NOC
- A no-objection certificate from your employer, needed to change jobs in parts of the Gulf.
O
- Onboarding
- Your first weeks in a role: access, context and expectations.
P
- Panel interview
- Being interviewed by several people at once or in sequence.
- Probation
- A trial period, usually 3 months, with different notice terms.
Q
- Quantify
- Turning an achievement into a number: time saved, percent changed.
R
- Referral
- Being recommended for a role by someone inside the company.
- Resignation
- Formally ending your employment, subject to the notice period.
S
- STAR
- Situation, Task, Action, Result — the structure for answering behavioural questions.
- Saudization
- Saudi policy requiring a proportion of local staff in private companies.
T
- Take-home
- A short task done outside the interview to demonstrate your work.
- Total compensation
- Salary plus allowances, bonus, insurance and other benefits combined.
U
- Upskilling
- Learning new skills deliberately to widen the roles you can do.
V
- Visa transfer
- Moving your sponsorship from one employer to another.
W
- Work permit
- Legal authorisation to work in a country, usually employer-sponsored.
Y
- Yield rate
- The share of applications that get a reply — worth tracking.
Z
- Zero-sum offer
- A negotiation framing where one side's gain is the other's loss — usually untrue.