When you begin reclassifying job titles or occupations within Workforce Classification, you’ll be prompted to browse and select from our Pearson Occupation Ontology or your own Custom Occupations.
When does this appear?
This experience is triggered when:
-
You choose to remap an occupation in bulk (Occupation view), or
-
You edit a single employee’s occupation (Employee view)
In both cases, the Browse Occupation Ontology modal will open—allowing you to select from standardized roles in our ontology or available custom options you've created.
Browsing Ontology View
The modal presents two tabs:
-
All Occupations – This includes Pearson’s complete occupation ontology structured by industry, occupation category, and stream.
-
Custom Occupations – Any roles that you or your organization have created outside the Pearson ontology.
You can search occupations by:
-
Keyword (e.g. “Data Analyst” or “Finance”)
-
Occupation Code (e.g.
FIN.ACC) if you're familiar with our ontology coding system
Each search result and selecting an occupation will display:
-
Occupation Code and Name
-
Stream and Category
-
Full Description
-
Common Role Titles (linked to how this role might appear in job titles)
-
Tasks, listed by time weighting
-
Skills, with proficiency level indicators
Why use the Pearson Occupation Ontology?
Pearson’s ontology ensures consistency and traceability across your workforce data. It:
-
Enables downstream analysis across standardized roles
-
Powers richer insights across tasks, skills, and training needs
-
Supports scenario modelling and future planning
Using mapped occupations rather than free-text titles makes every other module (Skills, Technologies, etc.) smarter and more useful.
Selecting an Occupation
Once you’ve found the occupation that matches your job title:
-
Click Select Occupation to confirm
-
The selected job title or employee will now be aligned with that role across the platform
You can always revisit and reclassify roles later if needed.