OfferBrief Evidence guides

Occupation / 03

From Job Title to SOC Code: A Mapping Checklist

Use actual duties, a candidate occupation and explicit uncertainty to choose a more useful salary benchmark.

Start with what the person does. A job title alone does not establish an occupation match.

Editorial review: October 30, 2026 · Data periods are stated beside each example

An example where the title is not enough

Fictional role · editorial example

Title on the offer“Platform Engineer”

The title alone could describe software development, infrastructure work or a mixed role. Ask for the duties before picking the wage series.

Illustrative duties
Analyze user requirements, design internal software services, modify application code and evaluate the resulting software.
Candidate profile
O*NET Software Developers, 15-1252.00. These duties overlap with the profile’s requirements analysis and software design/development tasks.
Unresolved questions
How much time is spent on development, production operations, network administration or people management? Does the role own software design or primarily maintain systems?
What to record
A provisional candidate, the duties supporting it, competing interpretations and the questions still awaiting an answer. No certified match or confidence percentage is implied.

Build your own mapping note

  1. List core duties. Use the employer’s role description and what the team actually expects.
  2. Read the occupation tasks. Check the source profile, not just its title or a search snippet.
  3. Keep alternatives visible. If the duties span occupations, explain the ambiguity instead of forcing one match.
  4. Carry the code into the benchmark. For this example, the O*NET code is 15-1252.00 and the BLS wage occupation is SOC 15-1252.
  5. Ask for clarification. Confirm duties, geography and package terms before treating a salary number as relevant to the offer.

This is a practical evidence checklist, not an official classification determination or an immigration wage determination. It does not change OfferBrief’s classifier or certify its accuracy.

Bring the context back to your offer

Use the evidence to identify questions about duties, location and compensation terms.

Analyze your offer