The CX tower of Babel: what CX job descriptions tell us about corporate CX initiatives

Abstract

This forum is dedicated to maximizing the success of HCI practitioners within the frenetic world of product and service design. It focuses on UX strategy approaches, leadership, management techniques, and above all the challenge of bringing HCI to peer-level status with longstanding business disciplines such as marketing and engineering. --- Daniel Rosenberg, Editor

References

1. Specifically, I searched for job openings using the term customer experience or its abbreviation CX in the title. I excluded CX consultant roles---I focused on CX roles working inside a company. Clearly, there are "CX" roles that may use other terms such as client experience, and the wide range of user experience JDs may also imply a broader CX role. It should be noted as well that executive positions, such as customer experience officer, are not typically posted on job sites but are more likely found through executive search consultants. As such, they were not represented in my research.
2. Using JDs as proxies for understanding CX activities has its limitations. Because they are written collaboratively by a number of different stakeholders, they may evolve into a Frankenstein's reflection of many team members' idealistic but unrealistic views of a CX role. Nonetheless, they do signal the aspirations that the hiring team has for the role. They also set expectations for candidates.
3. https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/customer-experience-management-cem
4. https://go.forrester.com/blogs/14-08-19-video_recap_day_two_of_forresters_customer_experience_forum_east_2014/
5. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience/
6. Note that only in some JDs did they imply other teams were conducting qualitative research (e.g., "Use quantitative and qualitative data"). In a significant percentage of CX Hopefuls, no mention was made at all.

Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Arts and humanities

  • Life and medical sciences

    • Consumer health

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

  • Interaction design

    • Interaction design process and methods

      • User interface design