Clichés, tautologies, vagueness and other rubbish found in recruitment advertising

Recruiters are in the recruitment game because (presumably) they are more interested in working in a competitive, results-focused, people-oriented environment than in working in a placid and predictable environment.

Amongst the many great skills that recruiters do possess, it appears advertisement writing is not one of them. There is no excuse for poor literacy and the predictable, dull and cliché-ridden recruitment advertisements that are a dime-a-dozen in the press and online media.

Here are my major dislikes:

‘born leader’
If you gained any of your leadership skills after you soiled your first nappy then don’t bother applying.

‘exciting opportunity’
Out of Seek.com.au’s 212,061 current vacancies, 31,581 are listed as an ‘exciting opportunity’ (do the search yourself if you don’t believe me).

‘team player’
You need to be as much of a ‘yes-person’ as everyone else in the team.

‘proven track record’
As distinct from an unproven track record.

‘can-do attitude’
Can-do what exactly?

‘strong candidate’
We ask you to bench press 80kg as part of the interview process.

 ‘true visionary’
As distinct from a false visionary.

‘you need 5 years experience in…’
Too bad if you have the necessary competencies to do the job but only have 4 years experience, we aren’t interested.

‘previous experience’
As distinct from future experience.

‘highly motivated person’
Highly motivated by what? Finishing work at 5pm, going surfing, gossiping about others, sitting on Facebook all day?

‘dynamic organisation’
Thankfully for job seekers, the number of ‘dynamic organisations’ matches the number of ‘exciting opportunities’!

‘flexible person’
If you can’t touch your toes without bending your knees then you’re stuffed.

‘outstanding communication skills’
Written? Verbal? One-on-one? Small group? Large group? Internal? External? Up-line? Down-line?

‘suitable for a man or a woman’
As distinct from a cat or a dog.

I’m not expecting recruiters to be penning prose like JK Rowling or Tim Winton but I do expect more time, thought and care to be apparent in the $800 million dollars’ worth of job advertisements that appear in Australia every year.

Remember – the more general and bland your job ad reads, the more general and bland the ad response is likely to be. The more distinct and interesting your job ad reads, the more distinct and interesting the ad response is likely to be.

There’s no excuse for the rubbish that’s served up daily to candidates. If your own name or your company’s name is on the job ad then make it an ad to be proud of.