Words You Can’t Use For Recruitment Marketing
I get a lot of bad marketing e-mails from HR technologists and content contributors. Knowing what the industry is up to is part of the job.
Feeling violated by vocabulary, not so much.
I hesitate to give broad advice about marketing, recruiting, really anything because I know there’s no such thing as golden rules. Some things work for most people, some do not.
However, when it comes to vocabulary, I have some broad advice. That advice, in short, being “please don’t say that.” This applies to marketing any product and especially in your recruitment marketing programs.
Banned Recruitment Marketing Vocabulary
- Thrusting
- Moist
- Guzzle
- Grinding
- Beaver (literally did an entire SuperBowl campaign on this. Not THAT beaver. This one.)
- Stroke
- Twerk
- Huuuuuge – shout out to the woman at SHRM Louisiana who told everyone one of the speakers was making a “huuuuuge contribution.” Yes, everyone thought she was talking about his junk.
What’s the most, unintentionally, vulgar word you’ve seen in a job description or any other marketing program?
recruiting social media strategy banned vocabulary HR and recruiting marketing recruiting recruitment marketing social media marketing
Kat Kibben View All →
Kat Kibben [they/them] is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate who teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive job postings that will get the right person to apply faster.
Before founding Three Ears Media, Katrina was a CMO, Technical Copywriter, and Managing Editor for leading companies like Monster, Care.com, and Randstad Worldwide. With 15+ years of recruitment marketing and training experience, Katrina knows how to turn talented recruiting teams into talented writers who write for people, not about work.
Today, Katrina is frequently featured as an HR and recruiting expert in publications like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. They’ve been named to numerous lists, including LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Job Search & Careers. When not speaking, writing, or training, you’ll find Katrina traveling the country in their van or spending some much needed downtime with the dogs that inspired the name Three Ears Media.
“Expose”