Get Kat's latest posts and free downloads sent to your inbox.

    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? 

    Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 8.55.40 AM

    Related Articles

    Mobile recruiting faux pas and candidate experience expectations.

    Reflecting on my past in corporate America and the formula for burnout (and regret).

    Grief can make things - all of life, really - feel weird for a while. I guess that's what they mean when they say "holding it together."

    Thanks to people like you reading this website, I have a top 9 blogs of 2021. In case you missed one, here’s our annual roundup.

    Discover more from Three Ears Media

    Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

    Continue reading