An applicant tracking system migration is one of the biggest HR projects you’ll face in talent acquisition. Are you curious which ATS systems leading employers are moving to? As part of our research into ATS market share (see Top ATS Systems Used by the Fortune 500 in 2019 (Workday Beats Taleo) and The Top Applicant Tracking Systems… Read more »
5 Easy Ways to Remove LGBTQ Bias from Your Job Descriptions
Do the words in your job descriptions contain LGBTQ bias? If you’re hiring 100+ people per year, it’s more likely than not that your job descriptions contain LGBTQ bias, according to Ongig’s Text Analyzer job description software. I’ll give you some tips to remove LGBTQ bias below. First off, what is LGBTQ? The acronym stands… Read more »
How Does Jeff Bezos Score Writing His First Amazon Job Ad?
Early Amazon employee Glenn Fleishman told Internet History Podcast that Amazon had a hard time hiring developers in its early days. We decided to run Amazon’s first known job posting (from August 22, 1994) through Ongig’s Text Analyzer software to see how his job description text scores using today’s best technology. Ongig’s Text Analyzer is… Read more »
Best Career Pages 2019 (Part 2)
If you’re looking for a list of the best career pages in 2019, you’ve come to the right place (note: the Part 1 of this is here: The 15 Best Career Pages in 2019). Here’s the deal: Company career pages are evolving at an astounding rate. With employer branding and recruitment marketing initiatives taking priority,… Read more »
Caution: Avoid These 3 “Exclusionary” Personal Pronoun Mistakes in Job Descriptions
Using the wrong personal pronoun (he, she, his, her, etc.) can turn off groups of candidates. Here are 3 examples of personal pronouns NOT to use along with synonyms I recommend. Personal Pronoun/Job Description Tip #1: Don’t Refer to Candidate as “He” Check out this first job ad below. In the second paragraph it reads:… Read more »
Top 50 Most Used Adverbs in Job Descriptions (+ ones to delete)
A talent leader asked me when she should use adverbs in writing job descriptions. So, it turns out that using too many adverbs in your job descriptions reduces your apply rate (more on that below). Reminder on the definition of adverbs: adverbs are intensifier words that give greater definition to an adjective, verb or other… Read more »
3 Types of Recruiting Software To Supercharge Your Applicant Tracking System
If you’re looking to get more out of your applicant tracking system, you might consider these 3 types of recruiting software. They easily integrate with your ATS and can give you a better ROI. Let’s dive in: 1. Text Analyzer for Job Descriptions Analyze your job descriptions for gender bias, racial bias, age bias and/or… Read more »
Top ATS Systems Used by the Fortune 500 in 2019 (Workday Beats Taleo)
2020 Editor’s NOTE — We have the updated version for 2020 here: Top Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS Software) in 2020 Enjoy! — Rob ——————- Workday is the #1 ATS system used by Fortune 500 companies, narrowly beating Taleo. That’s what we found after a review of the 476 Fortune 500 companies that show their applicant tracking… Read more »
50 Phrases to Avoid So You Don’t Have Clinical-Sounding Job Postings
Do your job postings have clinical-sounding words? Do they sound “prescriptive”. Perhaps they look like an attorney wrote them — full of “legalese”. Your job posting should, of course, be an ad…not a legal contract. Check out the beginning of this nursing job ad below (analyzed by Ongig’s Text Analyzer job description software). Ongig’s software… Read more »
Will “Masculine” Companies Need to Change their Name?
When Kleenex (after 62 years!) scrapped its “Mansize” Kleenex tissues (see the below tweet that helped spark the social movement for Kleenex to change), it got me thinking about what else might need to get gender-neutralized. Hi @Kleenex_UK. My 4yo son asked me what was written here. Then he asked, why are they called mansize?… Read more »
7 Best Practices for Using Bullets in Job Descriptions
How many bullets should you use in a job description? Does your job posting have too many bullets? Great questions. I’ve been asked a bunch of these job description bullet-related questions. I did my best to answer those and more below. It’s all the best practices I know about the most effective use of bullets… Read more »
Newsday Gets Hammered On Disability Language for This Job Posting
On the heels of 7 Controversial Stories About Job Descriptions, here’s another cautionary tale of poor wording in job postings. It was discovered by Wendy Lu, a self-prolaimed “Proud Disabled Woman” (vocal cord paralysis). Wendy found a job ad posted by Newsday, the Long Island-based newspaper in New York, for a general assignment reporter. It included… Read more »
12 Examples of Poorly Written Job Descriptions
Poorly written job descriptions share certain things in common. I’ve analyzed (by hand) many thousands of job descriptions and created this checklist of the”worst job description practices” to avoid. 1. Poorly Written Job Descriptions Have Long Job Titles The job title is key. It’s usually the first thing a candidate sees. Job titles with 1… Read more »
7+ Helpful Controversial Stories About Job Descriptions [With Key Learnings]
Job descriptions are in the news lately. A lot of controversy. So, I’m hoping you’re not in any of them. But, that got me digging. So, I went back a few years to find stories about controversial job postings. There’s Uber, Abercrombie, Walmart, and other lesser-known names as well. I’m starting a list here as… Read more »
What 7 Years Running a Dating Advice Company Taught Me About Recruiting
Recruiting is like dating. Before Ongig, I had a great job as CEO of a dating advice company. We helped millions of single men (and some single women) become more successful at dating. Here are a few ways I found that recruiting is like dating: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” Oscar Wilde is… Read more »
