How and Why to Attract Former Felons in Your Job Postings

Posted by & filed under Job Ads.

With unemployment in the U.S. at the lowest rate (3.9%) in 19 years, companies like Apple, Boeing, McDonalds and Delta Airlines are hiring former felons. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo describes this massive talent pool: “70 million Americans have a criminal record—that’s 1 in 3 adults. There are currently 2.3 million people behind bars in this… Read more »

Using Workday Recruiting ATS? Here Are Key Areas to Optimize

Posted by & filed under Applicant Tracking System.

Are you an employer using the Workday ATS? Workday Recruiting has grown to become a top applicant tracking system among employers. For example, Workday edged out Taleo as the #1 ATS used by Fortune 500 companies according to our recent ATS report for Fortune 500 companies:   As Workday continues to be a top ATS system,… Read more »

Top Applicant Tracking Systems Leading Employers Migrate To (2019)

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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 »

LGBTQ Bias graphic

5 Easy Ways to Remove LGBTQ Bias from Your Job Descriptions

Posted by & filed under Diversity and Inclusion.

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?

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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)

Posted by & filed under Company Career Site.

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

Posted by & filed under Writing 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)

Posted by & filed under Writing Job Descriptions.

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

Posted by & filed under Recruiting Software.

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)

Posted by & filed under Applicant Tracking System.

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 »

Clinical-Sounding Job Postings

50 Phrases to Avoid So You Don’t Have Clinical-Sounding Job Postings

Posted by & filed under Writing Job Descriptions.

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?

Posted by & filed under Diversity and Inclusion.

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

Posted by & filed under Writing 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 job posting

Newsday Gets Hammered On Disability Language for This Job Posting

Posted by & filed under Writing Job Descriptions.

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

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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 »