How to Recruit Anyone on Social Media Basic Tip #3: No Jargon

This is the third of three basic tips on recruiting. The next articles will deal more with individual platforms, but the basics have to be right first.

Here is tip #3:
Use plain English when creating the title and in the job description, NOT company jargon.

Sometimes the temptation is to use industry or company jargon. People think that qualified job seekers with industry experience will know what the position is because they will know what the jargon means. While that does have some validity, don’t forget that companies or industries don’t always speak the same jargon as your company.

One recent position on a social media site was titled:
"Financial Sales Representative II"
What is this position? A Stock broker? Financial planner? Life Insurance sales?
In reading the description it was a bank teller who could open up new saving/checking accounts. A better title would have been: "New Accounts Teller" or "New Checking/Saving Accounts Teller"


Including the word "teller" is simple, easy to understand, everyone knows what it is, and it doesn't confuse the position with an outside or inside sales position (on a separate note, when did the word "teller" become a bad word? No bank or credit union uses it anymore). People inside the banking industry might know what a "Financial Sales Representative II" is, however as a company you might get candidates clicking on the position that are not qualified or think the position is something it is not. To me "Financial Sales Representative II" sounds like someone that sells mutual funds or bonds. As a salesperson I was interested in it. I clicked on the posting as was surprised at what I saw.

As a candidate you've wasted my time by having me click on a posting that I'm not interested in. It is also a waste of your time if I apply for the position and I'm not qualified.

Avoiding jargon, using plain language, and being blunt can also avoid confusion and save everyone time. Try the above tip the next time you advertise a sales position and see the difference it makes in your results.

Next articles deal with the different social media platforms.

Thanks for reading!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

If you missed the first two parts of this article click the links below:
Tip #1
Tip #2