Check out this awful job ad

No link, just the high points.

Snippet from an actual job ad: “Yes, you will be quizzed on this.” 3 times!

I’ll lead with the takeaway: changing your messaging to overcorrect for 1 bad hire/experience makes you sound like an idiot. I mean, that’s the only way I can rationalize messaging this bad.

Here’s the full context. Company was looking to hire an internal recruiter:

• “Absolutely a must for you to be advanced proficient with Greenhouse recruiting, no exceptions. Yes, you will be quizzed on this and will not be able to fake it.”
• “Absolutely a must for you to be advanced proficient with LinkedIn Recruiter (sourcing, InMail automation and Job post optimization), no exceptions. Yes, you will be quizzed on this.”
• “You are a skilled behavioral interviewer. You approach interviewing with humility, you can train others, and you will be able to train us. Yes, you will be quizzed on this.”

Ok, I went too soft. Pre-emptively implying that your applicants are lying isn’t a good look. (Even if, well, some applicants do in fact lie.)

Regardless, two things can be true:

1. Just because you made a bad hire at some point doesn’t mean you need to maximize the abrasiveness of your job ads.
2. Some companies are so honest they can’t even hide their toxicity.

I really, really want to see how they quiz people for humility. 😂

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.