Looking for a safe stance on the use of exclamation marks in recruitment advertising? Me neither.
Posted by Mitch on 10th August 2011
The exclamation mark is known informally as ‘a bang’ or ‘a shriek’.
It’s frequently used in fiction and then mostly to express strong feeling in spoken dialogue.
There are broadly 3 types of people who use exclamations marks:
1. Amateurs
2. Children
3. Fashion Journalists
Clients don’t want their recruitment agencies to be any of these things – which makes the fact that some consistently use exclamation marks in their job postings all the more surprising.
So, leaving the cheap jibes aside for a moment, why is it not a good idea to use exclamation marks in recruitment advertising?
When you run an ad with the headline Sales Manager! and a first line that starts Exciting Local Company!!! it quickly raises the enthusiasm to a level that the recruiter is going to find very hard to match when the cold hard reality of working for a struggling engineering company in Runcorn has to be delivered later.
So, unless the advertised job really is worthy of a breathless jollity not seen since Lorraine Kelly interviewed Graham Norton on breakfast television, cut out the exclamation marks and make the candidate-management part of your job a little easier.
Then there is the most important piece in this part of the recruitment process.
The readers.
Please note, they’re not candidates yet.
Naturally, you want your advert to create a good impression and for the readers to take you seriously as a business professional. That means writing something that is calm, measured and accurate.
It can still sell – it just doesn’t need the shrieks at the end of the sentences.
That kind of gushy enthusiasm is off-putting at best and patronising at worse. It doesn’t matter who your target audience is because they’ll all feel like they’re being oversold to or being talked-down to. And if that loses you only one qualified candidate, it isn’t worth doing. You owe your clients at least that.
More broadly, it’s been argued by smarter people than me, that an adult’s sanity is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation marks they use when writing on the Internet. Maybe that’s a subject for another day.
Stop using exclamation marks in your job adverts, or anything else you write for that matter. If you really can’t help yourself – hire a copywriter.
If you disagree with what I’ve said here, please start your comment with I use exclamation marks and I think they’re fab!! so that I can ignore your opinion more conveniently.
Thank you.
This blog is sponsored by copywritingforrecruiters.com
Comments
By Martin Ellis on Wednesday, 10 August 2011Hi Mitch
Agree wholeheartedly. I beat you for pace, although not for content….
Looking beyond recruiters, I have to say that candidates can do drivel too. The Personal Statements are usually bland and predictable affairs that fail to inspire and enthuse. I just wish they’d take some gentle risks to gain interest - they fail to offend or interest anyone. Be provocative to elevate from the masses…..
By Shaun Windram on Thursday, 11 August 2011
A good point well made.
The use of exclamation marks screams out that the role being advertised is more junior than portrayed and the salary is below market rate, which subsequently needs some talking up for me to be interested. Good recruiters need to be smarter to capture the attention of their target market in this competitive business climate.
(Cue gloating example)
I once advertised for a Software Developer in binary code, which stood out like a sore thumb amongst the “fantastic opportunities to join forward thinking, dynamic organisations” and got a massive response Naturally some were relevant and some not so but it certainly gave us credibility within a technical market and motivated the techies to decode my message and engage with our agency.
By David Harrington on Friday, 26 August 2011
Also the liberal use of the word URGENT often followed by an exclamation mark.
It’s not urgent for me buddy even if it is for you
By Philip Hutchinson-May on Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Mitch
Good article.
Typos and poor english in adverts amaze me.
Surely recruiters understand the importance of getting their adverts right.
I agree with you that candidates have considerable choice.
By Aboodi Shabi on Thursday, 01 September 2011
Good piece.
Hunter Davies railed against the exclamation mark in a piece I read when I was about 20, and I’ve hardly ever used them since.
I often think about how little attention people pay to the impact they make in writing, when so much attention is given to the importance of good presentation.
By Andy Stevens on Tuesday, 13 September 2011
I also agree with what you have written here. Exclamation marks and CAPS provide the exact opposite result for which they are intended, in any piece of literature or marketing comms.
Whilst we are on the subject of poorly composed adverts, could we discuss those that include generic information where job seekers need specifics, e.g. ‘Competitive Salary’, ‘UK wide’ and ‘Various roles’?
Thanks(!!!!)
By Helen on Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Well argued.
While browsing the annals of Seek.com, couldn’t help but chuckle at the use of exclamation marks in an ad seeking a nurse specialising in Clozapine(!), an antipsychotic.
Perhaps it was from the patient?
The worst is multiples.
Was immediately wary upon receiving a message some time ago from a yet unknown quantity of a colleague, along the lines of:
“Looking forward to meeting you soon!!
Do you know where we get the key for the house???”
Suspicions confirmed when they had later hysterics over their dog being desexed.
Actual hysterics. As a scientist, it was most interesting to gain support for a hypothesis and see a hitherto mysterious phenomenon in one go.
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