Using the right language in job postings has its benefits. And whatever benefits your company is boasting about providing can pay off, too, especially when it comes to the speed with which an open position is filled.
That’s the latest finding from Seattle’s Textio, the language analytics startup, which took a closer look at 75 benefits and perks to determine which had a positive impact on the hiring process.
Perhaps not surprisingly, being away from work is a benefit many people like about working. Of the five benefits that are credited with speeding up hiring the most, three have the word “leave” in them.
Apparently, if you need a new engineer or whatever, advertise “caregiver leave” in there somehow — the job will fill 23.5 days faster than ones without that term.
- Caregiver leave
- Adoption leave
- On site gym
- Performance based incentives
- Family leave
The rest of the words and phrases on the good list include:
- unlimited PTO
- health care insurance
- paid sick days
- holiday time off
- maternity leave
- fitness stipend
- wellness stipend
- work life balance
- free lunch
- performance based bonus
- FMLA
- family friendly
- paternity leave
- part time work
- free drinks
Four of the top-five terms that slow down the filling of an opening also have to do with being away from the office, but Textio’s findings demonstrate that “leave” is a buzzier word these days than “vacation.”
- Sabbatical
- Work remotely
- Work from home
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vacation
Sabbatical adds nine days to the hiring process, Textio says. And if your city has soul-crushing traffic and you think offering the option to work remotely or work from home adds value to a job listing, those terms slow the process by four and three days respectively.
So, come down off the climbing wall at work and skip past the onsite masseuse. Don’t bother petting the office dog either. None of those things qualify as a benefit worth advertising.
Textio also put the top benefit terms to the test and focused on companies that are doing the best job of using them to advertise in job posts. Eleven companies are making the most of the language mentioned.
Gold’s Gym topped the list by mentioning nine of the 20 leading benefit terms. But the biggest surprise of the report is the fact that the chain of fitness centers doesn’t even advertise that it has an on-site gym.
Amazon is in the thick of things with six of the top benefits and Microsoft has five.
