Here’s how to hire a former President

Jan 24, 2017

Senior Director of Communications and Data Insights

Barack Obama left the White House a few days ago, claiming he wanted to take a vacation. But that doesn’t stop a bunch of start-ups that are already trying to catch his attention with flashy job posts. Two of the most vocal companies trying to attract Obama post-presidency are Spotify and Cards Against Humanity. Whether it is spinning tunes or playing cards, they both seem like entertaining gigs on the surface, but which one goes deeper than curb-appeal?

Textio has shown that the language companies use in a job post changes who applies, which ultimately determines who gets hired, and how fast. Textio’s predictive engine looks at 70 million real-world job posts and hiring outcomes to discover the language patterns that statistically impact recruiting performance.

We put the job postings by Spotify and Cards Against Humanity into Textio’s predictive engine to see which was more likely to be well-played (pun intended):

Job post from Spotify. The title is President of Playlists. The Textio score is 92 (very strong). Strengths: Length is just about right, Limited corporate cliches, Strong equal opportunity statement, Balances "we" statements and "you" statements, Strong use of active language, Appropriate use of adjectives, Strong use of verbs — Spotify’s President of Playlists job description

Job post from Cards Against Humanity. Title: Cards Agains Humanity is hiring a CEO! Textio score is 47. Strengths: length is just about right, limited corporate cliches, good use of bulleted lists, strong use of active language, strong use of words. Problems: missing equal opportunity statement, needs more 'you' statements — Cards Against Humanity’s CEO job description

The results are pretty surprising. Spotify come out on top by a decent margin, with a Textio score of 92, while Cards Against Humanity scored a 47. Job posts that score above a 90 in Textio see 24% more qualified candidates, 12% more diversity, and fill 17% faster.

What can we learn from Spotify?

Keep a gender-neutral tone

Spotify was biased slightly feminine in tone, but it was far closer to gender-neutral than Cards Against Humanity’s post (which was biased slightly masculine in tone). As we have written about before, having a gender-neutral tone is a critical aspect of recruiting the widest possible cross-section of qualified applicants.

Use informal language

Spotify also showed they are paying attention to cultural trends with a less formal job post. Rather than using language like the “ideal candidate,” Spotify appealed to President Obama as a person, with phrases like “who you are” and “what you will do.” Another highlight of Spotify’s post is their strong use of positive adjectives like “passionate” to draw in job seekers.

Add an equal opportunity statement

One of the big things missing from from Cards Against Humanity’s CEO listing is an equal opportunity statement. While they include a line about encouraging minorities and women to apply, they don’t push that further to include the inclusive environment of the workplace itself. We’ve found that jobs with strong equal opportunity statements fill an average of 10% more quickly than jobs without them. We also discovered that the more authentically you write about the real value that having a diverse team brings to your organization, the more it will lead to better hiring outcomes overall.