Monday, February 28, 2011

Informal Job Ad a trend - Informal Application a taboo

There is a trend in Germany to edit job ads in an informal way. Those job ads utilize informal ways of communication (duzen) and hope to attract "young" and cool candidates as well as display company culture.

There is no research showing how these job ads are received by the candidates. I suppose many candidates are at ease with them as they do send in their applications. Maybe some are rather turned off, but this is the risk the company takes.

What's most interesting for me at this point is whether any HR staff hopes to receive job applications utilizing the same code of communication.

Does Mrs. Elke Schneider, an imaginative recruiter at a company X for the purpose of this blog post, look forward to receiving cover letter starting "Dear Elke" (Liebe Elke)?

Does she appreciate to be called Elke by an applicant calling to find out more about the advertised position?

Does an informal cover letter boost one's application or disqualifies an applicant?

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