Cliché tax
Coined by Aron VeraartFrom: The Cliché Tax: What Every Cliché in Your Job Ad Costs You
Definition
What you lose every time your job ad uses a phrase that could be in any job ad, like 'dynamic team' or 'competitive salary'. Every cliché is a spot where a real fact could have been.
Aron VeraartUpdated Clichés feel harmless when you write them. "Hands-on mentality." "Fast-paced environment." "Great team." But every one of them costs you something, and that's the cliché tax.
You pay it in two ways. First, clichés are signals. When a candidate reads "competitive salary," they don't think "nice," they think "they're not telling me the number." When they read "dynamic team," they hear "we didn't really think about you." Second, clichés make your ad look exactly like every other ad, so even if someone reads it, they don't remember it, and they don't remember you.
The fix is a simple rule: every cliché gets replaced by a fact, a number or a moment. Something that would only be true at your company, for this job.
Example
Before: "Join our dynamic team in a fast-paced environment. We offer a competitive salary and growth opportunities."
After: "You'll join a team of four planners who handle about a hundred trucks a day. Pay is $52,000 to $58,000. Two of our current team leads started in this exact role."
Same job. The second version can't be copy-pasted onto another company's ad, and that's the point.