More Recruiting Buzz Words That Are The Worst Ever

Engage 

This one is cropping up more and more in the recruiting lexicon at a disturbing rate. It's used to describe keeping in touch with a human being.

"Did you engage the candidate?" 

"Well I engage candidates all the time, how do you engage them?"

There's nothing wrong with using it as a word every once in a while, but it has become an office catch-phrase, and office catch phrases take years off your life. True story.

What happened to phrases like, you know "talked to"? Engage has become just another office buzzword that's dumbing down our language and the power of speech. 

Brand

When someone refers to their personal image or the company they work for as their brand, I IMMEDIATELY think to myself, "this person is full of it." I don't know when this became a big thing but it probably happened around the time that Social Media Manager became a paid corporate gig. 

"I'm trying to enhance my #brand by engaging candidates on a strategic level."

Ugh.

Disruptive

Why, why, why is this becoming a thing? I'm not sure who coined the phrase, but if you haven't heard it (lucky you) it refers to a technology that is supposed to "disrupt" the marketplace. So now, tech companies are describing themselves as "disruptive." 

Disruptive is a term my third-grade teacher used to describe my behavior in class. Now it's being stolen by the #Branding mavens in Silicon Valley and forced on the rest of us. It's the dark side of Silicon Valley that we all hate - the self-absorbed pretentiousness that's such a huge turn-off. The word "Disruptive" is why the show Silicon Valley is such a genius parody of the Bay Area.

Guys, I know a lot of us have Silicon Valley envy but not everything the West Coast does is cool. Please stop saying "disruptive" before it's too late.