Simplify this. A Recruitment AiDE, pt 5

Greg Wyatt • November 20, 2025

Making something simple without losing meaning is quite challenging.


It means you have to really know what you're talking about, so you can put forward an argument that has meaning for your intended audience.


These are rarely 8 year olds.


It's a key area in which most recruitment fails - adverts, job descriptions, careers sites, phone calls.


Especially when an omission can mean you may hire the wrong person entirely.


Ironically, it's overlong and could be simpler, without losing meaning. I didn't have much time to edit it.


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Who here remembers Maths at school?


When we were given a challenging formula to simplify.


A taxing task for many, but the point, which is valid in any walk of life, was that a simplified formula is easier to read while having the same meaning.


If you got the simplification wrong, your answer would be different to the correct one, with a different meaning.


Even if the simplified answer has little meaning to you, it is inherently easier to copy. Because it has fewer numbers and letters.


It’s the same in language. No surprise, given maths is language.


Fun fact – my Doctor friend Rich reliably informs me that many medical terms are in Latin simply to make them sound more plausible.


The reason, he says, is to make patients think Doctors know what they are doing and make the guesswork of Doctory seem more scientific.


I’m sure there are also reasons of consistency and actual Science, but let’s believe Rich for once.


Often the English translation sounds silly or trivial.


The terrifying malady Borborygmus is a rumbling tummy. If you suffer from Singultus, well that’s just hiccups.


How would you rather them be described?


Sounding clever is a valid tactic in US politics, and the filibuster is used to prevent decisions from being made, or from allowing others to have their say. Talk, talk, talk - so that no one else can.


Can you imagine how a date would go down if the other half filibustered their way through dinner?


As well as being aggravating, you wouldn’t come away knowing anything about them except that they love the sound of their own voice.


The danger of sounding too clever is that it pushes your audience away from finding real meaning.


This makes it a troubling truth that the majority of recruitment messages are nothing but hot air, dressed up with words that are hoped to seem grander.


The psychology is much the same as in Medicine, using Verborrhea to make us seem smarter and more trustworthy. I’m sure you can guess what Verborrhea is - it’s on my word-of-the-day toilet paper.


But the opposite is often true. If you hide behind clever words, it can show you haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.


What would happen if you write in the language of your audience, simplifying words and concepts without losing meaning?


For a start, your message would be shorter and likely more precise.


Here’s a list of classic clever words, and their normal counterparts:


1/ Utilise/leverage – use

2/ Facilitate – help

3/ Ascertain – find out

4/ Expedite – speed up

5/ Mitigate – reduce

6/ Acquire – gain

7/ Implement – carry out

8/ Paradigm – example

9/ Out-of-the-box / blue sky – creative

10/ Thought leader – expert

11/ Core competencies – skills

12/ Interpersonal skills – people skills

13/ Deliverables – results

14/ Quantifiable – measurable

15/ Synergy – collaboration

16/ Value proposition – benefits

17/ ROI – return on investment

18/ TLA – three letter abbreviation (tla) – always better to write them out first

19/ Disruptive – innovative

20/ Innovative – how so?


What confuses matters is that, much like in Maths, you can only simplify to a point. Words have meaning, when used well. Simplify too far, and they lose meaning and gain ambiguity.


Utilise has seven letters. Leverage uses eight, ineffectively. Use utilises three. Use wins, right?


Utilise is defined as “to use effectively”, so can be utilised instead of “use effectively”, because it’s fewer words and letters.


Leverage means, in this context, “to use for maximum advantage”. It sounds great if you leverage the power of LinkedIn but, let’s be honest, most of us just use it and many don’t use it well at all.


If this seems pedantic, consider this:


I feel used vs I feel utilised.


Using the simplest words possible, without creating ambiguity, makes your content more accessible, trustworthy, approachable and widens your audience.


Replacing simple words with longer ones to sound cleverer can both have the opposite effect and be used incorrectly.


Myself has six letters. Me?


Which sounds better: pass me the butter, or pass myself the butter?


If it doesn’t sound good, it likely isn’t.


Simplicity doesn’t mean ease, and it can take a lot of effort to write a message that has maximum meaning in the fewest words and simplest way.


While simplicity is a skill to develop, there are steps we’ve already talked about that help: so what, why does it matter?

If it doesn’t need to be there, take it out. If there’s a simpler word, use that. If a term raises a question, change it so that the question needn’t be asked.


Why say leverage instead of use? If you can’t answer, ‘use’ is the word.


‘Clever words’ can be confused with words that have meaning.


For example, a “Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning Manager” (SIOP Manager) is an integrated specialism in Supply Chain Management.


However, a Supply Chain Manager may have the skills set required, without necessarily considering themselves a SIOP Manager.

Wouldn’t you rather have that discussion, than let them assume?


AI – Large language models (LLM). This is an example of a catch-all marketing term that doesn’t have an implicit meaning.


The LLM that is ChatGPT is the hot AI discussion point today, but it isn’t genuine AI. Here the seemingly more complicated Large Language Model is the better term, if say you were recruiting for a Natural Language specialist.


An AI specialist might invite applications from Data Scientists or Computer Vision engineers.


So while AI might seem simpler and cooler, it can also be the dead wrong term to use.


I’m sure it’s an easy fallback if you don’t know what you’re talking about, but can you see how that will work against you?


The point of simpler communication is to give better meaning to the readers that matter – the candidates you want to talk to.


The next newsletter continues this theme, by looking at specific parts of recruitment where words can help and hinder: job titles, job descriptions, key skills, and so on.


I’ll show myself out.


Regards,

Greg

Introduction to personal branding

By Greg Wyatt • March 30, 2026
What follows is Chapter 39 of A Career Breakdown Kit (2026) . It's 10 months old, so surely the algorithm has moved on right? Indeed, my own content performance has tanked if you compare 2026 to 2025. Around 12 million views of my content last year, while if I extrapolate my year to date performance, it looks like a little shy of 640,000 views. My LinkedIn feed is quieter, yet real life relevant conversations go from strength to strength, many of which stem from my content. Look, I don't love the term, but I am a fan of putting your message out there, across multiple means, so that your most relevant audience might become aware of you. And perhaps your relevant audience is an audience of one, a person who can put you nearer that job. Which is the only algorithm you need. This is a three part series, with part 2 on " Content strategy and philosophy " and part 3 on " A flair post ". Click on the links for the unedited versions on Substack. 39 - Introduction to personal branding Whatever you think of LinkedIn, you shouldn’t overlook its nature as a free marketing platform, where you can build a reputation through the words of your posts, comments and messages. Personal branding is a viable tactic as part of a multi-channel approach to your job search and it can bring opportunities to you. I'll start off by saying I'm not a fan of the term personal branding. It can lead to make-work which can even get in the way of what you should be doing. Writing and using content to create experiences that support a job search is a great idea and calling it personal branding - as a discrete activity - isn’t a bad thing. I expect there are many mediums through which you can build a personal brand. I'll focus on LinkedIn because of how entrenched it is in other job search activities. What a personal brand is For businesspeople the idea is that by building awareness of your personality, lifestyle and what you're promoting, you also build trust. So that when people are ready to buy, they'll buy your products. The brand might be personal. The goal is sales. When you see personal branding on LinkedIn it’s often a business that promotes their services through the account of the author. ‘Here’s my puppy, buy my stuff.’ Take note that the target audience for these advice posts is the businesspeople above. And these posts often seek to part them from their money. Your goals are similar. If there’s a commercial outcome you want, it’s likely a single job, not a throughput of leads. You’ll also see that controversial content gets huge engagement and can also repel readers. If you need a job, what’s the danger of writing overly spicy content? Could a reader make a decision against you based on your words? How much you need any job should inform the experience you want to create for your readers. How it sits in your wider job search Publishing content is about raising awareness and starting conversations with the right people. This can be your profile, written posts, newsletters, (bestselling) career breakdown kits, videos, you name it - anything you can become known for. In many ways the hierarchy of relationships your content appeals to is the same as with networking. Content can be publishing posts, commenting on the posts of others, sending direct messages. I’d argue even your applications and interviews are part of your personal brand. I think of LinkedIn posts like a plumber’s van driving around town. Most of the time you’ll disregard the van unless it cuts you up with noxious fumes. When you have a leaky pipe, you’ll surely take note of their number. It can support an application if a hiring manager decides to surreptitiously stalk your profile. And it can work against you if it suggests problem behaviour. A good balance for content is the poster in my daughters’ primary school from a few years back: THINK. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? Achieve those five points and content will rarely work against your job search. Content should be consistent with your wider activity. Which means that everything people (potential employers) experience of you is a complementary and non-contradictory message. Content that contradicts your CV or cover letter may lead to red flags, whether that’s fair or not. Content should be intentional. HOW TO GO viral, and why you shouldn’t Anyone who writes content will enjoy the sweet, sweet flow of dopamine when you see reactions and comments trickle in. Such as that first flair post announcing you are available to help your next employer with examples of your achievements and what you are looking for. Do that and you’ll get loads of engagement. Why haven’t you done it yet? Tag me in and I’ll support you. Or you can do what most people do and say, ‘I’m sorry to announce I’ve lost my job, please help’ and that will get loads too. Because it is relevant and relatable to fellow job seekers, recruiters and sympathisers. Then you feel the soul-crushing defeat of a well-thought-out post, highlighting a problem in your industry, with tumbleweed to follow. Both types of content have a place. That tumbleweed post is relevant and relatable to a niche audience. I try to take a land and expand approach to content - job seeker advice, recruitment advice and stories, ponderings and satire, which I use to tackle topics from different directions. Over the past three years I’ve had between 3m to 11m views of my posts and I’ve gained a bit of business through them too. What I don’t do is try to go viral anymore. Because when I have gone viral with a few 1m impression posts, it’s taken weeks to extricate myself from them and there hasn’t been real benefit. I find my tumbleweed posts start better conversations from lurkers - those that never engage publicly. I promised you I’d show you how to go viral. Here you go. Relevance + relatability + readability + entitlement. Maybe add a selfie. If that seems too simple, search for this sentence on LinkedIn: “An employee asked me if he can WORK from HOME permanently.” You’ll need to use the double speech mark to search on the phrase, and rank by Posts. ‘Does it really work?’ asked Charles. I told him to try it as an experiment. He rarely got more than a few hundred impressions per post. 170,000 impressions, 2,000 reactions. Pretty viral for a first timer. It is the wrong path. What do these posts actually say? Who are they aimed at? And if they don’t appeal to people who can help you reach your objective, what’s the point? 

Nothing but the truth. Innovation from Iteration, pt 4

By Greg Wyatt • March 26, 2026
I was tempted to use another Tom Cruise AI image for this article, but his hands ended up looking like feet, which wasn't a true representation of him. Probably not fair to use AI in this way either, stealing copyrighted material without permission. And so I use this AI 'stock image' instead, which is probably also highly unethical, but feels more suitable and sufficient . Anyway here's an article about why the same principles are crucial for good recruitment: ‘True and Fair’ is an accountancy concept that lies at the heart of reporting, and can be applied effectively in recruitment. Its meaning is that any financial statement made about a company should accurately and completely represent its financial position and performance. The role of auditing is to confirm that documentation meets this definition. Do so and everyone knows what they are dealing with. HMRC, shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees – useful, and in many cases necessary, to have access to a true and fair view of a company’s accounts. Can something be true and not fair? In 2001, Enron went bust, a huge scandal with real-life repercussions that led to new legislation in the US. Their accounts were true, in that they conformed with the required laws and standards. However they had an incredibly complex reporting structure which made it impossible to see the overwhelming debt they had. Poof! Bye-bye a $100bn company when this all came out in the wash. How about fair but not true? This can happen if a situation is described which gives a fair picture but lacks accuracy. An example here could be the UK politician who HMRC deemed behaved fairly but made errors in his tax reporting. Only a few million quid plus penalty. What types of recruitment documentation does this apply to? Three key ones that spring to mind (although there’s no reason it can’t be applied everywhere): The job description. The job advertisement. The CV. If these three documents were always a true and fair representation of either a job or a candidate, you’d interview and hire better candidates who stick around longer. With the caveat that these documents should also be ‘suitable and sufficient’, if you remember last week's edition. Documents are the first step in a recruitment process, relating to a decision to apply and the decision to interview. Is it not the case, that the second most common complaint in recruitment is “not what we expected”? Therefore, if we nipped this complaint in the bud, with true and fair documentation, wouldn’t life be better for everyone in the recruitment process? What does true and fair mean in recruitment documentation? I think it has to cover three points. 1/ factually correct 2/ shows context suitably 3/ describes sufficiently An immediate objection might be that job descriptions are always true and fair, but I’d argue this is actually rarely the case. If you recruit for a new role, do you audit your job description against the current context? If you have a generic job family description does it show the specific day-to-day duties of a role? Have things changed in the current role that makes it different to the last time you recruited? A common scenario in recruitment is that Greg resigns, and the hiring manager says “we’d love someone just like Greg”. Yet if Greg resigned, wouldn’t someone just like Greg be at risk of resigning for the same reasons in future? Would now-Greg have applied for the same role that then-Greg applied for? Which definition of Greg is the true and fair one you’d hire? It feels strange writing my name like this. There are lots of different situations in which a job description that was true and fair a few years ago is no longer so. The only way to ensure it is true and fair, is to audit documentation prior to going live. You may think a fully representative and accurate contextual analysis is too time-consuming for most vacancies, especially where it doesn’t actually matter if there is some inaccuracy. “Oh yeah, that’s not relevant anymore”. But if you have a key hire that can make a difference in your business, ‘true and fair’ should be the starting point, each and every time. If you have a systematic process that finds truth and fairness, you’ll see the benefit of applying the same across any vacancy – for the reason that the time invested at the outset is offset by interviewing fewer unsuitable candidates and wasting less time and resources overall. And what should be the more important reason of better recruitment outcomes. For any project I take on, this is the first step – getting the documentation in order. Get it right and everything flows from there. It’s a key reason behind my nearly 100% fill rate. It’s also one of the reasons my average tenure is over 4 years for key hires. These achievements don’t come down to chance. They come from my process. If you've forgotten why suitability and sufficiency is the other pillar, here's an example that isn't suitable: Nineteen experiential bullet points might be true and fair but will also encourage ideal candidates to run away screaming. See you next time. Regards, Greg p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services: - commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than two vacancies) - manage part or all of your recruitment on an individually designed basis for one client. This can be a large as end-to-end delivery of a programme of vacancies, or as small as writing one job advert for a key hire- recruitment strategy setting - outplacement support