JOBS MUST: 💼 How Creative Job Seekers and Recruiters Are Using Emojis

Great examples of good job emoji to inspire you.

Photo by iabzd

Back in my in Computer Science days in the '90s, most of our work in the labs was spent facing screens that rarely had more than two colors displayed at a time, usually orange or green text on a black background.

It was so dreary (although arguably easier to focus).

Nowadays, the bright colors of emoji are a lot more interesting to look at than plain text, and their designs get cuter and more fun all the time.

If you like that kind of thing. Which I do.

However, in the party pooper world of corporate recruitment, fun and cute don't often play well (there are some fantastic exceptions).

A 2017 study called “The Dark Side of a Smiley: Effects of Smiling Emoticons on Virtual First Impressions” concluded that:

In face-to-face contact, smiling individuals are perceived as warmer and as more competent than non-smiling individuals… [but] contrary to actual smiles, smileys do not increase perceptions of warmth and actually decrease perceptions of competence.

Reading a little deeper, the implication is more that you should avoid using emojis in a work context when trying to impress people who don't know you, while the work emoji use is OK with people who do, such as colleagues, collaborators, etc.

As you'll see below, job seekers seem to be taking this lesson to heart while, surprisingly, it's recruiters who haven't been getting the message.

Here are some of the creative ways job seekers and recruiters are using emoji.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Emoji cover letter

This was actually created as a joke to write in emoji:

Emoji resume

Although they don't often send them to recruiters, designers love to make creative resumes to show off their skills, and this one is no different:

Emoji job board infographic ad

Hat tip to @vickisalemi:

Emoji recruitment ad for job seeking recruiters

Funny literal translation:

Comment from discussion Kantor48's comment from discussion "Not sure which is worse, the awful emoji text or the other sycophantic recruiters.".

Emoji used in a recruitment ad for engineers and developers

Cool to see @intercom hiring through emoji in Dublin. That kind of brevity would impress Beckett. pic.twitter.com/89lkAYaaXT

— paul hayes (@paulhayesman) October 9, 2015

Work emoji job descriptions

Recruitment marketing company TMP Worldwide challenged their employees to describe their jobs in these great emoji combinations.

John Elstad, SEO Director:

Josh Phillips, SEM Team Lead:

Sehare Hemani, Content Marketing Manager:

Chris Grasso, Vice President, Business Development:

Ali Kelley, Content Marketing Specialist:

Emoji job applications

In 2016, L'Oreal asked people to apply for jobs with emojis:

We, sure, love it, Rose! #weareloreal

— L'Oréal Talent (@lorealtalent) October 18, 2016

Job rejection via emoji

It wasn't so funny when a restaurant in the UK rejected a waitress applicant with a laughing emoji:

The restaurant later apologized, explaining that “the texts were sent in error and were intended for our manager, not the candidate. However, we expect our team to act professionally at all times and to give constructive feedback after any interview via email.”