Job-listing language as a mirror of high-tech company values

Textio, a company that makes tools for composing job-postings, analyzed the language used by major tech firms in their job listings. They found distinctive phrases that various firms used much more often than others.

Indeed, the phrases sound a bit like the uncorked ids of the firms speaking directly to you. Amazon's statistically unique phrases included "wickedly", "fast-paced environment", and "maniacal". Google were "first rate", "prove that", and "tackle" -- while Slack's were "lasting relationships", "meaningfully", and "care deeply".

And Uber? "Whatever it takes", "high-performance culture", and "all-star", of course.

As Textio CEO Kieran Snyder notes ...

In large organizations, you don't end up with thousands of people using the same words by accident. The patterns that show up across your company's jobs show what you truly value.

Sometimes this can be at odds with what you say you value. When your PR talks about work/life balance, but your team consistently advertises jobs that are work hard/play hard, your team is the one telling the truth.