Dawson Language Matters

Elements of The Dawson Experience

Experts Delivering Excellent Experiences

At Dawson, we believe that by simply delivering excellent experiences to our Clients and Job Seekers, we provide a differentiator in our industry. We look for ways to go above and beyond, it’s the simple gestures such as coffee and fresh-baked cookies in our lobby, to tuition reimbursement for our working college students. And, we have the stats to prove it; with an average 91% excellent rating from more than 1500 candidates each year. For our Clients, we like to think our key to success is establishing trusted relationships, overcommunicating, and offering HR support from our tenured experts.

Community Rentals

We have the opportunity to introduce our brand to community members by hosting networking events and renting our theater and training room. Each year, thousands of guests walk through our doors to attend an event who might be interacting with us for the very first time.

The Dawson Bus - Our Mobile Recruitment Center

Our mobile recruitment center is another way we can deliver a memorable brand experience. It’s hard not to evoke a reaction when our bus pulls up. It’s a way for us to share our innovative approaches. Job seekers are able to interact with our recruiters at mobile job fairs; Clients and associates connect with our brand when we deliver treats from the bus at ice cream socials, or fill the bus with toys during our annual toy drive. We also treat the bus as a mobile billboard, generating awareness and building our brand anytime it’s on the go.

The way we speak and write can make or break the experience someone has with us. Every interaction with each of our audiences should create a positive, lasting memory.

Through in-person focus groups conducted at Dawson, industry research commissioned by the American Staffing Association, and day-to-day conversations with our customers, we’ve learned a lot about the way they talk about our business.

We want to talk to all of our audiences with a friendly, approachable tone using language that makes sense to them (What is a Client-based staffing agency, anyway?). That’s why we’ve created these guidelines to help you become a better communicator.

Dawson Language Guidelines

External or branded communications from Dawson should generally follow AP Style. (we’ve chosen this style because we believe in brief, concise writing – saying more with fewer words and characters). There are, however, some exceptions. Those exceptions and other important grammar, copy, and style rules are outlined in the pages that follow.

Following these language guidelines enhances the integrity of our brand, by ensuring: › Consistency › Clarity › Accuracy › Brevity

Branded Communications from Dawson include: › Job board postings › Social media posts (LinkedIn posts, tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram captions) › All external advertising (B2B and B2C) › All internal communication pieces (emails, newsletters, company updates) › All printed marketing collateral and brochures › Powerpoint and other Client-facing presentations › Email communication with all of our audiences

Abbreviations and Acronyms When using an acronym the reader may not recognize, define the phrase word-for-word on first mention, followed by abbreviation in parentheses. Abbreviation or acronym is appropriate in second and later mentions. Example: Dawson’s Managed Services Provider (MSP) team is headquartered at Riverside Methodist Hospital. Count on Dawson MSP to help staff your business more efficiently. Never use periods in acronyms: ASA, not A.S.A. Never use an apostrophe to make an abbreviation plural: CPAs, not CPA’s. If an abbreviation is more common than the long form (OSU, NCAA, CPA, etc.), you may use it at your discretion.

All Caps Please refrain from using ALL CAPS, as it is generally understood as YELLING at the consumer. We want to appear friendly, polished, and professional; and avoiding the use of all caps will help us achieve this goal.

Ampersands Aside from proper division or company names (Accounting & Finance, Abercrombie & Fitch), don’t use them – they are informal, and could appear lazy.

Apostrophes NEVER make anything plural with an apostrophe – this includes BDMs, DMs, and CPAs. If this looks wrong to you, retrain your brain.

Capitalization Use common sense. Do not capitalize these words: website, email, online, or internet.

Colleagues, Clients and Communities Speaking of capitalization, we always capitalize these three words and treat them as proper nouns (they’re all important to us!)

Commas The Oxford comma is our friend: today, tomorrow, and always. Company Names and Their Products Always honor companies’ brand convictions, according to their official websites or style guides. (examples: lululemon, OhioHealth, iTunes, YouTube, Walmart)

Dates and Times Follow AP Style (Day of week spelled out; Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. abbreviated) Never use “th,” “st,” or “rd;” people intuitively read dates that way. Example: Monday, Nov. 18, 2014 Use numbers except for Noon and Midnight; Noon and Midnight are always capitalized. Use a space between the time and a.m. or p.m. Example: 9 a.m., Noon, 3:30 p.m. We do not use :00 for on-the-hour times, because it does not add information. :15, :35, :45, etc. add information.

Emojis We love them too, just not in professional communications. Save them for texts with your mom.

Exclamation Points Use them sparingly; not everything is exciting. Never use more than one; it’s unprofessional.

Hiring Divisions Always capitalized as proper nouns Always listed in the following order: Office & Customer Service, Warehouse & Distribution, Marketing & Creative, Accounting & Finance, IT (not Information Technology), Legal – see icons and sample positions on page 13.

Industry Language or “Jargon” Know your audience. Avoid using recruiter lingo or HR-heavy terms like “Clientbased staffing agency,” “market you over,” “sendout,” “submittals,” “markup,” etc.

Italics Italicize to emphasize a word, or indicate a title of a publication or award (Forbes magazine, Columbus CEO Top Work Places award)

Job Seeker We prefer to use this term when talking about applicants who haven’t been placed yet (through research we know that the word “candidate” has a negative perception). Please note: once a job seeker is placed, they become a working associate.

Lines of Business Capitalized, in the following order: Job Placements, HR Management Solutions, and Community Workforce Programs

Links Do not display web addresses (www. dawsoncareers.com/about-us/the-dawsondifference). Instead, use a descriptive title – including a verb as a call to action. Examples: Learn about The Dawson Difference; Watch a quick introduction to TalentRooster Video Interviews

Numbers Spell out one through nine and first through ninth. Exception: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd shifts (See also common terminology) Unless it’s the first word of a sentence, use numerals for 10 and above. Use a hyphen to indicate a range of numbers: 20-25 immediate openings.

Quotation Marks Use double quotes when referring to words, articles, or direct quotes. Use single quotes when using a quote inside a quote. Generally speaking, punctuation (commas and periods) is placed inside the quotes.

Semicolons Again, use these sparingly. Consider using an em dash in its place, or starting a new sentence instead.

Slashes If it’s in a URL, it’s a forward slash (we refer to it as a “slash.”) Forward slashes and backslashes aren’t the same thing. Telephone Numbers Follow this format for phone numbers: parentheses around area code, followed by a space, followed by hyphenated phone number: (614) 255-1400.

www. Don’t say this. Ever. (Unless it’s 1999 again).

Common Terminology

› $13.50/hour

› 1st shift; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts

› Client, Job Seeker, Colleague (always capitalized – they’re important to us)

› #dawsome

› dawsoncareers.com (all lowercase – no exceptions)

› The Dawson Bus

› Direct hire

› Email (no hyphen, only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence)

› Excellent Customer Experiences

› Full-time

› Full-time, part-time, full- and part-time

› FAQs (not FAQ’s or Frequently Asked

Questions)

› Log in (verb; i.e. log in to our site – do not use log on)

› Login (noun or adjective; Login name,

Site login)

› Managed Services Provider on first mention, MSP is fine after that

› Onsite

› Payrolling

› TalentRooster Video Interviews (TalentRooster on second reference)

› Temp-to-hire

› Temporary

OUR NAME, DIVISIONS, AND TAGLINE Each of our Colleagues can help streamline our brand and keep a unified, professional identity by being aware of these common mistakes.

Dawson Dawson Resources Dawson Careers Dawson Personnel Dawson Staffing

CORRECT

Company (Overall)

Divisions

Dawson MSP

The Warehouse and Distribution Division

The Marketing and Creative Division

Tag line

The Employment Experts Empowering People’s Lives The Power of People Columbus’ Talent Scouts

INCORRECT

Dawson Healthcare Dawson VMS

Dawson Works Light Industrial “ LI ”

Dawson Creative

Say This...

...Not That

Job Seekers vs. Working Associates – We prefer to use job seekers when we’re talking about applicants who have not been placed yet. Once they are placed, they should then be referred to as a working associate.

*Please note, through research, we have determined that the term “candidate” has a negative connotation with our target audience. Therefore, we should not refer to them as such.

Colleagues, Clients, and Communities – When referring to these groups, they should be treated as proper nouns and capitalized.

Hiring Divisions – These should be treated as proper nouns and capitalized. The Dawson hiring divisions listed in the following order: Office & Customer Service, Warehouse & Distribution, Marketing & Creative, Accounting & Finance, IT, Legal.

Industry Language or Jargon – It is important to be aware of your audience and know they may not be familiar with our industry language. Therefore when communicating externally avoid using HR or recruiter-centered phrases such as: “Client-based staffing agency,” “market you over,” “sendout,” “submittals,” “markup,” etc.

Lines of Business – When listing the Dawson lines of business, they should always be capitalized and in the following order: Job Placements, HR Management Solutions, and Community Workforce Programs.

Entity Titles – The following terms are used to define groups of people, actions, or other common parts of the workflow. › Lead – A record which contains information on a potential contact or candidate, someone you are trying to establish a relationship with. › Candidate – A record which contains information on an application or suitable person for a job. › Contact – a record which contains information on a particular content within a contact. › Company – A record which contains information on a prospect or current company with whom Dawson would like to do business › Job – A record which stores the particulars regarding job opening at a given client (ex: job description, skills, experience, rates, etc.) › Opportunity – A record which contains information on a job or project you plan to fill or proposal you receive in hopes of winning

Use this language when communicating with job seekers: Use language that focuses on getting them noticed. Use language that will put them at ease. Use language that is personal.

TONE OF VOICE

The way you speak matters. You want Clients, job seekers, community members, and vendors to understand they’re not working with a run-ofthe-mill staffing agency (probably next to a BMV in a strip mall). We are polished, professional, employment experts – and we should walk our talk.

Our voice and how we communicate is another way we can create excellent customer experiences – and match the rest of the Dawson brand.

OUR BRAND VOICE IS:

› Friendly and conversational › Knowledgeable and helpful › Upfront and transparent › Relevant and understandable

OUR BRAND VOICE ISN’T:

› Pushy and condescending › Disinterested and uninformed › Misleading and dishonest › Filled with unrelatable industry terminology