I agree with buzzwords, but what's wrong with t-shirts, perks and needing specific skills? Personally, I don't think I'd want to work in a place that has a formal dress code, and I'd strongly prefer to work somewhere that has a relaxed environment (e.g. music/exercise room, common area with amenities, etc.)

I think the point is that if you're advertising it, you're trying to either hide something or you only want to hire people who put those things higher on the list than everything else. Some people want to work in an atmosphere where playing foosball all day is cool. Some of us feel that shouldn't be a primary draw.

Yeah I mostly tend to agree... but I'm just being the devil's advocate. I mean, how do you communicate that you're different from a bank? If you genuinely are a cool company, how do you communicate that in a job ad (or other communication)? Probably doesn't need to be mentioned as a "perk" on the top of the list, but should likely be included somewhere towards the bottom of the advert...

> * t-shirts, foosball tables, etc as perks

Or anything mentioning alcohol. I don't have an issue with alcohol in general, I'll drink socially. But as an indicator of culture it's just the biggest cliche and eye roll for me.

Yep. When the atmosphere is being pushed hard as an asset, that tells me they're padding to make up for other deficiencies. Like everyone's first resume.

Have you ever worked at a bank (or another dead atmosphere place)?

Not OP but I work at a major bank and we have casual dress/ping pong/a game room. It's a pretty popular trend right now for major banks to build/buy offices specifically for tech and separating it from the suit and tie culture of the HQs

air hockey okay?

As long as you have a separate room for that...

There's little more annoying than having a foosball table next to your desk while you have a job to do and are trying to concentrate. At one of my previous jobs, there was a foosball table that travelled between rooms - each 8-people open-plan room wanted really hard to be the ones to have it, but usually after a month or two of serving as company breakroom, they wanted really bad to get rid of it. The table kept making rounds between rooms until they finally freed a separate room to put it in.

Games are fine, but many people don’t consider them a perk. Let them be a surprise, no need to advertise them. (Mentioning games is a turn off for me.)