Bud Light Launches a Hilarious Job Ad to Hire a Chief Meme Officer – Here’s What We Can Learn From It

“We at Bud Light have created the perfect hard seltzer… But we know a hard seltzer is only as good as its memes and, unfortunately, our memes our trash. We need someone who can change that for us.”

That’s the opening of Bud Light’s new job ad for a “Chief Meme Officer,” a real position the company is hiring for (albeit only for three months). All candidates have to do to apply is create and submit up to four memes related to Bud Light Seltzer. The company has even provided branded assets “in case you want to get fancy” and meme templates for those who “think Photoshop is for hardos” (aka people who try too hard). 

The job post quickly garnered a lot of attention online, with many hopeful applicants sharing their memes on social media. Even the man, the meme, Guy Fieri himself got involved.

While most of us will never need to hire a Chief Meme Officer (though you might be tempted to apply for the position yourself), Bud Light’s job post reveals a lot about what it takes to craft a winning job description. Here are a few lessons you can apply to your own job posts:

1. The best job posts provide a flavor of the job itself, helping candidates decide if it’s right for them

Bud Light knows that candidates who’ll excel in this role likely live and breathe internet culture. That’s why the Chief Meme Officer job description taps into the kind of language you expect to see on social media, using words like “cringe,” “trash,” and the highly technical “thingy.” It’s also fittingly irreverent and tongue-in-cheek, imploring candidates to “Please help us. Please…. p.s. please.”

By closely tailoring the language and tone of the job description to the job itself, Bud Light is able to give candidates a feel for what the role will be like, helping them self-select in or out.

The lesson here isn’t to try and write a meme-worthy job post like this one. In fact, LinkedIn data shows that candidates are 2-4x less likely to apply and 4x more likely to view a company negatively if its job posts are overly casual in a way that isn’t reflective of the company’s actual culture. The key is to use language that gives candidates a taste of the company and role, and they’ll apply if it feels like a fit for them.

2. It quickly – and transparently – answers the question “What’s in it for me?” 

On average, candidates spend 14 seconds looking at a job post before deciding whether or not to apply — which is why it’s so important to answer the question “What’s in it for me?” as soon as possible. 

Bud Light provides this answer almost immediately, emphasizing that its new hire will not only “get paid in Bud Light Seltzer and also real money” – $5,000 per month to be exact. They also share that whoever gets the job will get to “go into [their] next job interview with Chief Meme Officer on [their] resumé and LinkedIn.” It’s certainly enticing — so much so that I almost stopped writing this post in favor of applying. 

Of course, compensation and clout aren’t the only reasons candidates apply to jobs. And even though the job market is changing, job posts that only focus on what the company needs may cause great candidates to lose interest. If you can highlight the mutually beneficial aspects of the role, like the passion they’ll bring to the table and the growth opportunities on offer, there’s a greater chance that the right candidates will read your post thoroughly — and decide to apply. 

3. If your job post stands out from the crowd, more people will share it

Sometimes, the person reading your job description isn’t right for the role — but they know someone who is. By writing a post that’s unique and memorable, you increase the likelihood that they’ll want to share it with their network, putting it in front of more of the right candidates. 

Bud Light’s post certainly achieved this level of reach, with many people sharing the post on social media and tagging friends they think would be perfect for the job. News outlets like Adweek also picked up on it, further boosting viewership. 

Beyond helping Bud Light find an excellent Chief Meme Officer, all this free publicity draws attention to the brand’s hard seltzer line, which the job description doesn’t fail to mention is “five-times filtered, 100 calories, and comes in four delicious flavors.” It’s enough to make anyone thirsty, especially after thinking about spicy memes. 

Final thoughts

While you may not want (or be able) to imitate Bud Light’s unconventional job post, you can still take a similarly creative and successful approach — writing job descriptions that are compelling, representative of your company as a whole, and unique enough to warrant sharing.

And if you’re interested in becoming Bud Light’s first-ever Chief Meme Officer, you have until September 18th, 2020 to apply.

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