Q&A
Recruitment writing, pt 4
‘They ask, you answer’ is a well-regarded book on content marketing written by pool entrepreneur Marcus Sheridan.
I was disappointed to learn that he wasn’t a hustler, who taught marketing while sinking the 9-balls, travelling from seedy bar to low-rent tournaments.
Instead, a swimming pool guru who saved his struggling business by becoming a thought leader.
Even more boringly he wasn’t even a thought leader guru.
Life before LinkedIn, eh?
He aspired to be, and became, the Wikipedia of swimming pools, writing content online that answered the questions he knew consumers would ask when thinking of buying or maintaining a swimming pool.
Now he mainly sells his marketing strategy, whether in book form or seminar.
A simple approach that is highly effective in any medium.
Whether writing SEO content or showing know-how in LinkedIn posts.
What if you answered your recruitment readers’ questions, without them needing to ask you?
Especially if those questions always come up – doesn’t it make sense to turn those answers into content, whatever your purpose?
By laying those answers out in writing, I can replicate them at appropriate scale.
Writing in recruitment has many forms and purposes:
Website copy
LinkedIn profiles, posts, comments and messaging
Vacancy advertising, whether above or below the line
CVs, cover letters, candidate summaries
Job descriptions and person specifications
The brief
Executive summary
Employment and vacancy value propositions
Application acknowledgement
Interview confirmations
In-between updates
Offers and rejections
Formal offer letter and employment pack
Pre-boarding, on-boarding and inductions
With this being pt 4, we’ve already covered two questions you should already have answers for, no matter the form of writing.
Two questions that help the clarity of your writing, while helping readers make better decisions from content they gain trust in.
That was Marcus Sheridan’s intent in his marketing strategy – to win more business by giving better information.
Here are a few examples of questions potential candidates either ask of a vacancy and employer, or complain about not getting an answer to:
What’s the salary and package?
Who is the company?
What is the location?
What is the role like in reality?
What are the working arrangements?
Will they consider part-time / a job share?
Do I really need to meet all the ‘essential’ criteria to apply?
When will I find time to update my CV, and can I be bothered?
Why should I apply or enquire further?
What is the organisational structure?
What is the culture?
What are the challenges?
What is progression like?
What is the budget?
What is their strategy around…?
Who are their competitors?
Who am I meeting at interview?
What is the interview process and structure?
How long will the whole process take?
How many candidates will they want to interview?
Will I get feedback?
How many agencies are they working with?
How will you represent my application?
What are they like to work for?
What do their people say about them?
What are the glassdoor and indeed reviews like?
Why have so many people left that job on LinkedIn?
Can I tell you about the accommodations I need without being discriminated against?
Will I ever get a reply from you?
Why should I leave my good job for yours?
Over time you’ll build up a library of more and more answers, which is one reason it gets easier to help our stakeholders.
Of course, you may not know the answer to the questions that will come up. An answer you should find, for this time and after.
It’s possible you might not like the answer to some of the questions. A question of integrity, in whether you should even be serving that vacancy or employer.
Some of the answers will only be relevant to certain parts of the process, and it’s a question of judgement and balance in where and how you articulate them.
I wouldn’t put an organisational structure in an advert. I would put in an executive summary / candidate information pack.
Some of the answers belong in surprising places:
What would happen if you highlight the recruitment & interview process in your advert, told them when you’d get back to them by, and made them feel safe to ask for help in their application?
What kind of experience does this leave readers with and what are the potential benefits for you?
Each answer has its place, in a virtuous recruitment process, and all work together to improve your trustworthiness and authority.
A better experience can improve quality applications, gain better commitment from candidates, and even help with retention by giving the right people the right start in their new roles.
I mentioned in the first list above CVs and candidate information.
Think about the questions your stakeholders will have about your candidates, and present them in writing beforehand.
That’s the crux of my candidate summaries, and my ratio of “CV to interview” is currently 100% this year.
Because how I consult with the employer means I know which questions to ask of whom. And I can show these answers when presenting the right candidates.
I’m a low-volume recruiter, though, so I have time to focus on quality.
If you need one reason to consider this approach, it’s this. What happens if your reader doesn’t have the time to ask a question of the content they’ve read?
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services:
- commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than three vacancies)
- manage part or all of your recruitment on an individually designed basis for one client
- recruitment coaching and mentoring
- recruitment strategy setting
- outplacement support
Just hit reply to check if my approach is right for you.