A dozen functions arrived shortly after the posting for a copywriter on the content material advertising and marketing workforce at The TemPositions Group of Firms went dwell.
Walter Prystowsky, director of promoting, says he anticipated to have greater than 100 throughout the week.
“Many of those candidates appear to be very certified with years of expertise producing a excessive quantity of content material. It’s powerful to decide on solely a handful to talk with,” he says.
The conundrum Walter faces as an employer is much more difficult on the opposite aspect of the method — the a whole lot (or extra) of job candidates vying for a similar place.
Nicely over half of entrepreneurs (68%) in CMI’s upcoming Content material Advertising Profession and Wage Survey (September 2024) say discovering an expert job in advertising and marketing is more difficult in the present day in comparison with 5 years in the past.
So, how do job searchers stand out in a crowded, difficult market? What do the folks hiring content material entrepreneurs need to see? What errors do you have to keep away from?
A handful of entrepreneurs on the frontline of hiring share their processes and what they wished job searchers would do (and never do).
Do you have to write a canopy letter?
Conversations concerning the cowl letter abound on LinkedIn and in skilled teams. Many job searchers say if it’s required, they only use a generative AI device to create it. Others say they by no means ship a canopy letter.
Walter says he doesn’t ask for canopy letters, although he would learn one if somebody took the time to jot down it. “A generic cowl letter singing our praises blindly with none substance doesn’t add a lot,” he says.
“What would stand out to me is that if the individual did particular analysis on our firm, learn our content material, and had considerate insights on the route they might take in the event that they bought the chance.”
HiredSupport is one other firm that doesn’t put a lot inventory in a canopy letter. “I favor to ask the candidates questions, akin to why ought to I rent them or what units them aside from different candidates,” says Joel Wolfe, firm founder and president.
My desire? I discover cowl letters work particularly effectively when making use of for writing-related jobs. A great cowl letter can showcase the applicant’s writing and enterprise expertise (or a minimum of present that they don’t have them). When you’ll be able to write just a few paragraphs to point out why you’re the most suitable option to assist the enterprise obtain its targets, you additionally reveal which you could write persuasively to get the employer’s target market to take motion. (And if it doesn’t get learn, no worries. You simply drafted your in-person gross sales pitch for the job.)
What ought to the resume embody?
Mariah Obiedzinski Tang, assistant vp of content material advertising and marketing at Stamats, says she desires to see candidates reveal their development.
“That may look some ways — developments in careers, the addition of accountability, doing duties outdoors their consolation zone, and reporting private/skilled takeaways,” she says.
Most significantly, candidates ought to present they care about their work and aren’t simply saying, “I’m good; rent me.”
However how do you present that development? How do you share that you just care concerning the job?
Mariah suggests including a “What I Discovered” subheading in your resume to seize the possible employer’s consideration. Spotlight these out-of-scope duties or difficult assignments. “It offers you a pure likelihood for a story as an alternative of simply itemizing duties,” she explains.
Additionally, tailor your resume to the context of the job description. “Your resume ought to present that you just meet or exceed the {qualifications}, not simply that you just’ve had a sequence of content material or content-adjacent roles,” Mariah says.
Seeing a strategic alignment can be vital to Laura Goldstone, senior director of communications technique and head of name at AdDaptive Intelligence.
Actually, candidates make it to the highest of her listing once they show they’ll assume and act strategically, join the dots from technique to execution, and care about understanding and elevating the model’s content material technique.
“You don’t need to have one-to-one expertise. I simply have to really feel assured that you are able to do the job based mostly on the talents and knowledge you’ve honed,” Laura says.
How do you show that? Clarify the talents utilized in earlier conditions and the way these expertise will assist your new employer or what classes you’ve discovered that may very well be utilized within the new position.
At TemPositions, Walter desires to see a observe report displaying somebody who can assume strategically about how you can align content material with enterprise targets. For the copywriter opening for instance, candidates who go additional within the course of quantify their report of manufacturing a excessive quantity of Website positioning-optimized content material.
So far as a candidate’s employment timeline, Walter says one or two quick stints aren’t a crimson flag, however a profession of 1 12 months right here, six months there, and so forth., is problematic. “It’s arduous to belief that they’ll spend a lot time on my workforce. A inexperienced flag is profession development at a earlier firm, particularly in a short while body,” he explains.
What concerning the interview?
Earlier than you land an interview with the hiring supervisor, count on some further steps.
At HiredSupport, candidates submit their functions after which take a pre-screening check — a set of technical questions solely an expert would know.
Walter at TemPositions used to interview anybody he thought might do the job, taking two to 3 weeks to display screen, interview, and current the candidates to the CEO. However that’s an excessive amount of work on high of his day-to-day obligations so the inner HR workforce, which is aware of his hiring preferences, creates a shortlist of candidates for him.
At Stamats, Mariah says she interviews about 10 to 30% of the candidates relying on the position’s required talent degree and variety of functions. As a substitute of writing evaluation checks, she asks the applicant to tug up a chunk of labor they’re pleased with and describe the writing, analysis, enhancing, distributing course of, and so forth. She additionally asks what they might have accomplished in a different way.
“This offers a strong indication of their deeper talent in content material construction and technique, not simply writing in a managed atmosphere,” Mariah says.
AdDaptive Intelligence’s Laura says she likes to ask situational and behavioral inquiries to encourage the candidate to inform a narrative. For instance, as an alternative of asking what advertising and marketing tech stack candidates use, she asks them to inform her a few time they needed to learn to use a device, highlighting the method and end result.
Amongst her different storytelling query prompts:
- Inform me about a technique you’ve grown within the final 12 months.
- Inform me a few time if you needed to work cross-functionally, highlighting what you do to make the collaboration profitable.
- How do you construct belief in relationships up and throughout?
“Candidates with detailed tales that reply my questions and present me how they may act favorably on this position shine,” she says.
Laura additionally listens through the interview to evaluate not solely the arduous expertise possessed by the candidate however their gentle expertise, too. She desires to find out how they convey, the tradition they thrive finest in, their organizational expertise, their priorities, and the situations to do their finest work. “These intangibles are extremely vital to me as I construct a multifaceted however close-knit workforce,” she says.
Penny Gralewski, vp of promoting at Rimo3, suggests candidates be ready with challenge-action-result tales. Stroll by way of a enterprise drawback that generated a necessity for content material. Clarify the way you collaborated with the opposite groups concerned to analysis, write, and produce the content material. Then, brag concerning the enterprise outcomes.
“Hiring managers be taught a lot about expertise, teamwork, and enterprise mindset when content material entrepreneurs carry work samples, tales concerning the content material’s creation, and metrics about its influence,” she says.
Take time to assume
What errors do these hiring entrepreneurs see candidates make? All of them boil down the reply to 2 phrases: blah responses.
“Candidates are fast to reply the questions I ship them. They don’t learn what I’m asking and provides me a bland response that lacks technical information,” Joel says.
As a substitute, he says, candidates ought to take a beat and reply utilizing a laptop computer pc to get away from the notification bombardments and disruptions that occur on a cell phone.
Laura says she usually will get generic replies to those questions: What retains you cheerful in a job? The place do you get your motivation? What about this position intrigued you and impressed you to answer?
“I are inclined to get blanket statements or imprecise responses that don’t inform me something concerning the individual,” she says. “If somebody can reply these questions with one thing illuminating, actionable, and distinctive, my ears will perk up.”
Perking up the ears of a hiring supervisor is the utmost accomplishment for any job searcher in content material and advertising and marketing. However to get to that time, you higher use your content material expertise to inform a narrative about how your skilled story will assist additional the hiring firm’s story.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising Institute
