Recruitment Radar - Issue 15

The one that went off in another direction

If you've been here before, you'll know I share posts I've seen in the LinkedIn feed from the week before. I thought this newsletter would write itself. Only, there's just not that much inspo in my saved posts to share. So, let's take this newsletter in another direction.

Let's talk about how we can level up our content and posts. Why? Because attention alone is not enough. If we want people to engage with us, spend time, and spend money with us. We need to dial up the perceived value we add to them. Thanks, Rich Evans for that nugget.

The top "saved for later" for last week (kind of)

Posts are hyperlinked in the title

1. To share higher-quality content, surround yourself with higher-quality content

One of my go-to sources for valuable and high-quality content is Hung Lee 's Recruitment Brainfood. A weekly newsletter that comes out on a Sunday at 7.30 am. It's part of my Sunday morning routine to sit down with a cuppa, have a read-through, and pick a piece of content that I think adds value to recruiters. More often than not, the content I pick out is not recruiter-specific, but it can be re-imagined for recruiters. I get to leverage a piece of great content and add value to it.

Last week, this caught my eye and might be the recalibration you're looking for.

“The value of 90% of my skills just dropped to $0. The leverage for the remaining 10% went up 1000x. I need to recalibrate.”

It’s an article written by a Java developer who talks through the rise of the blue collar developer. He shares the story of the last few years (Covid, war, energy crisis, inflation, interest rate hike, chatGPT). This helps make some sense of where we are today.

It’s not a story of crisis - it’s penned as a story of adaptability and resilience. I think it’s also a story of opportunity.

The crux of the story is to leverage the skills, expertise, and capability you have that have the most value in an emerging AI world. Become AI-enabled and efficient for those tasks that AI can be instructed to do.

Now is the time to build talent density in x1000 value skills and capability.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CONTENT MARKETING

2. Share what you've been learning

If you're not following Emily B. I'd recommend it. Emily imo is offering some of the freshest takes on life in recruitment. Her content has an authenticity I can't put my finger on. It's part style (delivery and aesthetic), it's the tone of voice and finding the right level of ego, it creates curiosity and invites you to think.

I get to work with Emily too as part of District4 and I love the work she's doing. When we first got together we talked about supporting posts and social media. I was skeptical, I'm not into engaging with posts for the algo. Saying that, I find myself engaging a lot with her content, because I want to (and I do quite fancy some yellow-tinted glasses).

Emily shares some of her key learns from a course she is doing on start-up Growth (it's with Matt Lerner, more on him in a mo).

1. 90% of success comes from 10% of the work you do. So prioritise ruthlessly.

2. As a start-up, we haven’t earned the right to be clever in our branding. We need to be clear. We aren’t Apple.

3. Work doesn’t equal success. Work and learning feed into customer value, which equals success

I think these learns start to connect even further with the idea of understanding your value - what is you do and what are your skills and capability that offers x1000 value.

START-UP GROWTH

3. Study a Master, not a rival

If you spend any time on social media feeds in the same space as your competitors, you'll spot the trends. And all too quickly when people mimic one another they start to blur and merge. Not only do you dull your perceived value, but you'll lose attention too.

I love this way of thinking from Matt Lerner He explains people are looking for fresh thinking and not recycled "top 5 growth ideas" (Matt is a start-up growth expert). He's right, I don't think people want recycled recruitment and sales tips from me - you can ask chatGPT for that, and you'll see the same recycled tips over and over. The value is in fresh thinking and doing something different and better.

"You won’t ???????? competitors by ?????????????? them. Instead, find a way to ??????????????????????????, and do something ????????????."

Matt then goes on to share a great example.

"Right now, my favourite content creator is a trauma doctor on X named Sam Ghali. He posts patient scans and discusses their conditions. He has 600K followers."

Matt shares 4 points for successful posts what he's learned from Sam Ghali (on X). You'll notice he's also sharing what he's learned.

1. ???????????????????? ?????????????? – I can’t read a CT scan, but I can’t scroll past one either, apparently.

2. ???????????? ?????????? – Spark curiosity without clichés. E.g. “Here’s the best fluoroscopic Chest X-ray of this medical condition I’ve ever seen.”

3. ???????????????? ?????????????? – I can’t tell good medical insight from bad, but based on the positive re-posts and comments he gets from other doctors, it seems he’s giving them life-saving insights.

4. ???????????? ???????? – Each post picks up more followers without pandering: “If you’re a new follower I always post the answer with an explanation the next day.”

CONTENT STRUCTURE

4. Build community and create experiences people want to be part of

Life is what happens outside of social media and the screens. What better way to lean into this than to bring people together? You get to plan the event, engage people in being part of it, document it, and then relive it with people.

Last week I was thrilled to announce the next L&D 3.0 meet-up. It's a meet-up for L&D pros specifically in recruitment, coming together to tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities for L&D in recruitment. My co-hosts are Barum Jeffries and Katie Dowling . As you can imagine energy will be high, it will be heavy on actions, learning, and takeaways (obvs), and it offers networking for this group that isn't available anywhere else. I cannot wait. DM me if you want to be part of it or have someone in your team.

*SAVE THE DATE* London 4th October 2024.

COMMUNITY, EVENTS, L&D

5. Experiment with how you share your knowledge

Matt Comber of SourceFlow has been experimenting with video, and it's really good. I see you, Matt! I think Matt's been nailing a conversation style that is engaging, informative and accessible. And who doesn't love a scouse accent? Accrington Stanley (exactly).

I don't know about you, I'm gearing up for more video content. To be honest with myself, video content is probably where I could do with focussing more. This is a great vid about competition and highlights the opportunity from being different.

"If you obsess over what everyone else is doing, you'll quickly get left behind. It's like trying to drive down a narrow country road, in the dark but only looking in the rearview mirror!"

VIDEO

Here's some more food for thought on this too......

Calum Lyle posed this discussion point just yesterday:

The next generation of salespeople & recruiters will be more like ?????????????????? than cold-calling bloodhounds...

P.S. If you're looking to bring some skill into your video game, you won't go far wrong with Scott Ransome. ??

And that's a wrap!

If you want to get involved with L&D 3.0 meet up, or build x1000 value skills and capability. DM me or Let's talk

Have a great week,

Migsy