Recruiting Animal

Landing Site Better Than Website

Sarah Needleman profiled a woman who started her own business.

Instead of setting up a business website she got a free online business card at DooID.com

It points you to her blog, Linkedin page and Twitter profile.

Great idea. Most websites are garbage.

They are so full of fluff that it's often hard to tell what the person does and the pompous way they write about themselves in the 3rd person is nauseating.

Blogs are less awful but not many people are going to keep them up so they are not for everyone.

I've been experimenting with About.me and some other landing pages and found them quite interesting.

You could accomplish the same thing by forwarding your business URL to a Linkedin page or a VirtualCV but these landing pages are a bit more pretty.

 

Better Job Descriptions

From: How To Hire an Assistant by @JasonFried (edited)

This is a problem with job listings: They don't describe an actual day's work. They're heavy on general skills but not specific actions.

We decided to go in a different direction. Instead of a list of skills— this software, that many years of experience, "team player," etc.— we wrote a list of 26 things that this person would have done in a week had he or she been working here.

The list included things such as "Booked two hotel rooms and two flights for out-of-towners"; "Packed up and shipped out about five copies of Rework to various people"; "Coordinated with Abt Electronics to schedule installation of four flat-panel TVs"; and "Researched and recommended local floral arrangers for weekly flowers for the office."

This way, whoever was applying would know exactly the kind of work he or she would be expected to do. (You can read the job posting here).

 

Talent Drive Commercial

No one paid for this. It's from a friend.

Why Long Headlines Work

Short headlines are easy to scan and 60% of the most effective headlines used in the direct mail industry are eight words or less. But these figures mean that longer headlines work, too.

Web pages are scanned in a “F” pattern, moving across the headline then back across the subheadline, then down the left hand side of the page to see if there is anything of interest.

So you might want to include more than 8 words in your headline to provide something of interest as the reader scans the page.

Source Copyblogger

How To Write Job Postings

Based on info from The Ladders via Venus de Micro.

Format
- Killer headline to grab attention.
- Company Description (honest and modest beats arrogant and inflated)
- Detailed Job Description (leave out the crap words like efficient and effective)
- List of Requirements
- List of Preferred Qualities (leave out this subjective garbage)
- List of Deal-Breakers (qualifications to buzz off)

Details count. A great job description is very detailed to help people decide if the position is right for them.

To keep the losers out, put the most important requirements in bold.

If you can't mention the name of your firm use a descriptive term in the Headline like “Fortune 500 Pharmaceuticals” or “Prominent International Bank”.

Adjust your tone and vocabulary to the level of candidate you want. (Talk down to the simple folk).

If the job doesn’t require a specific location, say so.

Put how-to-apply instructions and essential requirements at the end of your job description, right above the “apply” button. Make it hard to miss.

Use Proven Words

Don't write well. Use words that sell.

Some words are proven to persuade. A “swipe file” is a collection of presentations, headlines, websites, etc that have been used by others and have proven persuasive value. Copy them but not blindly. Make sure that they can be transplanted to your use.

How To Persuade
When you write, ask these questions:
Who is my target audience?
Why would they want what I recommend?
What are the strengths of the opposing ideas?
How are my ideas better?

And, when you want to persuade, focus on the benefits of the action you recommend. Talk about the results.

A lot of people try to explain how great their product is - without telling about what it can do for their customers. Make the product front and center.

Source: Copyblogger

How To Write For Your Blog

A roadmap. Source: Brian Clark

1. Your main goal is to get the first sentence read
2. Goal number two is to get the next sentence read.
3. Use simple writing for simple people.
4. Have a killer headline

5. Make an offer. Tell the reader what you are going to give her if she takes the time to read your piece. This is your promise to the reader. This is the hook you place in your reader's mind. And you have to be very explicit about it.

6. Each part of your piece should have a main idea that supports your promise. Stay focused. Don’t ramble.

7. Support your ideas with evidence or solid logic. If you tell someone there's a good fairy watching over him, you'd better prove it with statistics, expert statements and other interesting testimonies.

8. Restate your promise, your hook, your offer.

How To Get Read

Don't leave persuasion till the punch line. You've got to hook them step by step along the way.

You want to get your blog posting or networking email read? Your main goal should be to get the first sentence read. That's what the Joe Sugarman taught. “And the purpose of the first sentence is to get the second sentence read.” And so on.

Here are the rules:
- a strong headline is critical;
- focus on the benefit to the reader immediately
- make a promise you can fulfill
- back up everything you say with proof

Source: Copyblogger

How To Get Bookmarked

Bookmarks are based on a snap judgment so a posting's value has to be obvious at a glance. Here are some influential factors.

1. The headline has to scream "Click me!"
2. Create a killer first sentence.
3. Break the monotonous wall of text with a picture
4. Make the content simple and skimmable by leaving it free of of complicated jargon and long sentences.
5. Put in a widget from a bookmarking service most people already use.

Source: Chrisg.com

Does Phone Spam Work?

Dopey Dating Service strikes again

Every few weeks I get a direct message on my voicemail from Jennifer at The Allied Network. Is it sexist if I call her a dopey broad? Well, sorry, but she is. And every few weeks she leaves a message claiming that a friend of mine gave her my number.

Later on, she apologizes if she got the wrong number but then, as I said, she calls me back again. So, dumb as it is, I have to assume that this method of recruitment works. Or would they be doing it again and again?