How to write a winning recruitment blog that people will want to click

It’s not uncommon now for recruiters in any agency to blog, from the large PLCs to the smaller boutique firms, it’s now become part of the job spec.

But you didn’t become a recruiter to write. Blogging can be hard. Putting pen to paper, knowing your colleagues will be reading it, and what do you write about? Here’s three simple methods to give you a starting point for your next discipline-specific blog:

1) Google the job titles you recruit for

I’d advise doing this in incognito/private mode so the resulting search results aren’t affected by your previous searches and browser activity. I searched ‘marketing content manager’. Have a look at both the results and the suggested searches related to your jobs:

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There's a fantastic starting point for you. Here I could do a piece specifically on salaries for that role, and pull out salary information from that year's salary guide. In fact I did that to write this blog on marketing executive salaries now on page one of Google UK search.

I could write another on what a typical job description looks like, and how this may change across sectors and what to look out for.

What about LinkedIn? There are so many (too many!) generic LinkedIn posts. Don't bother talking about the obvious such as having a photo. LinkedIn tells you the basic steps to take to improve your profile every time you log in. Write about what you'd expect to see or find on a profile for someone in that role. What advice have you given to people you've worked with about their profiles?

2) The most common questions

What do you get asked the most? What advice do you give over the phone? You’ll spend a large part of your day talking to clients and candidates. Good news! You can write the same advice up and use this as a blog. What do you think this blog is?! It's an answer to the common recruiter problem of not knowing what to write about or how to start blogging.

People use the internet to answer questions. When you can't remember an actor's name you'll probably reach for your phone and check out IMDB. If you want to find how long a shop is open for you Google it. If you had a DIY question you'd probably look up 'how to...' etc. The same premise stands for career-related enquiries.

If you’ve ever been on the customer end of a software demo call or similar think about how the salesperson often asks beforehand about what your ‘business pain points’ may be. They plan their demo around that. They make sure to address those. Well, what are the pain points of your audience? What problems do they have in the job hunt or in recruiting new staff that you often help with? Explain the why, what and how and give examples.

Here’s a snippet of a conversation I heard recently of an internal audit recruiter on the phone to a candidate:

“In the interview they’ll ask you ‘why did you do that type of audit?’ Most people would answer ‘I was told to.’ It’s best to actually answer what the commercial reasons were. And what were the stages that you took?’”

So his next blog could be something like:

How to Prepare For Your Next Internal Audit Interview
5 Questions to Expect in Your Next Senior Auditor Interview (And How to Prepare For Them)

The recruiter would then include all these pieces of advice that he tends to share already with his candidates but that are specific to the role rather than the usual tips of turning up on time and dressing smartly which apply to anyone in any discipline. You want to attract the best quality candidates right? Generic advice blogs with basic points aren't your best method of pulling in the best talent out there.

3) Think of the candidate or client journey

I mentioned pain points above, but what about the journey a candidate or a client takes from before they know of you until after a placement is made.

What is a typical reason people move in the area you recruit in?
Where do they want to move to?
What do they need to move there (what qualifications? What experience?)

I was working on this with the local marketing teams in Morgan McKinley recently and we came up with 28 possibilities*! Of course not all are relevant for each candidate or client but there’s more than enough to choose from.

Here's a good example of what this could look like, blogs written by the tax recruitment team in Morgan McKinley Ireland:

In this example above you've got starting out in the career, preparing a CV and then the interview. What other stages are there in the job hunt and application that you can think of? And what about when you've placed a candidate? What content and advice can you still offer?

If you're already with Morgan McKinley and want advice on writing good content, please don't hesitate get in touch with your local marketing department or the global content team. And if you're not yet on board - what are you waiting for? Apply for one of our jobs here »

*Can only be accessed by Morgan McKinley group employees