In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with James Hornick. He is a partner at Hirewell, a 60+ person tech and marketing recruiting agency in Chicago. James wears many hats: leadership, strategy, marketing, business development, as well as content development and coaching under the banner of Careerwell, which he also co-founded.

James also publishes a newsletter called Talent Rants and Sarcasm, which offers a uniquely fresh perspective on all things recruiting.

Listen in as James makes a case for why content marketing is one of the most powerful initiatives that any recruitment agency can commit to today.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:49] The main distribution channels James uses for content marketing

●      [05:16] Why James decided to prioritize content marketing

●      [10:50] Is the lack of short-term ROI preventing many recruiters from committing to content marketing?

●      [13:30] Does James think twice about publishing controversial content?

●      [15:54] Why focusing on creating a personal brand over valuable content results in garbage content

●      [20:48] The right way to promote your product or service without resorting to a cheesy sales pitch

●      [23:54] Why video content works so well on LinkedIn

●      [28:19] Why personalization is overrated

●      [36:28] The right way to build an employer brand

●      [43:48] How to create content that resonates with your audience

●      [45:00] James on his most recent Saturday troll post

●      [49:27] What James has planned for the rest of the year at Hirewell and Careerwell

Key quotes:

●      “I’m a big believer that you have to start building out your own channels. While I’m on social media, I’m not a big fan of it. The algorithm can change. You don’t own that.”

●      “What I’ve always found hysterical is the amount of oversharing people do when it comes to their personal life on Facebook or Instagram; yet when it comes to something that will actually make you money such as improving your professional persona on LinkedIn, they completely clam up and they’re afraid of it.”

●      “You can talk about how your service or product works and why it’s valuable without giving a cheesy sales pitch.”

●      “Personalization is absolutely overrated. […] Personalization is just a fancy way of saying ‘mail merge’ nowadays. I think that what candidates really crave is relevancy and detail, which is different from personalization.”

●      “Employer Brand is just a lagging indicator of your culture.”

Resources Mentioned:

●      Hirewell

●      Careerwell