Hiring for such an instrumental role as your new content manager can feel daunting, overwhelming, and exhilarating at the same time.
As a digital sales and marketing coach and as a Certified They Ask, You Answer coach, I help organizations hire, onboard, train, and retain outstanding talent that enables them to drive more traffic, leads, and sales. In addition, I have been acting in the role of content manager for over a decade for a variety of clients.
In this article, I am sharing with you my practical experience and expertise on how to attract, hire, and onboard the right candidate for your organization. By the end of this article, you will have a job description template, interview questions, and much more to get started right away.
The topics we will cover in this article are:
As you become a content-driven organization, the role of the content manager is one of the most crucial roles you will hire for. Since this is a relatively new role and most companies have never hired a content manager before, this can be equally scary and exciting at the same time.
So what is a content manager? The most important thing to know is that your content manager will OWN your content marketing efforts. They are not just glorified bloggers or copywriters putting a bunch of words on a page, nor are they digital marketing generalists who will drive demand generation campaigns, manage your social ads, and design conference banners.
Here are the top ten characteristics of a great content manager:
Now that you know what a great content manager looks like, let's have a look at the six steps we recommend you take to hire one.
Before you write and post your job description, you need to talk about one critical step that will ensure the success of the entire mission: You need to have executive buy-in and inform your entire company before you hire!
Hiring a content manager represents a major shift within your company to a content-driven culture, and everyone needs to be bought in and ready to participate in the process. Your content manager will fail if you hire them first and your other employees aren't behind the idea of becoming the Voice of Trust in your space.
Now to the point you have been waiting for: creating and posting the job description! As I mentioned before, this is a relatively new role, so it is advisable to write a relatively comprehensive job description to attract a rock-star candidate.
To make this as easy as possible, you can download our Content Manager Job Description Template here. It consists of the following:
The job description finishes with the request to submit one to two writing samples and a 2-5 minute video (using Vidyard or a similar free tool) to answer a few included questions.
You will be receiving dozens, if not hundreds, of applications, and 95% of them will not be qualified. Requiring your applicants to include writing samples and a video helps you identify stand-out candidates much faster.
Have a close look at the application, the video, and the writing samples to screen for immediate disqualification:
Now that you have weeded out unsuitable applicants, it is time to interview the more promising candidates. Below are a few possible interview questions to help you guide the conversation.
Even if an interview went so well that you are ready to offer them the job on the spot, resist the urge and make your most promising candidates go through a situational activity very close to what they will be doing in their new job. This reduces the chances of making a bad hire significantly.
Here is the process:
The goal is two-fold: 1. to test their interview skills and how they handle themselves, and 2. to evaluate the outcome (written article).
Tips for the interview:
To evaluate the interview, ask yourself: How well do they build rapport? Did they make you feel comfortable? How prepared are they? Do they know how to ask thoughtful follow-up questions on the fly? Who does most of the talking in the interview?
Finally, to evaluate the article, consider the following: Was it delivered on time and without any prompting? Is the article error-free? Does it meet the requirements of the brief? Is it well-researched? Could it be, with another round of editing, published on our blog? By the way, articles that include internal links get massive brownie points.
Congratulations! If you have made it to this point, you have found a rock-star content manager. Now, quickly make them a job offer before someone else does. After signing the contract, send them a copy of Marcus Sheridan's book They Ask, You Answer and ask them to finish reading it before their first day.
In terms of onboarding, the best way is to have them do their job immediately. Of course, there needs to be internal training, but have them instantly participate in content brainstorming sessions with sales, start interviewing subject matter experts, and write articles.
Ready to get started? Download the job description template today.
It depends on if your candidate has to give notice, how many applications you get, etc., but generally, it takes four to six weeks from the time you post the job description to the day your new content manager walks through the door.
The exact salary depends on their experience, location, and other factors, but on average, in the US, a content manager earns about $64,000/year.
Immediately. Have them start as soon as possible.
No, hiring for the right skill sets and company culture fit comes first; having industry experience is a distant second.
The biggest mistake when hiring a content manager is planning on having them wear multiple hats. Their job is to own the content, not drive campaigns, do graphic design, edit videos, or anything else.