This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 43

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Open Kitchen: Why You Should Write A LinkedIn Newsletter

Have you noticed an upsurge in invitations to subscribe to LinkedIn newsletters?

It seems that the feature, previously available to a small group of 'creators' has now been expanded to more members who can now create their own. Whilst I appreciate that an increase on unsolicited messages might seem annoying, I am so glad that LinkedIn has opened up the feature to more people. It was always a mystery to me why I had early access to it and others didn't. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to take advantage but something about the arbitrariness and opacity of decision making was off putting. There is still some way to go as it seems it is not a universally available feature, so a multi-tier caste system is still in place here 😢

Let's hope it is only a matter of time before everyone gets the same level of access.

Some notes for new LinkedIn newsletter writers then...

1. Network Size ...Matters

Network size is probably the most important factor in determining the ultimate reach of your LinkedIn newsletter. You can see from the subscriber growth chart above that the increase in subscriber numbers is not at all exponential - it is a rather pedestrian and incremental, circa 100-150+ new subscribers per week. And yet the initial acquisition on launch was close to 10,000 subs!

This tells me that the first issue of your LinkedIn newsletter is going to be the one which gets you the most subscribers of any single newsletter, and that you'll probably never beat it. This reason why this is the case, is because your 1st degree connections are all immediately notified once you create your first newsletter, in effect a LinkedIn DM to - in my case - 30,000 connections.

Email notifications also go out to your 1st degree connections (again, in my case, 30,000...) btw, so you get this 'double bubble' on launch. It's a hugely effective and importantly - non-repeatable - big PR splash.

Now if you want to 'optimise for ultimate reach', what this means is that you should really...

2. ...Increase Network Size Before Launching

Remember that this is a one off, never-to-be-repeated big PR splash.

You don't want to waste the opportunity by sending to fewer people than you otherwise might have done. It is better to spend a couple weeks building out your 1st degree network, so that you will increase the size of the audience who will first get exposed to your big announcement. It's hard to be patient, I know 🤣. But the new year is usually a good time of year to be a little more pro-active in connections and I think it will be time well spent.

LinkedIn's new connection limits have become super restrictive however. I believe that it is now 20 per day on a free account, 150 on the paid? If you're a pro marketer or if audience building is important to your business, it may well be worth going for a paid account purely to get temporary access the higher connection limit.

You can also of course, solicit connection requests to you by being more active and visible on platform. Amelia Sordell has a great technique of actively targeting prospective connections, engaging in their content and having them send the connection request to you after a positive engagement. There is no limit to connection receipts, only the spend in time.

3. Cadence Matters...but timing doesn't

You need to set a cadence for your LinkedIn newsletter. The options are daily, weekly or monthly. I think 99% are going to go weekly and this is the correct choice - regular enough to build a following, not overly regular that it becomes an untenable amount of work.

For those of you who also follow the Sunday Recruiting Brainfood ( 👈 you should btw subscribe newsletter via email, you will already know that being relentlessly routine on the timing and cadence - it's out every Sunday AM, 7.30AM GMT, no fail.

I had believed I needed to do the same on This Week, In Recruiting, but it turns out not to be the case. I can't keep to time here (anytime in the morning basically...), and there have been 3 occasions out of the 44 so far where due to technical difficulties with the creator platform, I have sent it on Tuesday rather than Monday. As you can see from the 'performance' of the newsletter, there is no real discernible different in view count regardless of time of day, or whether it is Monday or Tuesday

The caveat is, it probably does matter what day in the week - better earlier in the week is my guess, to give more time for people to log into LinkedIn and discover it. Do not forget that LinkedIn is a professional social network, and only weirdo's like us log in every day 🤣

4. Negligible Impact of Engagement - Likes, Comments, Reshares

One of the unique characteristics of doing a newsletter on LinkedIn is the fact that it is a social network - with relevance based newsfeed algorithm is measured on 'engagement velocity'. If you want to know more about this, you can check out the relevant sections on the Brainfood Larder, or follow someone like Andy Foote.

The gist of it is, LinkedIn doesn't show your content to everyone in your network, only to a small number of your network. Then, based on whether that initial group engage on your post, LinkedIn might then show it to more people in your network and so on. A viral post is one where each successive tier of new viewers engages as the same or higher level than the one previous and LinkedIn continues to boost it until eventually it reaches a tier of people who couldn't care less what you are talking about and the engagement dies off.

I thought that this would be a significant component on whether LinkedIn newsletters would be successful but I can't see it in the data

Tracking the metrics on a spreadsheet, I have tried to identify patterns as to whether a high engagement rate leads to more viewers and the answers is....marginally. I think the reason for this is that the people who are most interested as those who have subscribed already, rather than those come across via a subscribers engagement. So, LinkedIn newsletters work a little differently from LinkedIn posts, where engagement is absolutely everything. Your newsletter view count is unlikely to be ever larger than your subscriber number and I've kind of settled on the idea that if I get 40-50% of the subscribers having a look, that this would be a pretty good number.

5. So....should I do a LinkedIn newsletter?

Absolutely you should! You will get 10x the reach of a LinkedIn article (you will never write one again...), it's quite easy to 'start big' if you have a large network to begin with and it's actually quite cool to directly interact with the commentators even if there is negligible impact of further distribution.

One major caveat though, is that you do not 'own' the subscriber data, have no access to their email, or even really know how they are; LinkedIn has all of this, so I would not migrate to LinkedIn newsletter if you already are doing a newsletter elsewhere. This is why I have ended up writing two, on consecutive days no less, like an idiot 🤣

Anyways, good luck to you if you're going to give it a shot, and let me know in comments below if you have any questions on any of the above.

Out of the kitchen, onto the lounge...

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What's in the News?

LinkedIn 'Audio Rooms' at Beta launch

Seems like the biggest news of the week was this product news release from LinkedIn, who are finally doing audio, following the likes of ClubHouse, Twitter and even Facebook. It looks like it will be very much nested in the Events feature, so will be one of those that will require set up and promo, rather than just livestreaming it out there. Check it out the update here and let me know if this is something you might want to do a Brainfood on.

Digital Right To Work Permanent Extended

I've been following the Recruitment & Employers Confederation twitter for regulatory changes which impact UK employers and recommend that others do too. CEO Neil Carberry and crew have found a way to make important news accessible to those who need it. Their pulse surveys are excellent as has their reportage and advocacy on IDTV - the obligation employers have to check on candidates right to work. Of course UK has now fully Brexited from January 1st and we are now 3rd country and therefore subject to rules governing third countries. BBC news report here on the changes that might impact you - most pertinently points 5 and 6.

Diversity job board Canvas.com may need another name change...

US court has found that their name contravenes the copyright of learning management platform Instructure, who claim rights to the domain. Having already gone through a rebrand from Jumpstart, this ruling promises to be an expensive challenge. Reminds of the post that Shahzad Younas, CEO of Muslim dating app, Muzmatch made last week. Very tough on both these businesses, neither of whom can be reasonably have been said to gained any unfair advantage in the way they have operated. Shame that 'lawfare' is a viable option rather than just fair competition in the free market.

If you are a recruitment service provider or technology business and have any news to share, comment below, this is your application to get into next week's addition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it

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What's On Offer?

Delighted to receive this outstanding offer from David Macciocca and David Cevelli and their crew at VideoMyJob. We know by now that Employee Generated Content is what candidates really want to see from employers, but how exactly can you get it easily onto your career page? Enter Career Site Widget from VMJ

Join the 45 minute Pilot Overview with the two David's on Weds 26th January (5pm GMT / 9am PT / 12pm ET) - and win a chance to be one of the 20 employers who get to try Career Site Widget for FREE for the first 90 days. It's a no brainer folks - register here

If you are a recruitment service provider or recruitment technology vendor have any exclusive offer for the community, comment below with your offer in order to be included in next week's edition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it.

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What's Going On?

Founder's Focus - Ep13 - Up close and personal with Dean Sadler & Dan Kirkland, Co-founders, Tribepad - Wednesday 12th January, 12.00pm

First Founder's Focus of the year coming up this week, as I host Dan Kirkland and Dean Sadler, co-founders of Tribepad onto the show. This is the show where we get up close and personal with the leaders of tech businesses changing the way we work today. What can these two ex-engineers share with us on leadership, recruitment technology and business building? If you're an entrepreneurial type, and thinking about starting your own business, this is the show for you. Weds 12th Jan, 12.00pm GMT. Register here

Apprenticeship Hiring & Reaching School Leavers, Jan 13th, 10.30am GMT

With continued challenges in experienced hiring, focus on early career talent is going to be an increasing priority for every organisation going forward. How can employers better access and communicate with this cohort? Stats, insight and recommendation from Neil Ewington and friends in this fascinating online webinar. Register here folks

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep139 - Selling Talent Acquisition Transformation to the Business, Friday 14th, January 2.00pm GMT / 9.00am EST

Have you ever had a TA strategy that struggled during implementation? Chances are, you didn't get sufficient backing from the business in order to see it done. This week, we're going to be focusing on how to market the strategy to the key areas of the business to ensure everyone is one the same page, reading the same book! Essential watch folks - with Maury Hanigan, CEO (SparcStart), Ben Gledhill, VP Global Talent Acquisition (WorldRemit), Paul Maxin, VP of Talent Acquisition, (Publicis Sapient) & Allyn Bailey, Founder (Transformation Tapas). Register here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep140 - Setting Salaries For Remote Teams, Friday 21st January, 2.00pm GMT

Next week, we're talking Comp & Bens folks. Especially what to do when we start hiring team mates in territories where we might have never previously hired from before. How do we pay - universal grade, or location adjusted? What is the impact of salary transparency? How will this impact income gaps? We're with Rachel Gibbs, Global Compensation & Benefits Advisor (Independent), Megan O'Malley, Senior Director Global Recruitment (International Rescue Committee) & Andrew Gadomski, Founder (Aspen Analytics). Register here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep141 - Recruiter Enablement: How to set up a RecOps function, Friday 28th January, 3.00pm GMT / 7.00am PT

Rounding out the month, we're talking Recruitment Operations. Inspired by DevOps from Software Engineering, this is the specialist function in a mid-to-large TA department that focuses on 'recruiter enablement' - making other recruiters in the team operate more effectively. We're with w/ Daniel Martos, Recruitment Operations Lead (Preply) and Stephanie Baysinger, Recruitment Strategy, Operations & Enablement (Marqueta), two folks who've set up RecOps departments in their current companies. What do they know? What can they share? Register here and find out!

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter, comment below with the link and event details. Don't forget to @ mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring?

Technical Recruiter, Deepgram, Remote USA

Senior Recruiter, Minted, Remote USA

Sourcing Specialist, On Deck, Remote Global

Corporate Recruiter, On Deck, Remote Global

Tech Recruiter, On Deck, Remote Global

Executive Recruiter, On Deck, Remote Global

Senior Tech Recruiter, MesssageBird, Remote EU

Senior Product Recruiter, MessageBird, Remote EU

Commercial Recruiter, MesssageBird, Remote EU

Recruiting Lead EMEA, GoDaddy, Remote EU

Director - Human Resources, Lime, London, UK

Talent Acquisition Partner (Manager), GWI, London, UK

Technical Recruiter (Remote), Brad's Deals, Chicago, Remote USA

Senior Recruiter - German speaking (f/m/x), Futurepath, Berlin, Germany

If you want to get your job featured, post jobs on the Brainfood Jobs Job Board here

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Who's Moving?

Chris Lowndes, joins Talentiir as Commercial Director, after spending time in leadership roles with Project People, Korn Ferry RPO and IBM Talent Acquisition Optimisation. Potentially a business changing hire for Talentiir, exciting new entrant to the project RPO space.

Matt Charney joins HR.com as Talent Acquisition Community Leader, after spending 2021 with SmartRecruiters are Editor-in-Chief. Have a look at the responsibilities of the role - Matt is pioneering his own path which others in the creator / influencer / community leader space will surely follow. This is what community led marketing is going to look like. Exciting times, look forward to seeing what you get up to Matt.

Lea Schmidt joins Humaans as Talent Lead, after spending time in lead TA roles at Capdesk and Peakon. Got to be super interesting to work as a recruiter on in recruitment technology businesses. Love to see what innovation we might expect in CX here.

Stephen O'Donnell joins SparcStart as Head of Sales EMEA. Few people are as well connected to the UK recruitment scene than Stephen and fewer still have his know-how on video. Fantastic match between two great friends of brainfood!

Anna Roe joins Mind Foundry as Chief People Officer, after spending time in leadership roles at TransferGo, Airsorted and TransferWise. Great to see this expansion of scope along with the progression of career.

Gareth Jones joins Thomas International as Chief Digital Officer, after spending the past 4 years leading assessment tech company Headstart. Few people might be better suited for the a role like this, combining deep industry expertise on both spheres of the job. Good luck Gareth!

Marc Mapes joins Monster as Senior Account Executive, after spending time with HiringSolved, Avature, Lumesse and others. I'm not sure there is a person who has a stronger industry CV than Marc for a role of this type, great hire for Monster.com

Finally congratulations to Mertcan Uzun, who goes up to Head of Culture & Community at Blinkist, Alex Her promoted to Employer Brand Manager at GoDaddy, Karen Lai promoted to Global Operations Manager at WeWork and Iain Hamilton, who moves up to VP of Product Management at Indeed.com.

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business, and feel the wider community needs to know about it, comment below with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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What Are You Doing?

Bas Westland is running a fun competition - the annual 'Most Influential Recruiter' competition for the Dutch language community. It seems like some of the best recruiters in Europe come from the Netherlands, so there is a great selection of options to choose from. Or, perhaps you would like to nominate someone yourself? Do it here and vote for your favourite Dutchie 😀

If you are doing something new, comment below with what it is and share a link to where you want people to go. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

Year is fully underway it seems.

Though as ever with these new times, uncertainty remains the prevailing feeling. I declined an all expenses paid trip to California last week - not because I didn't want to go - but because I am unprepared to put up with the hassles pre / post travel, which are not only personally annoying but unpredictable problem in running brainfood stuff.

Remember, as a solo flyer, me 'going on a trip' is 100% of the organisation going on that trip. If that becomes more time than I can afford, it will prove damaging to the business. Not sure how this challenge is going to go away, without Covid going away. So lets hope at some point it does.

Stay safe everybody

Hung

Hung Lee is the curator of Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.