MRINetwork

U

Hiring & Talent Strategy

Unwinding the Headlines: A Worksheet

November 3, 2020 ──── Joe Mullings
Personal Branding

Unwinding the Headlines: A Worksheet

The Recruiter
Sharing your perspectives and subject matter expertise with your network is critical to reaching a wider audience, demonstrating your value as a search specialist, and proving your ability to support your clients’ businesses. But if you’ve never produced content before, it can feel daunting to know where to start. 

If you’re feeling stuck at the starting line, read on for a simple step-by-step guide to unwind the headlines and start sharing high-value content with your audience. 

  • Step 1: Find relevant headlines. 
    • Follow and subscribe to top publications in your industry. Ask your clients where they love getting their industry news and read the same sources.
    • Each week, choose 30 headlines from your selected news sources that are directly or adjacently related to your industry. 
    • Focus on articles that have a real impact on your space, for instance:
      • Announcements about mergers and acquisitions
      • Commentaries on upskilling requirements of specific roles
      • Analysis of corporate performance
  • Step 2: Build out your projections with a headhunter’s lens.
    • Read these 30 stories start to finish — but don’t just look for the obvious news story. 
    • Instead, extrapolate what these updates mean to careers in your category over the next 24 to 36 months. 
    • Reverse-engineer a meaningful projection on how this new story affects the World of Work. If we tie this back to the article topics listed above, this means:
      • Considering how an M&A will increase or decrease hiring opportunities
      • Assessing the most critical gaps in today’s corporate structures
      • Analyzing why certain companies are over- or underperforming in the current climate
    • Share the article to your LinkedIn feed. 
    • Use the 1,300 character caption field to share your perspective on how this news story impacts the World of Work. 
    • Use words like “could”, and “you may want to consider”, to emphasize that this is a projection — not a guarantee.
  • Step 3: Track your own story. 
    • Follow the trend and track the outcomes of your insights over time. 
    • Follow up with another post about how things are unveiling the way you anticipated. 
    • If they aren’t, follow up with a post explaining why your expected outcome didn’t take shape. 

Click to Download Your Free Worksheet

It might feel like establishing yourself as a thought leader online means starting from scratch — but that’s not the case. You already have years of expertise from working your desk in your unique industry. In just a few simple steps, you can translate your expertise to an insightful commentary that has tremendous reach outside of your current echo chamber, and illustrates just how valuable you are to your audience.