This week at Yazamo, I focused on growing the writing team to prepare us to (re)launch the LeadQuizzes blog. Our goal is to publish five long (1500+ word) articles per week, and to create a backlog of content ready to be published if anything goes wrong or we stop producing articles down the road.
Because we were looking for writers who could technically write from anywhere in the world as long as the content was high-quality, we did not need to have people coming into the office for interviews or working with us locally.
We utilized a platform called Upwork, which connects businesses with freelancers around the globe, to look for potential hires. After writing up the job description and publishing the posting, I received around 20 applications within a couple days, of which I first conducted an initial screening to see who was qualified (I ruled out people who didn’t appear to have the required English skills or didn’t align with our goals for other reasons).
I then messaged the smaller pool of qualified applicants -- about a dozen -- about the final test in determining who would win the job: a writing assessment where we would assign a common topic to the applicants which was relevant to our online marketing area, just as they might have to write for our actual blog in the future.
We gave all the applicants the same amount of time, about three days, to complete the article and submit it for review. Not all the applicants even submitted any work, but out of the articles we received I evaluated two which stood out from the rest and we hired those two writers for the blog.
I also continued the PR work, sending out about 10 more targeted emails while following up with my 30 previously contacted journalists as well. I seemed to have trouble getting traction on the PR front, so next week I’ll be developing a new email template to test out-- perhaps a case study on how we impacted one of our clients.
Hi Hari!
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool that you got to handle hiring 'employees', even if it wasn't entirely by yourself. In this case what kinds of things were you looking for in the screening of the free lancers? Why were you having trouble getting traction with PR? What was indicative of that?
Thanks and good luck with your project!
Hi Farhan, one major issue was that many of the freelancers were not located in the US and were not completely fluent in English to the degree of native speakers. This was apparent in their writing style and was not what we were looking for.
DeleteThe PR was troublesome because most writers for large business companies are busy and tired of getting cold-contacted (some get hundreds of emails per day). I started to target the smaller local and niche publications instead so we can build our way up instead of going after the biggest ones immediately.
Hey Hari, what are some of the qualifications that stood out to you about the two writers that you hired for the blog? Was it just their writing or did you have any communication with them that indicated that they would be a good fit for the blogging job?
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa, they actually each used very unique styles but both seemed qualified for the job. One was extremely fluent and had a smooth and conversational style which was a solid fit for our blog. The other had a creative and humorous style which came across as entertaining and witty at times. We asked them to submit examples of their work and a brief test article so we could gauge their capability before hiring them.
DeleteContacting businesses through email is always tough. They are easily ignored and pushed aside. I think a fresh approach, like the one you mentioned above is a great idea! I can't wait to hear if it works.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. There's just so much competition that it's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out. We're targeting some smaller newspapers and websites first to build our way up eventually.
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