Related Posts
Podcasts
Have you ever found yourself up late at night, poring over resume after resume, wondering how on earth you’re going to find the right Content Manager for your team? Are you nervous about making a potentially costly hiring mistake, given the unique content needs and workflow of your organisation? Trust us, we’ve been there.
Like you, we’ve grappled with the challenge of selecting the perfect Content Manager, a decision that can steer the course of your marketing strategy and your entire business. The stakes are high and you want to make sure you’re hiring the right person.
But here’s the good news: we’ve cracked the code.
Not only have we successfully hired an exceptional Content Manager for our own team, but we’ve also guided other businesses to do the same.
Today, you’ll be learning our step-by-step process that will empower you to confidently evaluate and hire the right Content Manager for your team.
By the end of this article, you’ll be well-equipped to make an informed hiring decision that aligns with your unique needs and goals.
Step 1. Understanding the Content Manager Role
Before embarking on the hiring journey, it’s crucial to grasp the importance and role of a content manager for your organisation’s success.
The first step involves familiarising everyone involved in the hiring process with the specifics of the content manager role and why you’re seeking to fill it.
The reason for hiring a content manager goes beyond merely wanting to add a new member to the team. It’s about establishing a clear vision for your company’s content strategy and ensuring it’s executed with precision, professionalism, and passion.
A Content Manager could be responsible for:
- Writing and publishing three blog articles per week
- Running regular Revenue Team Meetings to effectively align marketing and sales and brainstorm content
- Interviewing Subject Matter Experts in your team
- Providing regular content updates to the team to the entire organisation involved and excited about content
- Reporting on the ROI of blog articles
- And if you’re lucky and you pick the right person, they can handle all of your social media and website needs as well
Once you understand what the Content Manager role involves, you’ll need to draw up a job listing. Here’s some information on what an ideal candidate looks like from our experience, to help you write your job listing.
The ideal candidate is someone who is:
- Passionate about writing: This person will be creating a substantial amount of written content, so a love for writing is non-negotiable.
- Customer-focused: The content manager should have the ability to create content that speaks directly to your customers’ needs and concerns.
- An excellent communicator: This role often involves interviewing others, so the ability to interact effectively is key.
- Eager to learn: The landscape of content marketing is ever-evolving, hence the need for a continuous learning mindset.
- Organised, goal-oriented, and detail-driven: These skills are vital to manage content projects successfully and meet deadlines.
In terms of background, a great content manager can come from any walk of life.
They could be fresh out of university or a seasoned professional. They could be former journalists, teachers, creative writers, law students, or even industry outsiders.
The essential factor is not industry experience but rather their ability to exhibit the core skills we’ve outlined above. Typically, we see greatest success with people who have a passion for the human language and writing.
As you gear up to write the job listing and start screening applicants, I highly recommend reviewing the following resources:
- The Ultimate Marketing Interview Questions List for Businesses: Your Playbook for Hiring Top-Performing Marketers
- IMPACT+ course: How to Hire a Content Manager (Note that this is not a free course)
- IMPACT+ course: Your Role as a Content Manager (Note that this I not a free course)
These resources will further equip you with the knowledge and strategies to attract and identify the perfect content manager for your team.
Remember, the objective is not just to fill a vacant position but to onboard a team member
who will become an integral part of shaping and driving your content strategy forward.
Step 2. Conducting a 30 Minute Interview
The second step in evaluating potential content managers is a more in-depth, 30-minute interview. This conversation will allow you to dig deeper into your applicant’s past experiences and competencies.
Your four primary objectives during this interview should be to:
- Verify the applicant understands the role they’re applying for
- Assess their relevant experience, skills, and emotional intelligence
- Evaluate whether the applicant fits well within your organization’s culture
- Confirm their salary expectations
Interview Preparation
Schedule an in-person or video-conference interview and have a list of approximately 10 questions ready.
The questions you choose should probe their experiences, challenges, preferences, and areas of expertise.
Here are some examples:
- What’s been your favourite job so far? What has been the hardest job? Why?
- Can you describe a time that you failed at something and what you learned from that experience?
- What work accomplishment are you most proud of?
- Can you tell me about a project you’ve managed before when you had to motivate people around an idea?
- From what you know about this role and our team, what do you think the biggest challenge will be?
- If you had to publish a piece of content late but perfect or on time with some room for improvement, which would you pick and why?
- What are you an expert in? How did you develop that expertise? Teach me something about this.
- How would you rate yourself in terms of familiarity with on-page SEO best practices?
- What are your salary requirements?
Conducting the Interview
During the interview, pay attention to how they answer the questions.
Are they comfortable? Do they exhibit enthusiasm and confidence?
Make sure they are also asking questions – it’s a potential red flag if they don’t show curiosity about the role or the company. A strong content manager should be naturally inquisitive.
Evaluating the Interview
After the interview, use an evaluation scorecard to assess the applicant’s performance. Make sure to copy and paste your chosen questions into the scorecard before the interview to allow real-time scoring.
You can access this scorecard here.
This structured interview process helps to assess each candidate systematically and consistently, providing a solid foundation for making informed decisions on who moves forward in the hiring process.
Step 3. Conducting a 30-Minute Situational Activity
The next step in the hiring process involves a situational activity that closely mirrors a common task the applicant would be expected to perform in the role. This activity aims to assess their interviewing, communication, and rapport-building skills.
Situational Activity Planning
To assess your top applicants, plan an activity where they interview you or another Subject Matter Expert (SME) from your team and then write an article based on the interview.
Sample Situational Activity:
- Schedule a 30-minute interview with the applicant, where they will interview you or another internal expert from your team
- Inform the applicant of the interview topic one week in advance. To allow for easier comparison of interviewing and writing samples, use the same topic for each candidate
- The interview should be conducted over a recorded video conference. Make sure the applicant knows this beforehand
- After the interview, give the applicant up to 48 hours to submit a 600- to 900-word article on the interview’s topic
During the interview, take note of how the applicant builds rapport, their level of preparation, and how well they adapt to the flow of the conversation.
Evaluating the Article
After receiving the applicant’s article, evaluate their performance using this evaluation scorecard. Consider factors such as:
- Rapport building: Did they create a comfortable environment? Did they try to find common ground before delving into the main questions?
- Preparation quality: Did they come prepared with researched questions? Did they exhibit knowledge of the interviewee and the topic?
- Follow-up questions: Did they ask clarifying questions or build on previous answers to deepen the conversation?
- Article delivery: Was the article submitted on time? Does it capture the interviewee’s tone, voice, and style accurately? Is the content thorough, clear, and written according to SEO best practices?
As an additional step, you might want to share the recordings of the top five applicants’ interviews with your team for further feedback and insights.
This situational activity is an excellent way to assess how the applicant would perform under real-world conditions and will help you distinguish which candidates possess the essential skills required for the content manager role.
Step 4. Complete the Evaluation Scorecard
After you have conducted all the steps in the application process, it’s time to evaluate the applicants based on their performances and identify the ones who meet your top qualifications.
1. Evaluate the Applicants
Complete the evaluation scorecard based on the criteria outlined in each step. Take note of how well the applicants performed during the resume screening, interview, and situational activity, and how well their skills and experiences align with the job description.
While we provide a scorecard for coaching clients to help with this, you can always create your own scorecard to evaluate the applicants.
2. Discuss Qualified Applicants
After you have scored all the applicants, discuss with your hiring team the ones who achieved an average rating of 4 or above. These are your top-performing candidates who have demonstrated the necessary skills and fit for the Content Manager position.
3. Involve Your CEO
For an added perspective, consider sending your top candidates to your CEO for an additional conversation. This interaction can provide valuable insights and help make the final decision on who to hire.
In this step, your objective is to make an informed and balanced decision on who to move forward with based on the accumulated data and insights from the previous steps.
This comprehensive evaluation ensures you hire the most suitable Content Manager for your team.
Step 5. Hire and Onboard Your New Team Member
Once you’ve completed the evaluation and made your final hiring decision, it’s time to extend an offer to your top candidate and start the onboarding process.
So, what should your onboarding process be like?
You’ll want to:
- Provide Essential Reading
- Conduct an Onboarding Process
- Implement a specific Onboarding Guide
- Assign Certifications
Provide Essential Reading
To help your new hire understand the philosophy and strategies that drive your marketing approach, assign them to read “They Ask, You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan. This book will give them a solid grounding in content marketing, customer engagement, and the methodology your team follows.
Conduct an Onboarding Process
Take your new hire through the standard onboarding process within your company. This process typically includes introductions to team members, a tour of the workspace (if applicable), and an overview of company policies and procedures.
Implement Specific Onboarding Guide
Discuss with your content trainer how to implement the “They Ask, You Answer” content manager onboarding guide. This guide will provide additional role-specific training and ensure that the new hire is ready to hit the ground running.
Assign Certifications
In order to continue professional development and ensure a thorough understanding of key marketing concepts, assign your new hire to complete the following free HubSpot certifications:
- HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
- HubSpot Marketing Software Certification
- HubSpot Content Marketing Certification
These certifications will equip the new hire with essential skills in inbound marketing, software, and content marketing, which are crucial for a content manager.
So, what’s next?
Once you’ve made your new hire, it’s time to introduce them to your team and get started on your content journey.
Finding the right Content Manager is crucial, because in today’s digital landscape, content is key to building trust with buyers.
After you’ve hired your Content Manager, you’ll want to make sure you’re running effective content brainstorming sessions with them.
Here’s a guide on how to run effective content brainstorming sessions with your team.
