How long does it take to hire and induct a content manager?

As you begin your They Ask, You Answer journey, hiring a content manager can be quite exciting.

This person will be the center of your content marketing efforts, so you know you need to hire the right person. At the same time, chances are you haven't hired someone for this position before, so you probably don't know exactly what to look for in the interview.

And how long does it actually take to hire and induct a content manager?

In this article, we address these and other questions in detail.

Hiring your new content manager begins, of course, with drafting a job description. No idea what it should contain? No worries, at Buzzlytics we help you with this in the TAYA Mastery process.

Then, of course, you should share the job posting in relevant places where content managers (or similar job titles such as copywriter, content marketer and journalist) are looking for jobs.

LinkedIn is a no-brainer, but also consider Villamedia, general job boards or industry-specific platforms, such as Greenjobs if you operate in a sustainable sector.

People with a background in journalism (or a similar background such as Dutch or Communications) are well suited for the role of content manager.

These people often have excellent writing skills, know how to conduct interviews and can work in a dynamic environment where they must meet deadlines.

For the right candidates, a job as a content manager is ideal. If they love writing, are naturally curious, and are good at time management and editing, they are likely to enjoy the work.

However, you do need to make sure that your applicants really want the job they are applying for.

Sometimes an applicant who aspires to a marketing position will try to start as a content manager in the hope that he or she can move up within the company once on board. This person will feel unhappy in the content manager role and content production will suffer.

So make sure your applicants are clear about what the job entails and what their expectations are.

Also, carefully check everything your applicant sends you for errors. Cover letters, resumes, emails ... all opportunities to see the prospective content manager in action. If there are mistakes in these - or things are turned in late - you should reconsider whether this person is right for the role.

As with any hiring, you should also try to find a "cultural fit" with your team and organization.

Once you find candidates you like, you can give them a trial assignment.

Interviewing and writing an article based on it is the main job of a content manager.

So it's a good idea to give your applicants a topic and access to a content expert. Then assign them to conduct an interview and produce a piece of content to be turned in within a certain time frame.

When evaluating the interview, pay attention to two things:

Your content manager will need to be able to maintain relationships, and this kind of emotional intelligence is an intangible trait to keep an eye on during the application process.

When evaluating content, make sure that the content manager has written a clear and well-structured story. The writing style should be good and the input from the content expert should be correctly incorporated.

Congratulations, when you get to this step, you've hired a content manager. How do you proceed from here?

According to Marcus Sheridan, founder of They Ask, You Answer, content managers should start creating content as soon as possible after they are hired. This is the best way to get to know the company.

Then, within a few months, your content manager should be able to work completely independently.

Another important step, which actually occurs prior to or concurrently with step 3, is to make it clear to everyone what hiring the content manager means. If the rest of the company is not convinced of the usefulness of the content manager, he or she will struggle. And you want to avoid that, of course.

Business leaders must therefore make it clear to the rest of the company what the role of the content manager is and that other employees must also play a role in content creation.

We'll be honest: finding the right content manager is one of the biggest challenges for our clients.

Sure, there are clients among them who have hired a candidate within just a few weeks of posting the job posting. But it can also take longer.

Right now, there are major staff shortages, so content managers looking for a (new) job have the luxury of being able to be critical.

So, as an employer, you must:

As for the last point, many companies, for example, prefer someone who has experience writing for their industry. While that certainly has advantages, it also makes the search for the right candidate more difficult.

In our experience, it's more important that someone has the right background, mindset and skills, rather than content knowledge of the industry. A content manager without subject matter knowledge doesn't suffer from the curse of knowledge and will ask "dumb" questions that your clients also ask. So a recent journalist graduate is well suited for this role.

In addition, ask yourself whether you want someone who comes into the office every day or whether hybrid working is also an option. In Amsterdam or Utrecht it will not be difficult to find many qualified candidates, but 'in the province' it will be more difficult. If you are looking for someone who both has 10 years of experience and knowledge of your industry and lives no more than 10 km away from your company, you are making things very difficult for yourself.

The role of content manager is a role that can easily be performed (partly) remotely. Our own content manager lives in Friesland and comes to our office in Leusden once every two weeks (or as much more often as needed).

Hiring a full-time content manager is one of the most important and sometimes one of the most difficult parts of implementing They Ask, You Answer. But once you find a good content manager, you'll also see results quickly. You will see the number of articles on your website grow weekly, welcome more visitors to your website month after month, and see an increase in leads and sales.