Cognition #18: How do I hire?

Startup folks on Twitter weren't joking when they warned about how hard and important hiring is.

I was on and off with my hires in the last quarter for my freelance business. But in the last few weeks, I decided to build a team.

I want to work on as many projects as possible and do most of the work. Maybe I'm a control freak that way. Or I'm unsure how to trust others with my clients' projects.

But with time, I realized I need to build a team and outsource (at least some simple stuff) to scale my freelancing business.

So I recorded my experiences and learnings with the little time I had with hiring and turned it into Cognition #18.

And yes, before we dive in, say Hello to our sooooooper cool sponsors, Fueler!!

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Okaaaay, So Cognition #18 is here!

In today's issue,

1. Case study of my hiring post

2. Non-technical aka fun segment

Case study of post? What post?

All this while I've hired outbound. I asked fellow freelancers about their hires, got some referral profiles, and searched on LinkedIn for writers.

I felt handpicking the team was the right way to go (I still believe in it), but I couldn't have great success.

This time, I wanted to post on LinkedIn + Twitter and see if I could find a writer that suits me among the inbound applicants.

So I wrote a post and decided to post it the next day. Meanwhile, a guy cold DMed me asking if I have any work to outsource.

I felt his samples were fine, and his charges were within my budget. I decided to give him sample work and delay the post.

But in today's edition, I'm gonna break down the post I wrote to explain my thinking behind it.

So here we go!

To begin with, here's the post 👇🏻

Let's start with the first part

I make a few basic posts for one of my clients that don't demand much of my efficiency.

I could invest the same time in more challenging work and outsource the current projects to a writer who fits within the budget.

(If you think INR 7-10k is less for 24 posts, trust me, the posts are that simple)

As I've said, the work is basic and I'm okay if the writer has a little experience of working with 4-10 clients.

Yes yes, I told the work is basic enough to justify the stipend I offer. Although I still stand by it, I also know that it's not great money.

So if I don't have more money to offer, what else can I give? Time.

I've learned a thing or two in the past year of freelancing and would love to share some knowledge one-on-one with my teammate if they wish to learn from me.

It is the most valuable hiring factor for me.

It is easy to become a person who writes. It is hard to become a person who understands people.

If you belong to any profession in the content marketing industry, having an idea about how audiences react to different content is a superpower.

And that's precisely what I'm looking for.

If your writing is basic, maybe I can spend fifteen minutes and improve it with editing. But if your understanding of the audience is bad, I'll have to spend all my time reworking the content. It will be a waste of time and resources for me.

Content formatting contributes hugely to readability and readers' perception of length.

Nobody wants to read poorly formatted content. Nobody.

Also, knowing how to format where is important.

Paragraphs with 3-5 sentences are sexy formatting in an ebook but clumsy in a LinkedIn post. Think about it.

So yeah, I can be biased towards applicants who are skilled in formatting.

This is obvious to understand, I assume.

Portfolio, because I need to see what projects you've worked on.

SM posts specifically because I'm outsourcing for LI and IG content.

It is again an interesting perspective I recently discovered.

We keep our best work on our portfolio (and we should.)

But most employers need to realize that their hires are not at their best every day.

If you take ten days, there will be one day at most where you'll be at your best in creativity, writing flow, research, presentation, etc.

Maybe for 1-2 days, you'll be fucked up due to poor mental health, work stress, tiredness, or anything.

The rest of the days, you're on your average or above average efficiency, which contributes to 70-80% of your working hours.

So obviously, I know you'll do fab work on your best day! What I need to know is how good you are on your average and above-average days.

Note:

Even with this instruction, people probably send their best work because nobody wants to miss out on a client.

It's something none of us can blame. Perhaps we might do the same.

So if they're honest while sending their average work, it's good for both parties. Otherwise, we'll figure it out.

Average work is just something that I'd prefer to see, and now you know why.

It's majorly from what I learnt from my previous hires.

I see they write really well for themselves. But when it comes to understanding briefs and clients' TAs, they couldn't live up to their personal branding standards.

Which is why I said 👇🏻

And of course, where will the applicants send, lol.

I've had a very little experience with hiring, and this is what I've learned so far.

One day, I'll do a long and insightful issue when I have more insights on hiring and team building.

And by the way, since we’re talking about hiring, there is something super useful about fueler.io when it comes to finding talent.

Fueler has a Discover section on their website that allows us to find proof of work profiles by entering keywords.

For example:

If you’re looking for graphic designers, keywords like graphic designer, designing, design, etc., will help you find profiles with proof of work in similar domains.

If you want to find someone from a particular niche, you can discover them on Fueler. You can consult, collab, and hire them as per your need. 

Here's how it is done: 

Also, it's a great way to get discovery for your projects. Make sure you are on Fueler and publishing your projects effortlessly.

Let me park the technical segment here. And join the ride in 👇🏻

Non-Technical aka Fun-Segment

Favourite quote from a book

Obvious, cliché, and a mantra that always works!

Movies/Shows I loved recently

I watched Kurup this week, and I have to say I enjoyed it. The film's writing is very cool. I always admire DQ's work, and this is no different.

Originally made in Malayalam. Available on Netflix.

Trailer here 👇🏻

Tweets I loved

Song I’m listening to on a loop

Another Anirudh-Dhanush masterpiece! Loved Nithya Menon in the song.

The melody of Megham Karukatha >>>

Still in my ears while I write this. ❤️

On that note, we’ll end the eighteenth edition here.

See ya next week!

Take care, stay safe, and promote Cognition on your socialsss!!!

Could really use some help to scale the newsletter.

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

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