I’ve interviewed hundreds of marketers throughout my career. The positions—and the companies looking to hire—all had different goals and objectives. Yet, they all had one thing in common: they wanted to hire people who were passionate about their work and had a genuine interest in the company.

To attain that goal, I outlined core competencies and sample questions the members of our interview team could use to find the right person for each role.

When it was my turn to talk to a candidate, I always had one critical question that I’d insert into the middle of our conversation to get an authentic read on the person’s interest in marketing.

The question is a simple one: “How do you keep up with the latest marketing trends and strategies?”

SPOILER ALERT: There isn’t a right answer to the question. I mean, I have some answers that I really like, mind you. But, there are so many great answers that tell me a lot about how this person prefers to consume content, how curious they are, and how likely they are to want to continue in a marketing career.

There are, however, several undesirable answers I’ve sadly heard more than once, such as:

• “Oh, my degree is in marketing. I don’t have plans for more marketing courses.”
• “I just get everything I need from my network and friends.”
• “I don’t like to read, write, listen to podcasts, or watch videos.”
• “I read all the sites.”

I’m not making any of them up—not even the last one (which may remind some of you of another quote you may have heard.)

When I’m looking to hire someone for a content marketing role in particular, I am looking for someone with a genuine interest in the career field and who wants to be mentored and supported as they grow in their career—in my role and beyond.

And those ‘wrong’ answers up there tell me the candidate will not necessarily be open to learning, growing, and adapting to change. And they are likely seeing the job as a way to get into the company to pursue something else they *are* passionate about.

Since I *am* a curious person with a goal to always be learning, I’d like to pose this question to you: Where are you going to keep up on all the trends, strategies, and tools that are making a difference in how we approach content marketing? Hit reply and let me know!

Coming Up on #ContentChat

Content Chat is my weekly Twitter and LinkedIn video chat focused on sharing expertise and ideas amongst the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. Be sure to mark your calendar to join the #ContentChat community and me for these upcoming guests:

• There is no #ContentChat today since just about everyone I know (including me!) is taking the day off due to its proximity to the U.S. 4th of July holiday. We hope everyone has a fun and safe celebration!
• Next Monday (July 10), we’ll join Dayana Cadet, marketing consultant, certified clarity coach, and graphic designer, to discuss branding considerations for companies and thought leaders. We’ll explain how you can create more purposefully crafted content that aligns with your identity, and ways to design and use unique visuals that reinforce your brand. If her name sounds familiar to you, that's because she authored the excellent content marketer's guide to using Canva on our blog.

​Get Involved with #ContentChat

Want #ContentChat on your calendar? Use this link to follow our calendar, so you never miss a chat.

We're booking guests for Q3—send us your pitch!
​Are you a content marketing practitioner or consultant who is interested in being a guest for an upcoming edition of #ContentChat? We’d love to see your topic pitch via our Content Chat guest submission form.

Content Marketing + Related Jobs

​Editorial Strategist, Dropbox.
​Dropbox is a leading file management and collaborative editing tool that 700+ million global users use. The brand’s communications team is seeking an editorial strategist to work alongside the CEO to create companywide messages on the corporate narrative, product development, and other high-level priorities.

​Senior Content Strategist, Growth Marketing, Hinge Health.
​Hinge Health is a leading digital clinic for joint and muscle pain, delivering outcomes and proven claims reductions for more than 25 million members across 1,250 customers. The company seeks a content strategist based in Austin, TX, or Portland, OR, to create consumer marketing copy in the Hinge voice and tone, spanning direct mail and email copy to web pages and blog content.

​Content Marketing Manager, Impulse Labs.
Impulse Labs is a team of engineers, designers, innovators, and cooks working to make next-generation home appliances that are better for the environment. Its team—through HireArt—is looking for a part-time content marketing manager to help scale the company and own the content strategy and creation for all owned channels.

​Content Strategy Manager, Freshworks.
​More than 50,000 companies use Freshworks for its customer experience and employee experience software. The company is hiring a content strategy manager in Seattle (or San Mateo) to drive the content vision for web experiences, creating and optimizing strategies for personas, templates, copy, layout, flow, navigation, and information architecture.

Are you hiring? We can help!

If you have a content marketing contract position, full-time job, or freelancer opportunity, reply to this email and let us know. We are always happy to share jobs with the community.

ProfDev Spotlight

​Weekly Marketing AI Event Series (FREE For MarketingProfs PRO Members)!
​Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope that using AI in marketing goes away! MarketingProfs is hosting nine weekly sessions to help you gain the full benefits of the AI revolution. This week, Cathy McPhillips will demystify AI and show you how to use it to strengthen your storytelling skills (without fearing that robots will take over your job). Register here (it’s FREE for PRO members, which is well worth the investment).

ICYMI

​How Marketers Can Market Themselves.
​When it comes time for a job hunt, you want an engaged community behind you that can help you make your next move. In this #ContentChat recap, the fabulous Amy Fair (@AmyLonghorn) explains how marketers can step out from behind the curtain to market themselves. She and the community explain how to know it’s time for a career change, ways to network at events and through social media, and the must-have assets for your job search.

​Content Marketing Ask Me Anything.
#ContentChat is now on video! To celebrate our new format, I hosted a content marketing AMA. Watch the full conversation or read through the highlights in this chat recap, where I explain how I got my start in content marketing, why I started a consultancy instead of a content marketing agency, and how marketers can use AI to improve their content consistency.

​GA4 Explained: What It Is and What You Need to Do.
​If you haven’t already configured it, you should install Google Analytics 4 ASAP to avoid having gaps in your data. Kyle Akerman explains what GA4 is and how to prepare your site in this article, or you can find full details in Google’s help article on GA4.

​The Official ChatGPT Prompt Engineering Guide from OpenAI Is Here.
​Is ChatGPT not giving you the results you need? The problem is likely in your prompt. OpenAI released its GPT best practices, which the Marketing AI Institute team recaps in this blog post. One of my favorite tips is splitting complex tasks into simpler, smaller ones.

​How To Find External Sources To Create Trustworthy Content.
​If you’re looking for relevant and helpful external sources for your next piece of content, Ann Gynn shares five strategies in this Content Marketing Institute article: ask industry-, role-, or geographic-specific organizations, connect on interactive platforms, seek non-human sources, use Qwoted, and build a source network. What are your go-to strategies? Hit reply and let me know!

​The Rise of Nano-Influencers: How the Smallest Voices are Making the Biggest Impact.
​Partnering with celebrities and mega-influencers is often too difficult or expensive when you have a limited marketing budget. Nano-influencers, however, can be incredibly effective for reaching their smaller—yet very loyal—audiences. In this Entrepreneur article, learn more about nano-influencers and why you should collaborate with them.

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers,

Erika

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​Erika Heald, Founder & Lead Consultant​
Erika Heald Marketing Consulting​
Twitter: @sferika​​
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/erikaheald​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misserikasf/​