This time last year I was dead set on launching a jobs board spin-off from my newsletter (and Steph did the hard yards in building it) but a combination of my struggles with my health and the TPX gig meant I ended up giving up on that. In my seemingly never ending mission to find a way to transition into some kind of recruitment adjacent role though I have decided to try and spin out what was going to be the ‘services’ element of the jobs board into something I promote via my newsletter.
Based on almost a decade of doing my newsletter and thus reading thousands of job descriptions, my twenty years as a hiring manager across the Civil Service, the BBC and consultancy and, lets be honest, my unreasonable amount of job interviews myself, I feel like I have a useful perspective and insights for both those seeking work and looking to hire…as long as it is in the digital public service space formerly known as DDaT.
I’m just testing the waters and will probably launch properly in the Spring when I am finished at GDS (where I will be spending the next couple of months helping recruit my replacement.)
So these are my ideas for services ->
Job seekers
Online calls to talk about next steps in your career, CV review, interview advice, introduction to people in my network or just a reminder the grass isn’t always greener.
(£50+VAT per 45 minute call)
Hiring managers
Advice on promoting roles, salary benchmarking, improving job descriptions, supporting CV sifts, supporting interviews including recommended processes, interview question drafting and joining interview panel as an independent member.
(£100+VAT per hour or £500+VAT per day)
Sponsored Job Ads
For £50+VAT per newsletter there will be a single sponsored job ad in my newsletter – at [00] top of the list, looking like everything else (unlike the failed banner ads). The newsletter has almost 2300 subscribers, a couple of hundred more browsers and a 65% open rate so I think that might be decent value.
So – what do you think? Is this a goer at all?
Digital by Default 
5 responses to “Seeking advice about giving [jobs] advice..”
It’s always a good idea to immerse yourself in other examples of people doing what you want to do, partially to get ideas to copy, but also to figure out what you don’t want to do, or how to differentiate your offering. I would start by studying what Amy Santee is doing with her consulting services and her podcast.
I’m sure there are a million more examples, but I’m not deep into this space—I really just know of her work and she seems level-headed and dedicated to helping clients. Maybe her fee structures or services will be inspiring.
Similarly, if you’re going to advise managers on hiring practices, definitely be sure to remix all the good stuff out there. One U.S.-based offering that’s fairly solid (especially for tech-in-government types) is the Tech Talent Toolkit from U.S. Digital Response. Some sample tools, advice, etc. that may come in handy. Obviously there are some differences between our opposite sides of the Atlantic, but the core concepts remain true.
I’m excited to watch what happens with your efforts! I’ve sometimes thought of going into this kind of consulting, too, as I’ve had a lot of jobs / interviews, and done a ton of interviews as well. I’ve crafted my own hiring approaches and tools over the years and gotten my “hit rate” for good hires pretty high (I think). Plus I work with someone who’s a former IT industry recruiter / headhunter and I bet we could build something together. 🙂
Good luck and I hope you’ll share how it’s going!
Those newsletter stats are really good! Do you know how many / if any people have found jobs through the newsletter and how many? Could you get testimonials or words-of-thanks from their employers? It doesn’t have to be a high-converting newsletter but I’m sure there’s plenty of people in post thanks to you highlighting a role. Makes sponsoring a job ad more appealing when you can see it has worked.
I’m going to ask for testimonials in the next newsletter – from both sides of the table – fingers crossed a few folks chip in with something.
Amy Santee’s stuff is interesting – thanks for that will have a proper read.
The ‘talent’ portion of the US Digital Response offer is a big inspiration for trying this out – albeit on a tiny scale.
Please can you do something about security checks? I.e. exploring the current trend for blanket requirement for SC level pre-application, which we’ve found is actually against the rules even for project work. I lost the will to keep bleating about it on LinkedIn last December. Rob Finch kept the flame going a bit. Can send you links to posts and GOV.UK pages. I’ve worked at 10 departments and can’t apply for any central gov roles atm. Basically forcing independents to go through 3rd parties who take the piss a big cut from workers and charge gov much more.
Cheers!
Lizzie Bruce Director, content usability specialist Cake Design Studio cakeconsultancy.com https://www.cakeconsultancy.com/ linkedin.com/in/lizziebruce http://linkedin.com/in/lizziebruce Go to our e-learning courses https://cakeconsultancy.com/cake-courses/