Noise! Will they even see you in the GPT-saturated feed?

Thanks to the state of the economy, many recruiters are now on the receiving end of countless poor business development messages. Attempts similar to the poor candidate messaging I have been begging recruiters to stop doing for years.

The type of noise that gets in the way of a great recruiter standing out in the mass of lazy outreach. Stuff like this one that is hilarious, yet not.

And I just received this one so I am now crying… 🤣

Oh you bet I mind, that you’re too lazy to look at what I do properly before sending your cold outreach! But I’ll simply block your email address. 😈

Noise!

Like you, I don’t need more NOISE!!! 🙉 I am interrupted enough times each day, and I definitely don’t want to be interrupted by irrelevant automation loops. Automation loops that will be made worse if people are insufficiently curious about how they use AI and especially GPT.

Content shock

Researching last week’s post, I read a great article by marketing strategy consultant and Author, Mark Schaefer, whose tag line is ‘rise above the noise’!

In How to beat GPT and the next wave of content shock he states:

• A science fiction magazine now receives so many AI-generated stories that it stopped taking submissions.
• Amazon is overwhelmed with new ChatGPT book submissions. One author “wrote” a 119-page novella in a day and claimed he would write 300 books in a year. Amazon Direct Publishing is so swamped it is increasing its costs for a self-published book for the first time in a decade.
• And it’s not just written content flooding the market. There are now AI-generated podcasts, movies, and music.

Sobering 🫣

A cynic would say that I am concerned because I am an Author but, as I write The Damage of Words and Conquer Hiring, I live in hope that people will seek original thought and know it’s my voice they hear when they read my words.

But really what I am concerned about is how you will stand out in the noise.

Already, there are 5 billion people online creating so much information. Content that you already need to be seen through. People you consider a candidate, are already ignoring your posts and messages.

Thankfully, Mark Schaefer, in conjunction with his friend tech analyst Shelly Palmer, offered a speculative solution…

If you have still not taken your personal brand seriously, you must. As far as I know, this is literally the only insurance policy we have, the only way we can beat ChatGPT and the AI platforms nipping at our heels.

Rise above the noise

Readers of The Robot-Proof Recruiter know I talk about this in Chapter 2 but prefer to say, ‘show you are a recruiter worth talking to’. Personal brand sounds like a chore to me, and really it is about your reputation. You want to be someone who creates genuine trust. Someone that people will want to hear from and will seek out.

On top of all the tips and examples outlined in my book, (grab Edition 2 for the latest) as the AI influence kicks in, I would add that it is even more important to do the following 3 things.

1. Original Thought

People don’t want vanilla. People like an opinion. One that helps, adds value or promotes debate and a fresh perspective. It can even be a rant as long as it comes with a possible solution. It just needs to be yours and, preferably, well founded.

Sure, you could GPT-assist your way to your post but what happens when someone meets you and discovers you have no depth? That you have been faking it? What happens then?

Ask anyone who has met me and they will say I am the same online and in-person. It matters.

Something else to note: Andy Foote shared an interesting post a few weeks back, talking about quality information over personal-like-bait content.

The platform has become too noisy, too frothy, there’s no signal. A major algo tweak has been implemented recently to stem the tide of personal content and LI are using multiple tools to get that signal back, for example, by asking whether content is “valuable” or by asking users to “Turn on” post notifications.

And in the comments, Andy dropped this truth bomb:

Definitely still room for us to express our personality and unique take on business/life but LI wants us to improve as writers. Merely blogging about life in general, or carelessly dropping selfies, landscapes, kid photos etc. doesn’t make you interesting or special.

Emma Freivogel produces content that is consistently brilliant. She uses story telling through all of her posts, sparks fresh-thinking, and has opened many doors (and eyes) off the back of it. Go check out her posts.

2. Build & protect a niche network

I don’t have an especially large network but what I do have is a carefully curated niche network of people in and around recruitment and talent acquisition. It has been built intentionally over the last 12 years. Then I have readers; nearly 14.5k of you who subscribe to this newsletter 🤩🙏🏻 so like clockwork, I write for you every 2 weeks. I share my opinion and I offer steps that you can take to bend recruitment back into shape.

And what I won’t do is sell you out. I protect my network fiercely.

• Though I may let the occasional HR tech vendor sponsor my newsletter with the addition of a logo; I won’t write about them or promote them for a fee, as I don’t think my audience likes that.
• I also won’t read and promote your recruitment book, if you ask me to. If I promote a book (or service), it is because I genuinely recommend it. Though, I read precious few other recruitment books because I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism and I like to keep my thinking fresh, and inspired by my clients.

Because my network senses, or even knows this, trust has been established. And even with GPT already creating content noise 🙉 it is not too late for you to build a niche network of potential clients and candidates. Joel Lalgee is a fine example of this.

3. Consistently demonstrate that you have solutions

As Miriam Gilbert, says in this post, ‘Content is not king’ and she goes on to explain (and I paraphrase):

It’s not about how much content you post, but ℎ𝑜𝑤 you position yourself as an expert in solving their unique problems… Being different means more than just coming up with unique content. It means being a solution provider, a problem solver. It’s about understanding your client’s industry, their challenges, their individual needs, and showing them how your expertise can make a difference in addressing their specific problems.

So whenever you write a post, article or send an email think first:

• Who are my potential clients or candidates?
• What problems do they have? Can I offer a solution?
• What experiences do they talk about that I have an opinion on?

Start there.

Go forth and build your brand, and good luck 🍀