Creating Value in Recruitment Podcasts with Robert Hanna

It’s no secret that podcasts are powerful content machines for the recruitment industry. They’re easy to set up, host and promote, but how do you keep that momentum going when you’ve reached 30, 40 or even 50 guests? 

On Episode 18 of The Skill Point Podcast we spoke to Robert Hanna, who is a legal recruiter turned community builder. He is the host of the Legally Speaking Podcast and Managing Director of KC Partners, as well as a popular personality on LinkedIn. 

Together we unpacked the secrets to hosting a podcast that stays valuable into its seventh season and beyond!

Provide Value to Guests

When you’re working with high-profile guests or expensive lawyers like Robert, it’s important to show people the value of coming on your podcast. Robert recommends tailoring your outreach to each guest, backed up with research you’ve done on them. “You know they have a social media profile, you know what other interviews they’ve done, and you know what their practice areas are,” said Robert, “so tailor it to their level of sophistication and interest. Make the benefits sound so good that it would be an absolute no brainer to say yes.” Use your own metrics like “the last three guests who featured on our show actually then landed X client, which generated X for them,” to keep your outreach value-focussed from the get-go. 

Keep Content Fresh & Relevant

Talking to the community you’ve built around the podcast is the best way to make sure your content is relevant to your listeners. “Before we launched season seven we were doing a lot of giveaways,” Robert shared. “Ask them ‘What do you want to see? Where are the gaps in information?’ Because yes, you can use Answer the Public and Google Trends, and I would encourage you to do that, but listening to your fans is how you’re going to turn them into super fans. Make them feel seen and heard.”

Robert’s other top tip for keeping content fresh is getting good quality guests onto the show. If you’re tapping into insights from leading voices in the space, your audience is far more likely to value the advice that you’re sharing. Researching guests helps you to get the most out of your conversations with them, and gives you insights into any areas they might not have talked about elsewhere. Listening to previous interviews also allows you to rephrase some great questions and get better answers out of them, as well as updated takes on the topic that will make you a more valuable source than your competitors. 

Repurpose Evergreen Content

When we were living through the pandemic, talking about how to adapt to our new situation was great content that people wanted to listen to. Now that we’re out of lockdown though, people aren’t going to want to go back to that content. Robert said that “when we’re asking the questions, we always want to make sure that we’re including not only our current listeners, but our future listeners too.” You need to be asking questions that stand the test of time to get evergreen content from your guests. 

‘Five top tips for being a leading corporate lawyer’ is an example of evergreen content. The industry might evolve, but nine times out of ten it’ll still be relevant in several years’ time. When people go back and listen to it they’re still going to get some value from those answers. 

Evergreen content is super important because you can repurpose it. For example, June is Pride Month, so you can share content from episodes where you’ve discussed diversity and inclusion on your show. Creating a database that links up all your content is a great way to keep track of repurposable topics from each episode, and helps you plan your podcast promotion campaigns throughout the year. That also allows you to leverage content from guests who are gaining publicity, which is a great way to get more eyes on your content. 

Combine Value & Storytelling 

The best way to generate valuable content that resonates with your audience is through storytelling. People engage with content on an emotional level, so pulling out your guests’ personal experiences will create moving content. You can do that by researching your guests’ histories, what they talk about on social media and their previous interviews, as well as having a pre-show chat to get to know them on a more personal level. 

“We’ve had guests who are law firm leaders who have been very open about their mental health and their breakdowns. They’re authentic leaders,” Robert said. “We actually get them to talk us through that story, the lessons they learned, how they came through it and what they would do differently.” The key to differentiating your podcast from the others in your sector is to ask deeper questions that dig into the core of important topics. The quality of your content comes directly from the quality of questions that you ask. 

To learn more about creating powerful podcasts in the recruitment industry, tune into The Skill Point Podcast here.