Sam Parr  ⚪️

How to hire writers. I'm not an expert but have some experience. Here's what I look for, as well as what @bradwolverton, our head of content, looks for.

A few beliefs I have: - The word "writing" sucks. It's ambiguous. But, it's the word most people use. Not all writing's the same. Copywriting (direct response or branding), blogging for SEO, journalism - there are so many types. Many believe they're the same. They aint.

- I look for specific knowledge + as general knowledge. - General: they're just smart. @zzcrockett is like this. He just consumes stuff. Very curious. Knows a medium amount about a lot of stuff (and alot on some topics). Like people who win at jeopardy. This knowledge is needed

General knowledge helps connect dots, have cool angles. They're consumers of info and very curious. U get this by living an interesting life, trying stuff, hobbies. -Specific: Need to actually be an expert. They can become an expert, but we want our people to know their shit.

- We talk about business. So, our people need to know about this stuff. @onetrunna, he's an expert. Ask him about the p/e ratios of various industries of SP500 companies. He can riff on it. - After that, it's storytelling ability. They need to understand story arc.

- Storytelling: they need to know what captures attention. - 2 tricks that help see if they have this: I ask about the bottom 4th of the resume. What they studied in school, clubs, sports. They spent $100k, 4 years studying something...

- If they can't tell me a cool story about their fav course, they're likely either boring or don't know how to tell a story. I dont want to work with either of them. - I also like looking at their social profiles. You can see what they think is cool, how they talk to their buds.

- Now, they need to be able to write. Like anything, this is a skill. - We get thousands of shit resumes. Because everyone physically can write, many people think they're actually good. - So you need to separate the smart people who can't write from the smart people who can