← All articles

Tutorials

How to write a hiring post the right person forwards to a friend

A job post is a description; a hiring post is a recognition. Who it should be written for, what the library says travels about work and teams, and how to build one in ViralLoop from your own board.

ViralLoop2 min read

Rests on:the library,/blog/how-to-write-a-launch-post-on-x

Most hiring posts are job descriptions with a friendlier opening line. They are read by the people who are already looking, and forwarded by nobody. The hiring posts that travel are written for a different reader: the friend of the right candidate, who sees themselves — or someone they know — in the first two lines.

Who the post is for

Not the candidate. The candidate's friend. The person who reads the post, thinks "that is exactly Maya", and sends it. Write for them and three things change: the post describes a person rather than a role; it says what the job is actually like rather than what it requires; and it is short enough to forward.

What travels, in the library

Filter the library to hiring, by likes and read the top of it. The posts that reached beyond the author's followers share a shape:

  1. A specific situation, not a title. "We need someone who has run a support queue for a product with 10,000 users and hated the tooling" beats "Senior Support Engineer". The specificity is what lets the friend recognise Maya.
  2. What the work is like, in one honest line. Including the hard part. The hard part is what makes the good candidate lean in and the wrong one scroll on — which is the filter you want.
  3. A low-friction next step. "Reply or DM, no CV needed, a ten-minute chat" lowers the cost for the referrer and the candidate both.
  4. The author's own reason. "I've been on this team a year; here is why I'd join again" is the sentence a bare repost never has.

The steps, in ViralLoop

There is no featured hiring board yet — this is the one tutorial where you build the board first, and it takes five minutes.

  1. Filter the library to Hiring, sort by likes, and Save the three posts that describe a person rather than a role. Name the board "Hiring posts that describe a person".
  2. On each, note what made you picture the candidate — the situation, the hard part, the next step.
  3. Remix the board. Brief: the situation this person will walk into (two sentences), the hard part (one honest sentence), the next step (one line), and why you are there. Goal chip: Hire someone. Tone: Warm and personal.
  4. Take → Structure on the source whose shape you noted. Generate three.
  5. Keep the one you would forward to a friend yourself. Refine → version 2 with Change → Specificity if the person in the draft could be anyone.

Then

Post it from your own account, not the company's — personal profiles that mention a company travel further than company posts do. Pin it for a week. Reply to every question in public; the replies are where the second-degree candidates decide.

See it in the posts

Every number above is a post in the library, with the mechanics named beside it.

Open the library

Read next

TutorialsA weekly content system built on boards: one hour, four posts, compoundingHow to run the whole loop as a routine — what to save, what to note, when to remix, what to keep — so each week's writing is faster and more yours than the last. The board to start with and the hour, minute by minute.2 min readTutorialsHow to open a post with a number, and when not toA figure in the first line does the work an adjective cannot — but the library says it is not a guarantee. Which numbers travel, what the second line has to do, and how to write one in ViralLoop starting from the board.2 min readTutorialsHow to post your numbers in public without it reading as a bragRevenue, churn, burn, headcount — posted by the people they belonged to. What separates proof from bragging in the library, the board to study, and how to build in public one honest number at a time.2 min read