It was always the Antiques Roadshow music for me. Even now when I hear the famous music from what is still the guiltiest of TV guilty pleasures, it brings about a funny feeling of nostalgia and reality.
Many, many years ago it was that music that would start my feelings of dread, or as many would probably call it ‘the fear.’
This dread was the realisation that the weekend was over, and it was back to school tomorrow. I was fortunate that I liked school; the education part not as much as I should, but the seeing my friends, playing football, and the school dinners. Yes, it’s fair to say, I was a sucker for the school Bakewell tart. No matter how much I loved that Bakewell though, I loved the weekend more, and the Antiques Roadshow intro music was the signal that the end of the weekend was near.
My Sundays are now very different to the halcyon days of the mid 90’s, however that being said it is still a time when I aim to get organised for the week ahead. It’s not so much about packed lunches and ironing school uniforms anymore, but it is about prep for the week on a Sunday. Inevitably this means I will be on LinkedIn at some point, seeing what is happening across my network. Sundays are still a day that lots of organisations think people will be most contemplative about their ‘return to work,’ so they advertise and talk about hiring.
The last two Sunday’s have been no different in terms of either my preparation (creature of habit,) or businesses, and business leaders talking about the live vacancies they have on. However, I have noticed a change in the messaging from some businesses around hiring. It’s fair to say hiring strategy 2022 has been heavily driven by the ‘my dad’s better than your dad’ approach. This strategy in short sees businesses outline why they think they are great and offer a better opportunity than where you currently work.
The last two Sundays as I say, I have noticed a return to the messaging of ‘are you dreading work tomorrow?’ or going even further, ‘have you got the Sunday fear?’ It’s like businesses are using LinkedIn as their own attempt to get the Antiques Roadshow music on your feed.
I have always found this hiring approach intriguing. For years I have watched Recruiters type out job adverts which start with words to the effect of, ‘are you bored?’ I’ve always thought it was a funny way to attract attention.
Why do I think this?
First things first, for those who are using this approach, I presume you have checked on your own people to ensure this is not the case with your team? If I was to respond to someone who was playing on the ‘are you bored/full of dread’ approach, my first question would be:
‘What’s engagement like in your business, and what do you as a business do differently to ensure people are not so bored, or disengaged that they will respond to a random LinkedIn message on a Sunday?’
Secondly, I have never liked the word fear. I have certainly never liked the idea of businesses praying on it to attract people. If you are currently suffering from real work fear, or dread, during such strange and curious times, I can only imagine how stressful that must be. I have unfortunately had a period in my career where I really did not enjoy the work I was doing, or the place I was doing it. Whilst I am not sure if fear was the right word to describe my Sunday feelings, dread certainly was. It was a horrible period for me, and I am sorry if you feel like that right now.
There can however be no doubt that there’s a huge amount of people who are not loving their work life at any given time. Just check out the stats:
- Over 30% of the current workforce have indicated they will change jobs this year.
- A whopping 85% of employees it’s reported are not engaged in their current role.
- I’ll just say ‘Quiet Quitting.’ If you can’t take from the fact this tope has trended so heavily over the summer that people are pissed off, then you really are missing something!
So, there are some people who clearly are disengaged, full of dread about the return to work on a Monday, and at worst are fearful when the Antiques Roadshow music starts. Rather than praying on this feeling, let’s start to engage these people! If you do then they will flock to your brand, not just turn to you as the lesser of two evils.
Let’s ditch the fear and dread advertising, and instead try these 3 tips as a way to reach the disengaged:
- Sunday Funday!
Imagine on a Sunday if you showed people why your business is a great place to work. Imagine if your business, your team, your organisation shared content that demonstrates why working for your business is fun, exciting, and engaging. Instead of making people realise they are unhappy and all the feelings associated with that, you would be showing them what they are missing! PLUS, you are hiring, so great news, they can be part of this fantastic business.
Want to really standout? Do this via video, as video is still not as popular on LinkedIn as it should be, so you’ll standout.
- What’s that coming over the hill?
If you are targeting people who are bored with their work, but have the skills you want as they work for a comparable or competitor business, then why not share the exciting, amazing, and engaging projects your business is working on? Just because you know your business inside out, don’t think others will. They might know your brand, but not your work. What a great chance to show them!
Want to really stand out? Why not call out those people within your team who are shining right now in their work? That would show those who are disengaged, how a business who appreciates their people openly acknowledges them. Who would not want to be part of that?
- Keep on, keep’in on!
Don’t just action the above points because you need to hire right now. Do it because it’s the right thing to do, and you will get year-round attraction. If you only talk about hiring and why you are a great business when you want to hire, then inevitably things are unlikely to match up timing wise.
Imagine if you shared great things about your business even when you are not hiring. That way people will reach out who really are interested in being part of something. If you engage those conversations at that point, your buy in and commitment is going to be so much stronger.
For many Sunday is the best day of the week, for others it’s a challenging day when reality is about to bite again. From a business that is looking to hire perspective, I think Sunday is a massive hiring opportunity, but you have to get the message right.
Ditch project fear, and join the engagement express, I know it will be more fruitful for you.
This article was written by Simon Brown, Founder of Digital 51. If you would like to hear how Simon believes you can get more from your Sunday advertising and attraction, then he’d love to speak with you. Please feel free to reach out on
