A public announcement for sharing information about the joining of a new team member (usually in a c-level position) is done through a new hire press release. It includes various details about the new hire like experience, skills, role and expected contribution to the business/company. Announcement for a new hire is important not only to get media attention but also to welcome experienced team members and to build the reputation of people working for the company. This article will be covering all the different aspects that are required to do a successful press release for announcing a new employee including templates and example.
Aim: The press release announcement for the joining of a new employee can be termed successful if it gets published on credible news portals online. For this, it is necessary that the right distribution network is selected. We have discussed on distribution network later in this article.
Sample Template:
New hire press release template is given below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Headline] /*use name of employee, his/her position + company name + attractive news angle*/
[Sub-heading] /*A summary of 2-3 sentences.*/
[Location City], [Date]. [Business Name], welcomes [Employee name] as the [job position]. [Name of the newly hired person] has been working as [position in the previous company] in the [previous company name] and has [number of years] of experience related to handling [tasks and responsibilities]. [More background of the new employee].
[Name of the new hire], the new [position] of [company name], said “[quotes]”. He further added “[Quote]”.
While working at [previous company/business], [list of achievements/awards/etc]. The company [company name] is hopeful that he will [expected changes and growth for the new company].
[Name of a top level employee of present company], [his role] at [company name], said “[quotes]”. He further added “[Quote]”.
[New hire name] holds [degree + university name + year]. [Mention other fields handled by him]. [1-2 sentences about Hobbies + Interests]
About [Company Name]
[Basic information about company + mission + vision].
Media Contact:
[Name]
[Job Title]
[Email address] /*official email, not free ones like gmail, yahoo*/
[Phone number]
[Website URL]
[Location city and state]
New Hire Press Release Example
(Title) Sarah Williams Joins Acme Corp as Director of Marketing
(Sub-headline) Acme Corp is excited to welcome Sarah Williams as the Director of Marketing.
San Francisco, CA, February 18, 2023. Acme Corp welcomes Sarah Williams as the Director of Marketing. Sarah has been working as the Marketing Manager at Rockford Limited and has over 7 years of experience in digital marketing, customer acquisition, and product positioning. She is known for her creativity and strategic mindset, which has helped her gain recognition in the field of digital marketing.
“I’m thrilled to join the Acme Corp team and I will dedicate my knowledge and experience to take the company to the next level,” said Sarah Williams.
Sarah’s experience at Rockford Limited included leading campaigns that increased lead generation by 50% and improved brand recognition by 25%. With her expertise in driving customer acquisition and brand building, Acme Corp is confident that Sarah will play a key role in driving growth and success.
“Sarah’s experience and achievements speak for themselves. We’re excited to have her join the team and are looking forward to the contributions she will make,” said John Thomson, CEO of Acme Corp.
Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Hitchkup University and has completed several online certifications in social media marketing and product management.
About Acme Corp
Acme Corp, founded in 2011, is a leading provider of innovative technology solutions for businesses. Our mission is to help companies improve efficiency and productivity through our cutting-edge software products.
Media Contact:
Emily Taylor
PR Manager
etaylor@acmecorp.com
(123) 456-7890
www.acmecorp.com
San Francisco, CA
Significance of a new hire press release announcement
A press release issued to announce a new employee in the company has the following advantages:
Depicts Positive Work Culture
An employee joining a company at a higher level position (typically C level) has much greater responsibilities and has great knowledge in his field. By sending out a press release announcing his hire, the company shows a gesture of respect and importance to the new hire. Overall, it depicts a positive work culture.
Good Signal for Investors and Media People
While searching for investment opportunities and industry-specific news, people like journalists, investors and industry-experts search through news bytes and press releases that appear on search engines. By sending out press releases, people related to the industry remain updated with the new changes which help them to make better decisions.
Better Credibility
Individuals and businesses usually try to find out more information about a company before partnering, investing or buying goods/services from it. When they find information about a company present on multiple known and reputed sites, it gives a positive signal about the credibility of the company. It also acts as a brand-building factor.
Link Web and SEO
While sending out press releases through a proper distribution system, the content gets spread on many sites which help in building the backlink profile of a website. Building a good backlink profile is very important for the search engine optimization (SEO) of a company. It in turn helps in pushing the site’s ranking in search engines which helps to gain more visibility and traffic.
The Spill Over Effect
Stories from big press release platforms also reach out to various blogs and journalists through feeds. If the PR is catchy and is relevant to industry experts, then it is bound to get published on other news portals and blogs which will, in turn, bring more visitors to the company website and will also increase its brand value.
Things to remember while writing and publishing a press release for new hire
The following points must be kept in mind if you intend to successfully publish the new hire PR content.
1. No Direct Reference
Press release platforms require the content to be written in third person only. This means that you cannot use the words like I, We, You, etc in a press release. The only exception to this is the quote section where such words can be used.
2. Keep it Simple
Press releases are not meant to showcase the richness of vocabulary. People from different fields and with different backgrounds can come across your press release, so frame it in an easy-to-understand language. Avoid industry-related jargon. Only some press releases that are intended to reach subject matter experts can freely use technical words related to the industry.
3. Answer Obvious Questions
If the press release is for a new hire announcement, then having things like the work experience of a new hire, specialties, expected benefits to the company must definitely be present in the content. Basic questions like what, where, when, who, etc must be answered. A person reading the PR content must not get the impression that the content lacks basic details.
4. Pay Attention to the Formatting
Most big and reputed PR publishing platforms pay greater attention to formatting errors. While the low-tier networks publish all and every kind of press release submitted on their platforms, this is not the case with quality networks. So make sure to proofread it and correct basic errors.
5. Don’t Let Numbers Rule Over
During PR distribution for a new hire, getting into more number of sites is not of much importance as compared to the actual quality of sites. While choosing the distribution system, see if it distributes to sites that rank well in Google and other search engines. PR’s that don’t even rank in Google are of no use as no one will find them.
6. Can Headline be Tweaked?
Instead of a generic press release headline used by most companies, see if you can insert something that can make it more newsworthy and catchy. For Example, Instead of writing “John Carter Joins ABC as the New CMO”, you can write “ABC Hires the Marketing Sensation John Carter as the New CMO”. You must spend more time in making a better headline than the actual content because it is ultimately the headline that determines how many people (including journalists) will find it interesting enough to read and publish on their platforms. You can use numbers (like growth contributed by the employee to the previous company) to stand out from the crowd. However, while experimenting with the headline, don’t make it too long.
7. Use the Right Data
Press releases once distributed cannot be modified because it will get syndicated to hundreds of platforms that have different editing policies. It is nearly impossible to reach out to every one of them and ask for making edits. So the facts and figures used in the press release must be thoroughly confirmed from credible sources to ensure that the data given is accurate. Also, giving wrong data in a press release can cause legal implications later.
8. Responsible Media Contact
If journalists, investors, or potential clients come across your press release and would like to know more information about it, then they must have a medium to enquire for the same. The media contact (Name, Position, email, phone, location) added at the end of the press release must carry information of a responsible person from your company to ensure that such communication does not get derailed.
9. Right Channel for Distribution
Use a network that can get your press release featured on top known and good ranking publications like Yahoo News, Associated Press, Market Watch, etc. There is no utility to have hundreds of junk sites publishing your press release because unless it ranks on search engines, no one is going to find it.
