A new hire press release is an official statement for the news media announcing a new employee at an organization, usually for C-level positions. Its purpose is to get media coverage and get noticed by a target audience.
Writing a new employee press release is similar to writing a standard one, but there are a few extra things to keep in mind.
If you’re in a rush, Prowly offers press release templates that you can use to easily create your own, in a format that journalists expect to receive.
Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists and send out your press release to them directly from the platform.
When to write a new hire press release
A new employee press release is often written for a single hire, typically for a senior, leadership position.
However, the new hire can also be a strategically important position, especially for a newly created role, like a head of AI.
There is no strict rule about this, but you should ask yourself – is this something the media and stakeholders would be excited about?
Additionally, the press release doesn’t have to be limited to only one person – it’s OK to include multiple hires.
The two main goals of a new hire press release are:
- To communicate that your company is successful and continuing to expand, that it’s announcing strategic development plans, entering new markets, product categories, etc.
- Presenting this person as an expert in a particular field – improving their personal brand and increasing chances of positioning them as an expert in the media.
There are also two other instances where it might be worth writing a press release:
- An employee is being promoted to an important position in the company
- You’re hiring multiple employees (not necessarily upper-management positions) to a degree that it’s newsworthy
You might also need to write a new CEO press release – we prepared a “how to” guide with examples for this occasion.
Protip: Remember to send a new hire press release after the person has accepted the offer and before their start date.
New employee press release format
If you’re writing a new hire or promotion press release on your own, remember that there is a standard, expected format for press releases.
While you might get creative and unconventional when it comes to the content, the structure where you present it needs to follow the rules.
The elements of a standard press release include:
- Headline
- Subheader / Lead
- Dateline
- Body
- Quote
- Company info
- Logo
- Media contact information
We’ve covered the details of each element in our post: How to Write a Press Release (With Tips From PR Pros).
In this post, we’ll focus on the specific things that should be included in a press release about a new hire or promotion.
Questions to answer in a new hire press release
Aside from the standard elements listed above, make sure that your press release ticks the following boxes.
1. Who is joining the company?
- Who is joining the company or who was promoted?
- What position will they assume or are being promoted to?
- What is their previous experience? Include the number of years, known brands, and companies worth mentioning.
- What is their area of expertise?
- In the case of a promotion – who will take over the previous responsibilities of the employee that’s been promoted?
2. What will they be responsible for?
- What will they be responsible for in the company?
- What are their main goals, and challenges? Refer to the long-term company strategy.
3. Why are they joining the company?
- Why is the new hire important for the company?
- Why are they joining the company (replacing someone, a new position, a new market)?
- Future predictions, and expectations (about the product category, company, or market) in the area that the hire is responsible for.
- How will the new hire contribute to the company’s short/long-term goals/mission?
4. Company positioning
- The company as an employer – what is the headcount, growth, and employee profile?
- Are there any workplace policies worth mentioning?
- Are there any awards or achievements of the company that you can share?
- The company as a market player – are they a leader, disruptor, or startup?
- What is the market situation or competitive landscape?
- What is the market value and estimated growth potential?
- Are there any big market trends worth mentioning?
Other things to include
Headshot (optional)
If possible, try to include a headshot of the person being hired or promoted. Press releases can include photos and this is a good opportunity to put a face to the name.
Journalists will sometimes like to include a photo in their article, and by providing a photo you can make sure that it will be the one you want to be used and not an image they find online.
Protip: Remember to keep the photo professional.
Quote (optional)
Using a quote can complete your announcement and add a human touch, and it’s no different when writing about a new hire. Be sure that the information you include adds value that media contacts can use when writing about your news.
A quote can help to illustrate how crucial the new person is to the company, and why it’s a newsworthy hire.
The most common example of a quote is from the CEO. Use it to talk about why the new person is being hired or promoted and how it fits into the company strategy. You can include information such as how it’s significant for the long-term business plan and the market situation.
Here are two examples of quotes you can include:
- From the CEO, talking about why the new person is being hired/promoted and how it fits into the company strategy, how significant it is for long-term business plans and the market or industry situation.
- From the new hire, explaining why they are excited to join the company.
Protip: If a role is being replaced by someone else – it’s considered good practice to thank the person that was previously responsible for that role and their contribution to the company’s success in the quote.
New hire press release example
Here’s a new hire press release example from Klarna, a popular fintech company.
Klara announces hiring not one, but four new employees to the firm’s board of directors.
Why we think it’s a good press release example:
- The opening paragraph is a great company pitch, picturing growth. This can be observed in phrases like “time of significant momentum for the company” or “especially at a time when the business is accelerating at such a rapid pace”.
- The quote from the CEO. He mentions the market trends, long-term plans, and vision – “looking forward to working closely together on our mission to become the world’s favorite way to shop and bank”.
- The structure and editing. Even though the press release is a story about four people it’s easy to find out who they are and how significant for the company; a short bio of each person is listed as a bullet point.
New hire press release template
If you’re looking for a way to speed up the press release creation process, Prowly has multiple templates that you can use inside the platform.
The templates include all the most important elements to make sure your story gets noticed by journalists and results in media coverage.
Sending out your new hire press release
Once you’ve created your press release, the last step is to distribute it and secure media coverage. There are two ways you can do this.
Pitching your press release
The most effective way to send out a press release is to pitch relevant media contacts by email.
Although this method is more time-consuming, it increases your chances of getting meaningful press coverage in publications that are relevant to your industry.
The easiest way to do this is to use a media database like Prowly, where you can quickly create a tailored list of journalists using filters and get their contact information. The tool also allows you to create your press release and send pitches – streamlining your work in one platform.
Using a wire service
Another common way of distributing a press release is to use a press release distribution service.. Compared to pitching, this method is much quicker but more expensive. Most importantly, media coverage from wire services is usually of lower value.
While this can be a good method for easily ensuring widespread coverage, don’t count on it to bring the same results as getting your news picked up by a journalist in a relevant industry publication.
