I analysed the top headlines on Medium this week
Plus 3x ChatGPT prompts to help you do the same
Hey Medium Writers,
Each week I’ll hunt down 3 titles that I think are smashing it and we’ll dissect why. Then I’ll give you some ideas of how you could apply it to your own writing.
Title 1: An Honest Recruiter Told Me Why Most Job Seekers Don’t Get Hired
Read the story: here
Why it works
Why it works
Step 1: know your reader
The phrase ‘Honest recruiter’ is unusual, disrupting your reader’s scroll.
Typically you associate a recruiter with being untrustworthy and shady. Here you’re told the opposite. It shows a level of sophistication on the writer’s part— the writer knows you think recruiters are shady, so he puts ‘honest’ upfront to show you that he knows what you’re thinking.
The first step in getting your reader to trust you is to show you ‘get’ them.
Step 2: Speak to a pain point (that they have)
Most people have experienced the pain of not getting ‘the’ job.
They put the work in, they spent hours writing and rewriting their personal statement. They’re qualified enough. They’ve got the experience. They know they can do it but they still don’t get the job.
It leaves them with frustration and an open-ended loop — “what am I doing wrong?”
This speaks to that directly. For all those folks who are getting frustrated about not getting the job, this sparks the idea that there is a reason why, and that makes them click.
Remember, pain is a powerful motivator for clicks.
Step 3: Add loss aversion
This headline is framed negatively and that’s important for clicks.
Remember — the pain of losing something is higher than the joy of gaining something, information framed as a ‘loss’ always does better.
✅ Why most job seekers aren’t getting the job
❌ How you can land the job you want
Finally, add in loss aversion.
What can you learn from this headline?
✅ How can you show you ‘know’ your reader?
✅ How can you speak to a pain point that they have?
✅ How can you sprinkle in loss aversion?