Read it.·Use it.·Send it on.·FREE, ALWAYS·FG № 02 just dropped.·Loud, then settled.·Recruitment, said out loud.·The bits no agency tells you. On the house.· Read it.·Use it.·Send it on.·FREE, ALWAYS·FG № 02 just dropped.·Loud, then settled.·Recruitment, said out loud.·The bits no agency tells you. On the house.·
LIVE · ISSUE 03 · 2026 DISPATCHED THIS WEEK
Shout. The free resource centre for recruitment.
A free resource centre for recruitment

Recruitment,
said out loud.

A free resource centre for the people on both sides of recruitment. Field guides, tools, and the editorial nobody else publishes. Made by people who've spent years working out what actually moves a CV from the no pile to the yes one. Read it. Use it. Send it on.

For candidates → For recruiters →
Free
always
A face and a voice. Not just a CV.
Loud, then settled.
The mark shouts. The wordmark closes the matter.
01Two tracks. Same kit.

Wherever you are in the room, we've got something for you.

01
For candidates

I'm looking for work.

From the CV recruiters actually read to the 90 seconds of video that gets you in the room, everything we know about getting hired, written down and given away.

  • Field guides for CVs, intro videos, LinkedIn, and interviews
  • Downloadable templates: CVs, scripts, prep sheets
  • The Dispatch: weekly editorial on the recruitment frontline
  • The recruitment-speak banned word list. Free.
Start with Field Guide № 01 →
02
For recruiters & hiring teams

I'm looking for people.

The other half of the conversation. How to write job adverts candidates actually read. How to interview without doing damage. How to build a brand candidates want to apply to.

  • Field guides on job adverts, interviews, and hiring decisions
  • Sample Talent Insight Reports, free to download
  • Custom Talent Insight Reports on commission, by brief
  • Editorial on what's actually broken in recruitment
See the reports first →
02The library

The Field Guides.

Practical, personal guides drawn from years on the recruitment frontline. No filler. No recruitment-speak. No AI-written sameness. Two out now. Two on the way.

See all guides →
01
Field Guide № 01 Out now

The CV that gets read.

A practical, personal guide to writing a CV that stands out in a crowded market. Seven stops, two universal don'ts, and a personal statement that doesn't read like a press release.

12 PAGES·18 MIN READ·FREE
Read it →
02
Field Guide № 02 Out now

The 90 seconds that get you in the room.

How to make a one to two minute introduction video that lands in the yes pile. The script structure, the camera setup, the six things that kill it instantly, and the four moves that don't.

9 PAGES·14 MIN READ·FREE
Read it →
03
Field Guide № 03 Spring 2026

LinkedIn, properly.

How to write a LinkedIn profile that matches the CV. The headline that does the work. The summary that sounds like you wrote it. And the bits most people get wrong.

IN DRAFT·~10 PAGES·FREE
Coming soon
04
Field Guide № 04 Summer 2026

Interview preparation.

The interview is the one you've already had in your head. How to prepare without over-rehearsing, what to ask back, what to refuse to answer, and how to leave them wanting to call.

IN OUTLINE·~14 PAGES·FREE
Coming soon
03The Shout Report · Reports and market insight

The data, said out loud.

Quarterly special reports plus the briefing pack we send before every search. Every figure publicly sourced. Every claim referenced. Free to download, free to share, free to send on.

All reports →
Free
14 pages
The View From Outside The Glass · Shout Issue 01
Issue 01 · The Shout Report May 2026 · 14 pages · 28 sources

The View From Outside The Glass.

Why Hertfordshire and Home Counties businesses are struggling to recruit themselves in 2026. Written by Neil Copping, with Claude AI. 14 pages. 28 sources. Every claim referenced. The same standard we hold ourselves to on every Shout brief, candidate profile and fee disclosure.

280
Applications per role. The new UK average.
8wks
UK time to hire. Up from 4.8 in 2024.
£132k
Cost of one failed mid-level hire.
Six weeks. One candidate. One hour. Two.
Read the report → Download PDF ↓
FINDINGSFrom inside the report

Four numbers driving the story.

1080 × 1080 · share-ready

The candidate volume crisis The time-to-hire problem The cost of a failed hire What is specifically happening in Hertfordshire
Sample report Methodology demo · Free download

Talent Insight Report: Senior Licensed Conveyancer, St Albans.

A real (anonymised) market analysis covering talent pool sizing for 5+ years PQE Licensed Conveyancers in the Home Counties, salary ranges drawn from sourced data, competitor benchmarks across the St Albans market, benefits package frameworks, and the reasons strong candidates in this niche move. Every brief we accept begins with one of these.

14 PAGES SOURCED DATA APRIL 2026 PDF
Email me the sample →
Next issue Issue 02 · Summer 2026

What the candidates think.

The next quarterly. A survey of 500 UK candidates currently in process, on what they actually want from a recruiter, a recruitment process, and a new role in 2026. Including the bits they will only say off the record.

IN FIELD 500 RESPONDENTS JUL 2026
Get notified →
Bespoke Custom · By brief

A Talent Insight Report for your role.

A pre-brief market analysis built around a specific hire you're planning. Salary benchmarks, talent pool sizing, competitor map, EVP advice, and the reasons strong candidates move in your niche. Delivered before the search begins.

10 WORKING DAYS SOURCED CONFIDENTIAL
Request one →
04The Dispatch · weekly editorial

Loud opinions on a quiet industry.

A weekly editorial from the recruitment frontline. Notes, hot takes, banned-word lists, and the bits most agencies refuse to put in writing. Subscribe at the bottom of the page.

All articles →
FEATURED · Issue 03 · Methodology 12 MIN READ

The Talent Insight Report: market analysis before the brief, not after it.

Before a single CV reaches a hiring team, every brief at Shout begins with a Talent Insight Report. Talent pool sizing, salary ranges, competitor benchmarks, benefits frameworks, and the actual reasons people in this niche move. Here's what one looks like for a real role, why it changes the shape of the search, and how to request one for your next hire.

16 MAY 2026 READ →
Opinion 5 MIN

The 100-day guarantee. And why most agencies refuse to offer one.

Recruiter fees are paid on day one. Candidates often don't land until month four. Here's how a full refund inside the first 100 days aligns the recruiter's incentive with yours, and the structural reason it forces better hiring decisions.

09 MAY 2026 READ →
Receipts 7 MIN

Inside a Shout candidate pack. What's in it, why.

What lands in a hiring team's inbox isn't a CV. It's a profile, a 90-second intro video, a competency map, and the consultant's notes on fit. Here's exactly what goes into it, and why a CV alone wastes everybody's time.

02 MAY 2026 READ →
Notes 9 MIN

Three forces converging on UK recruitment in 2026.

The EU AI Act lands on 2 August. UK permanent placements are down 33.5% year on year. Only one in five organisations tracks quality of hire. Three pressures are reshaping the market all at once, and most agencies aren't ready for any of them.

25 APR 2026 READ →
Hot take 8 MIN

Inclusion-first hiring isn't a slogan. It's an architecture.

Six anonymisation toggles. A reciprocal transparency gate. Hash-chained audit logs that survive a five-year challenge. Here's what "inclusion-first" looks like when you build the agency around it from Day 1, rather than retrofitting at month 18.

18 APR 2026 READ →
05The toolbox

Templates and tools, on the house.

Everything we'd hand to a candidate or a hiring team if they walked in the office. Free to download. Free to share. Free to send on to the friend who needs it.

All tools →
01
The Shout CV template.

The CV from FG № 01, ready to drop your details into. A4, two pages, designed to be read, not skim-survived.

Download PDF ↓
02
The 90-second video script.

The four-stop script structure from FG № 02. Fillable, with timing markers and the STAR-method sidebar.

Read in Field Guide № 02 →
03
The banned-word list.

The recruitment words that mean nothing, and what to say instead. A one-pager poster for your wall.

Coming with the next Dispatch
04
Reasons-for-leaving cheatsheet.

Eight honest, clean answers for the most loaded question in every interview. Print it, fold it, take it in.

Coming soon
05
Interview prep worksheet.

The questions to prep, the questions to ask back, and the ones you're allowed to refuse to answer. Coming soon.

Coming with FG № 04
06
The Shout brand standards.

For agencies and partners. Brand mark, type system, voice, and the no-dashes rule. Use it well or don't use it.

Read the standards →
02
Field guides published
14
Dispatches this year
08
Reports and tools given away
100%
Free, always
06The manifesto

What we believe.
And what we don't.

Shout is run by people who've spent enough time in recruitment to know what works, what's broken, and what nobody wants to say out loud. This is the short version of what we stand for.

We believe

  • Recruitment is loud at the top and quiet where it matters. The bits that decide your career happen in five-second judgement calls nobody describes to you. We'd rather describe them.
  • Two well-chosen applications beat fifty mediocre ones. Always. Without exception.
  • Job adverts should describe the work. Not the wishlist. Not the culture. The actual work.
  • Candidates deserve to see their CV through a recruiter's eyes. So we show them what that looks like.
  • Everything we publish should be free. Always. Forever. That's the whole point.

We don't believe

  • "Passionate about." Or "rockstar." Or "hungry." Or any of it. Banned words list available at the toolbox.
  • "We'll be in touch" when you won't. If you won't, say so. Candidates handle a clean no better than silence.
  • Mass applications. Spray-and-pray is a numbers game that loses, slowly, painfully.
  • AI-written CVs. The pattern is recognisable in seconds and the voice that lands a role is yours.
  • Em-dashes. Yes, really. See the brand standards.
07The Dispatch · weekly

One email. Friday morning. Worth reading.

Every Friday, a short Dispatch lands in your inbox. One feature article. Two short notes. A banned-word of the week. Written by people who've been doing this twenty years. Free, always. Cancel any time. We don't sell your data.