Over the past month, I had the interesting experience of interviewing to hire a writer while being interviewed for a role to which I had applied. I’m going to break down the various steps from both sides of the table.
Resumes: As soon as I put out the word that I was hiring, I was flooded with a deluge of resumes of writers ranging in experience from two years to fifteen years. In a market where people were being laid off to cut costs, this was not surprising. But the quality of writing on the resumes was very surprising. For a writer, unlike say a programmer, product manager, or accountant, the resume is an opportunity to display their writing chops. It was surprising to receive so many resumes that had spelling errors, capitalization errors, and every other type of grammatical error one can think of. The resume is the first impression a prospective employer gets of you. Why would you not try your hardest to make the best impression? I even had error-strewn resumes where the person claimed to have “an eye for detail”. If it wasn’t so sad, it would be hilarious.
Review your resume as many times as you can. Get others to look at it with a critical eye. Your resume is not something you build in a day. You write draft after draft, polish it, tear it up and write it again.
LinkedIn profiles: A recruiting manager gets way too many resumes. She needs to review these while doing all the other work that is already on her plate. A long resume with useless information is a drain. Any experience older than a decade is useless information, unless there is a specific skill you developed only there that ties in to the role you are applying for now. It’s simple really, keep your resume focused and let your LinkedIn profile be detailed. Cover letters, unless they are fabulous, are useless. Honestly, I have never moved a candidate into the next round based on their cover letter.
However, I once did use a cover letter with my application. This was when I was applying to a company looking to hire their first writer and wanted writers with 2-3 years experience and I was coming with over 10 years. I used the cover letter to explain to them why they should look at an experienced person as their first hire. They called me.
Writing tests: A majority of the shortlisted candidates simply did not take the written test. I find that hard to comprehend. Why would a writer be afraid to take a writing test? Even worse, when contacted by the Talent Acquisition team, these people would give assurances that they would take up the test in the next couple of days. In a world where question papers leak and proxies write exams, it isn’t surprising that companies will want to confirm your writing chops for themselves.
Writing samples: Interestingly, out of the over 200 resumes I received only one had a link to their writing samples. Even more interestingly, this one person’s samples were so bad that I was more impressed that he had the guts to share it than that he actually had samples.
Another person had her own blog.
The others had nothing.
To be a noun, do the verb. If you want to be a writer, write. Put your writing out there in public. Make sure what you write is sensible and proofread. The other option is to create a bunch of different types of product documentation articles that you can share. Make sure the articles showcase your work and your abilities. Again, proofread.
Basic research: We live in a world of LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), blogs, Instagram, and ChatGPT. Rudimentary research on the company and the person you will be talking to is a no-brainer. You must make a list of possible questions that you may be asked and have answers ready. A definite question is, “Why do you want to work for this company?” The honest answer most of the time is, “To earn money to live the other parts of my life well.” Obviously, you cannot give that answer. If you have to bullshit your way through it, obviously. Make it good bullshit. You cannot do that without research.
Knowing the person who is going to talk to you gives you an edge. You know in what direction you want to take the conversation.
Ask questions: This follows on from the previous point on research. It’s surprising how many candidates have no questions to ask at the interview. Not asking any question or asking irrelevant questions gives off the vibe that this is just another interview.
Being prepared tells the person talking to you that this is an ethic you will bring into your work. It is a highly valued ethic.
To sum up, when you apply for a job in a market such as the one we find ourselves in, it is important to demonstrate what we bring to the table. It is not enough to claim that we will bring those skills with us. As writers, this starts with the resume. A badly written resume is a direct red flag. But that is not enough. You must prep yourself properly by researching the role, the company, and the people you will be speaking with.
By the way, I got the job that I applied for, but I haven’t hired a single writer for the position I had open.
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