5 Tips to Landing a Job as a Writer - CareerAlley

5 Tips to Landing a Job as a Writer - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. With only months away from graduation, you are now probably wondering or maybe worried about the kind of job that you are going to get with your degree in Journalism or in Literature. Youve had your fair share of writing has no future sentiments from your parents or other people who think that writing is more of a hobby than a career. But of course, this belief about writing is not entirely wrong. Lets admit it, money is not easy in writing. Even some of the most celebrated authors and poets lived and died in poverty. But do not be discouraged! The market scene is much more favorable for writers like yourself, especially with growing demands for write-ups and blog articles for advertising, marketing and SEO companies. Remember these guidelines by heart and you will surely do well in your writing job and prove your doubters wrong. 1. Know your writing potential No soldier ever goes to war without any weapons. In the same way, a writer must never charge into the war zone without the appropriate skills and the right mindset. Before applying for a job, try to reflect and evaluate your skills as a writer. Do you think you can keep up with the heavy demands and extensive pressure from your boss or your clients? Do you think your skills are good enough for professional writing? Is there a need for you to join writing workshops for further training? At the same time, try to determine the positive qualities that you have as a writer. For example, if you excel at sports writing, then you should try to applying as correspondent for a sports channel or magazine. If you are good at writing short stories for children, then you might want to try working for a publishing company that specializes in childrens books. Moreover, continue developing your writing style, or voice as Journalists would call it. Style/voice is the uniqueness or writing techniques that comes naturally from a writer. The problem with some writers is that they usually imitate the writings of other authors, which only hinders their true potential. 2. Know the dynamics of publishing Apply as a trainee or intern as soon as possible to your dream company (or a company that is similar to it) so that you can experience the dynamics of their production process. In general, the pressure is always high; you will have to deal with short deadlines, procrastination, and certain complications with clients, the source, or the editor. If you aspire to become a textbook writer, then prepare yourself with handling criticisms, long hours of researches, interviews, and deadlines. If you are an independent writer, you will need people that will help you to improve your writing. Given that you have enough resources, you might want to hire agencies that provide essay writing services such as editing, proofreading, and researching. But of course, it would be much better for your budget to have writing peers and circles who would review your work for free. 3. Know your interests and limitations It is virtually impossible for any writer to know and to be interested in everything. Before venturing into a writing career, you must determine the topics and ideas that interest you the most. Working with the topics or subjects that you like helps you to perform better. At the same time, you must also spend time to read about other subjects to extend the horizons of your knowledge. Soon your editors, publishers and (most importantly), your readers will appreciate it when you are able to provide information on a variety of topics. 4. Know The Art of Versatility As your career progresses, you may be assigned to write about topics that you are not interested in, or worse, topics that you have never heard of in your entire life. Think of this as a part of your learning process not just as a writer, but also as an individual. For those of you who aspire to become news reporters, you need to be versatile to beat your competitors for the hottest trends and news updates. As always, reading is still the best thing that you can do to extend your knowledge. About the Author Jillan Mullin is a part-time writer for rushessay.com. She is currently taking up her M.A in History at University of California, Berkeley. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Joey Trebif