Deal Makers and Deal Breakers: How to Get Your Resume to the Top of the Pile
September 5, 2008 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
by Deborah Ng
Most members of the FWJ community come here to find job leads, learn tips and share ideas for landing the perfect freelance writing gig. Nothing offers more insight than feedback from people who place ads here. When clients and employers write a guest post letting us know their thoughts on the applicants it helps us to fine tune our cover letters, resumes and writing samples.
With that in mind, I asked some of my friends about their freelance writing deal makers and deal breakers. The things they see on applications that will either propel a resume to the top of the candidate list – or promptly sink it to the bottom. Many of these items mentioned are common sense. We talk often of following directions and showing passion. Now you can see how important they are to many of the people who hire freelance writers and bloggers.
Freelance Writing Deal Breakers
- Wendy Piersall who hires writers for her blog network, Sparkplugging:
“If they can’t pay attention to any specific application requirements or requests, I tend to doubt their ability to do anything right. Like if I ask for samples, and they don’t send any.”
- Liz Strauss who blogs the aptly named Successful Blog and hired many freelancers when she worked in publishing:
“A total lack of awareness of the person who will be reading it.”
- Darren Rowse – Who runs the popular ProBlogger Blog Tips including the ProBlogger Job Board and has been known to hire writers from time to time:
“The two main things that send a bad first impression are poor communication skills and an inability to follow instructions. These send immediate warning bells to me that this might be a person who will continue to not follow instructions and who will not be able to communicate clearly with readers.”
- Ryan Caldwell - Who hires writers for his blog empire including Pop Crunch, RideLust and his newest project College Crunch
“A cookie cutter cover letter and/or application that doesn’t address the specific job in question. If I’m looking for a writer for my car blog, I don’t want an application that highlights your skills as a freelance writer. I want an application that tells me why you would be a good fit for a car blog.”
- Brian Pipa – Advertises here for writers for his Candy Addict and Snackeriffic blogs and also just launched an amazing t-shirt search engine called Teenormous.
“Spelling and grammar mistakes. If you can’t bother to spell check the first thing I ever see from you, you get dumped immediately. In this day and age, there is no excuse for it. It’s indicative of poor writing.”
- Lucy Nixon- who blogs for Corporate Eye and has hired copywriters (some from FWJ) in the past:
“I didn’t like applications that were poorly presented (especially the lackadaisical ones that just said ‘interested’ with no other text). I found the superconfident ‘I’m your new blogger, call me’ ones off-putting, though that might be a cultural difference. And I didn’t appreciate duplicate applications, where they clearly didn’t realize they’d already applied for this job, or ones where they hadn’t read the ad properly or provided the information I’d asked for. And one thing for the bottom: unprofessional presentation. None of this is news, particularly: do your homework, create a targeted letter/cv and present yourself well is all it comes down to.”
- Hartley B. Singer who is always looking for bloggers for his “Hart Empire” network of blogs:
- “People who correct my spelling errors in the application ad (yes I actually spell at least one word wrong in each ad)
- People with religious tones suggesting God brought the ad to them to work for me (none of my blogs are religious in nature – why would I want to change that?)
- Mentions site URLS of posts they may have blogged but not the actual permalink URLs (it makes it impossible for me to read their past experience and referenced writing material or blog posts)
- I want writers to be able to have weekends off from blogging, but still be available during the weekend (I usually post ads on Friday and reply during the weekends – I hate when I don’t receive a reply to a Friday message until Monday)
- Don’t hedge your bets with me. I’ve actually hired 6 people who quit immediately because they (I assume) got a better job offer after applying for 20 jobs at once.
- I don’t care if you just graduated from a freelance writing school thus able to research “any” topic makes you qualified – it doesn’t (just tell me your experience with the topic or that you have no experience with the topic)
- People who don’t blog claim that they can figure out wordpress easily because they are proficient in MS Word, Excel, and other computer applications. Every applicant should have their own blog now – to promote themselves or show their writing skills. There’s no excuse with blogger/blogspot, wordpress.com, and other means to get their own blog happening.
- Applicants who try to take advantage and milk me on the piece meal jobs (e.g. seem to stretch 300 word stories into 1000 words to get a higher rate because it may be demeaning to receive the lower pay; when I’m looking for 25 posts per month and they offer to supply 1000 posts per month at same rate to help fix their car, finance their kids college fund, etc; and other stuff like that)”
- Amy Derby who is an FWJ regular and hires writers for Law Firm Blogger: (and is the inspiration for this post)
“The one thing that puts a resume at the bottom of my pile is a poor
attitude. It’s not uncommon to get responses to the tune of, “I know
you asked for [this], but I’m only giving you [this other thing] until
you [insert demand here].” That irks me into hitting the delete button
every time.”
- Rachel Kaufman from Read Write Rachel says:
“Being unprofessional is a one-way trip to the rejection pile. I don’t care about your drunken Facebook pictures (though I’m probably in the minority on this one), but when you’re interacting in a professional setting, be professional. I recently had someone tell me they were a “recently unemployed journalists.” Sorry, no.”
Freelance Writing Deal Makers
- Wendy Piersall -”When they make it evidently clear in their actions that they want the job more than the other candidates. I don’t want them to be obnoxious, but I do want to see the drive and determination that I would need them to have if I hired into the position. Persistent follow up, attention to detail, and going beyond the initial requirements in an attempt to land the position all grab my attention.”
- Liz Strauss - “It’s obvious that the person who wrote it understands the purpose of a resume is to invite a conversation. He or she has taken time to say things in the fewest words, has visually designed and organized it to draw my eye down the page to exactly what I need to know in the order I need to know it. It lets me know the person will be worth spending my time getting to know.”
- Darren Rowse: “There are actually quite a few things that contribute to me looking more favorably upon job applications – I hope you don’t mind a quick run through some of them:
- Following Instructions – I’m amazed how many applications for jobs fail to provide information that I ask for specifically in jobs.
- Ability to Communicate well – I hire writers so I look at the way an application is crafted to give me a hint as to how they communicate. I also ask for samples of writing for this purpose.
- Mojo – sounds undefinable and it is – but some writers have ‘it’ – they have an edge or style that I know will connect with my readership.
- Demonstrated history of ’stickability’ and self starting – I look for people to develop blogs into communities – this takes time and it takes a certain level of entrepreneurship – so I ideally like to find people with these qualities.”
- Ryan Caldwell: “For me it’s all about enthusiasm, work ethic, reliability and evidence that the writer will be enthusiastically invested in the project. Put negatively, you could say that the last thing I’m looking for is a jobber.
“This is why the introduction/cover letter is so important. It sets the tone and gives a pretty good indication of the prospective employee’s attitude and work ethic. If the cover letter and/or resume look cookie cutter, then that indicates to me that the writer doesn’t really care about *this job* but rather just about a *a job*.”
- Brian Pipa: “Personality. I want to see the fun, interesting side of you… the side that makes me want to read what you have to say. Anyone can type words and make a sentence. I want that sentence to interest me, inform me, and maybe make me smile.”
- Lucy Nixon: “I was looking for real expertise in the topic, not just for good writers, so that alters it a bit. But I looked for evidence that they’d visited the site I wanted them to write for (Corporate Eye), perhaps a comment on either the topic area they were applying for or my bio. Like candyaddict, I wanted some evidence that they were interested in the topic, not just applying for any and every job going. And some kind of cover letter helped … not just a blank email with an attached cv. So, one thing for the top: demonstration of real interest in this particular job.”
- Hart Singer :- “Experience related to the topic in question and not just a template application submission
- Proven ability to research and verify facts, report them and interpret them
- Actually read my blog before applying and suggest why they would fit into my network, and what direction they would like to take the blog (whether same tone or a new tone of voice)
- Honesty – I don’t expect to hire a full-fledged expert on a topic but hope over time that the writer will grow into being the expert. Those who admit that are more human to me
- As I have many blogs, second choices and alternate blog suggestions and talents is a plus, in case I turn towards a better qualified candidate, I might consider for alternate positions
- Actual blogging experience with wordpress and being part of social communities already is a plus (twitter, google talk, stumbleupon, reddit, buzz, mixx, digg, etc) And, I mean more than just creating an account and never using it.”
- Amy Derby: When hiring bloggers for Law Firm Blogger
the resumes to hit the top of my pile are ones where the writers show
a genuine interest and capability to blog on the subject at hand.
Although this may sound obvious, every time I put out a call for
bloggers I get a disturbing number of responses from freelance writers
who A) have never blogged (even when I ask for experienced bloggers
only), B) have no knowledge about the topic or no relevant experience
(even though I ask for both), or C) are clearly replying with a
boilerplate cover letter and obviously haven’t bothered to read the
entire ad.”
- Rachel Kaufman :It may seem obvious, but a writer who knows their material and knows who they’re pitching gets higher priority than one who is either vague about their subject matter or just says “I don’t know, I’ll write anything.” Prior experience working on similar subjects is not as important to me. If you’ve never written anything but gardening articles but you very obviously know a lot about this fashion model you want to profile, that’s fine.
Cookie cutter resumes, not taking the time to research a potential client and not following directions are just some of the deal breakers on this list. Next week, we’ll break it down and discuss many of these points.
Do you hire writers? What are your deal makers and breakers?
Discuss…
Wow. Thanks for this! Can anyone explain to me what this means:
Mentions site URLS of posts they may have blogged but not the actual permalink URLs (it makes it impossible for me to read their past experience and referenced writing material or blog posts).
Just want to make sure it’s not something I’m doing!
Hey, just an FYI – it’s PIPA not PIPPA
To answer comment #1, what he means is, don’t say: “I wrote an article for blahblah.com about sneezing”, say “I wrote an article for blahblah.com about sneezing and here is the exact url to it: http://blahblahbal.cm/sneezing“. When we’re hiring and have 50 applications in front of us, we don’t have time to do searches to find your writings, give us exact urls we can click on.
Brian PIPA
I am agog that a writer would respond to an ad with an “application” that only reads: “interested.” No wonder employers get tired.
Great post, Deb!
I must admit to using cookie cutter cover letters (it’s just so easy), but I do try to add a line about how my experience pertains to that particular job.
I’m sorry Brian – you’d think since we talk every day practically I’d know this? It’s fixed.
@Jenn – You’d be surprised how many people send “Please consider me” with an attached resume. I can’t tell you how many one word or one sentence cover letters I’ve received. It never ceases to amaze me.
@Sabrina – I think having a basic template is always a good idea, but do tailor it to let a potential employer know you did your research – and that you care about the gig.
What a fantastic resource, thanks so much for this post, Deb!
Very helpful post, Deb!
I have a little writing team that helps me service my clients and when looking for new team members, I always put very specific directions in job postings to see if applicants can follow the most basic instructions. It starts with the subject line. If that’s not right, I usually don’t even read the rest. I think I might have gotten that tip from you, Deb. It was on an old blog post where I think you talked about doing a Craigslist experiment.
I recently became a managing editor for a site, and I am responsible for approving or rejecting writers for my channel. I got an application last week that made my head spin.
Next to the field for blog URL, someone just typed in “hellz yeah.” Seriously.
Also, we ask for writing samples, and if they are not included, I may just reject the person outright.
Good list of do’s and dont’s. I have tailored my e-mails to writing employers based on info. I have found on this site specifically and after reading this particular post will tweak my e-mails a bit more.
Thanks.
@ Leigh. Wow. That is funny. You mean you didn’t want to hirz ‘im after that?
Tips like these are always helpful especially when they come from clients. Thanks.
I have three permanent writing jobs and I chat regularly with my “bosses.” They’ve told me that the reason they selected me, quite honestly, was because I was one of the first to respond with the information they wanted. There were others, but their resumes arrived after mine and I was simply the first they printed out.
For my book review site, I can’t stand it when people send me a detailed resume that has nothing to do with reviewing. When I do post an ad, it says quite clearly that experience doesn’t matter, it is a love of reading books that does and I ask for a quick note on that applicant’s honest impressions on the last book they read. 9 times out of 10, I’ll get a lengthy resume and nothing about reading a book. Those get deleted every time.
Love the way you did this Deb. Turned out great.
Chatspeak. Nothing turns me off more than seeing: u should hire me cuz i writ rly good
Yes, this person is really out there applying for content jobs.
@Chatspeak and Dionne – My daughter’s stormed off in tears because of me correcting her spelling. Her school taught them to spell phonetically from kindergarten to fourth grade. In fourth grade, they started with spelling words but by that point, she’s used to spelling phonetically, so she still falls into that habit two years later. I used to think my neighbor’s son was hopelessly clueless when he’d write a note saying I was his favorite “nayber” in sixth grade.
Since school’s started, I’ve seen my daughter spell words incorrectly like “promiss,” “vacayshun,” “litning” and her teacher does nothing to correct them saying at least she made an effort. She’s in the 6th grade. It kills me that she cannot spell words like this.
I didn’t work when my son was little and spent a lot of time homeschooling him from the age of 3 to 6. I really wish I’d not started working, of course finances didn’t allow it. He’s a better writer than I am, but at times I fear she’ll never kick the spelling phonetically habit.
Now my son’s just started high school. They are not allowed to write their papers. They have to type them up on a computer, run spell-check and print them out double-spaced with inch margins. The computer’s taken over. The kids are never going to need to learn how to spell at this rate.
My now 6th grader spells better than my 10th and 8th graders. My 6th grader spells and reads at a grade eight level found out by his teachers who did the CAPP testing. My 6th grader uses the closed captioning on our t.v. so that has helped him out alot too on spelling correctly and he is a voracious reader as am I.
Thanks for posting my comments Deb! I hope people look at all of these comments as positive feedback instead of negative. The thing is, when we do advertise here at FWJ .. it’s such a popular site that we really do have a lot of applications and qualified people to go through!
btw @Leigh .. “hellz yeah” ,,, / I think I received one of those applications too
Ann G.–REALLY? I write educational material, including reading programs, and I thought that “let the kids spell phonetically” approach had gone out of style in the ’70s. Oh my gosh, I hope someone isn’t trying to bring it back. I swear, that wasn’t in a program I worked on!
@Dana I have done that a few times too. Tell them to send to a certain email address wit ha certain subject and set my mail up to filter. Many people don’t follow directions and the email doesn’t go into the “consider” folder. If you can’t follow simple instructions, there’s no chance you can follow more complex writing guidelines
Just maybe let your publishers know that if they’re using Craig’s List, CL seems to have a teeny-tiny, microchip-sized server that only allows very small e-mail attachments to go through. I invariably find that if someone requests a resume and 2 or 3 published clips, CL will toss my e-mail back if there are actually PDFs of clips attached indicating the attachment size is too big.
Although the vast majority of your publishing commenters were common sense–follow directions, give us what we want, post for jobs you’re qualified for–I’m slightly flummoxed by some that indicate they want enthusiasm, vivacity and personality, when I would think they want competence, professionalism and a resume that indicates they know what they’re doing. Maybe that’s just me.
Great post Deb! Following instructions is absolutely crucial. I applied for a gig and got such a nice response from the hiring manager thanking me for simply following her instructions. I was trying to get my blog listed on their site and while they weren’t looking for my type of blog, I’ve had open lines of communication with her since to keep up on the latest news, etc. all because I followed directions.
I’m not perfect, however, I’ve sent out canned cover letters. It usually happens at around 2 am when thoughts of utility bills have me up late and I start firing off the apps. I now make myself put all of the gig emails in my folder to revisit them in the am. It is shocking how lax your brain gets when it’s late and you’re desperate.
Excellent post Deb and everyone that contributed. Thank you.
Great collection of tips! One thing I’m confused by is the need for writers to have a blog. I don’t think that the writing on my blog would necessarily be the best examples of my work for clients. I normally send samples, but since they are ghostwritten there aren’t URLs attached.
Should I set up a seperate blog that has writing samples on it? Or blog about something other than writing?
Hi Courtney .. that was my comment that you referred to, so I will hopefully try to explain what I meant.
When I’m reviewing applications, and I ask for examples of the applicant’s past work … While it is great to know that the applicant was published in a famous magazine or newspaper and either attaches a copy of this article or copy/pastes it into the email .. seeing 1 or 2 or a small handful of articles written over the past 10 years doesn’t cut it with me. If I’m looking for a blogger to post every weekday (or more) .. it’s nice to see if the blogger actually has a blog, and the last posted entry is April 2007. Also, I can generally see you how interact with the readers, and other insights from just reviewing your blog – whatever it is about, including your writing habits.
It may be different for other people hiring writers, but I’m not looking for a person who has written a pulitzer prize article in the past .. I’m looking for someone with enthusiasm willing and capable of carrying one of my blogs and acting under my banner which reflects on me.
As for the content, you can have samples on it to show variety of work (research, opinion, current events, etc) but you can also be blogging about your cat or your garden and it’s all good for me. That’s pretty much what I meant. // HART
it’s nice to see if the blogger actually has a blog, and the last posted entry is April 2007.
I mean .. and the last posted entry is NOT April 2007.. // (typed from laptop woops)
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! I suppose it does make a difference if someone is applying for a blogging job vs. an article writing job…I can see how actually having a blog would be helpful in that respect. And I’m glad those “here’s what my cat ate” entries aren’t looked down upon. I’ve avoided having a personal blog for years for that reason.
@Skippy – I’d never heard of the spell phonetically approach until my kids started school. I learned to spell phonetically in shorthand back in high school, but in elementary and middle school, we were forced to do weekly spelling lists and learn the correct way to spell. Our school (Vermont) still teaches to spell phonetically – my neighbor’s youngest is now entering 2nd grade and she wrote a note filled with phonetically spelled words – her teacher gave her an A+ on it, while I looked at it and was shocked that a 2nd grader is spelling things like Vermont (V-R-M-A-N-T), Summer (S-O-M-R), Garden (G-A-R-D-I-N). Someone’s got to be helping them learn to spell correctly.
Spelling phonetically doesn’t work in my opinion. The fits my daughter has when I try to correct her prove it. But then, I look at her current teacher, she’s brand new, out of college this year. This is verbatim – she sent home this letter:
“The 6th graders will have sience five days a week with Mr. Toof.”
Now I can see that being a typo, until it appeared spelled that same way S-I-E-N-C-E six other times. I sent her an email telling her that she’d mispelled the word and that I hoped it was a mistake on her part. Her response is that she must have typoed it all six times. Either way, spellcheck could have caught it, so I have a hard time believing her. It’s only the third week of school, and I’ve already lost faith in this teacher, which isn’t a good thing.
@Ann G. and Skippy,
As a teacher I do like to have my students write down their thoughts and it does mean that many do write phonetically. I do not leave it at that,because I encourage them to make the correct spellings when I go through and edit their work with them because I do want them to learn to spell correctly. They’ll never learn if we keep allowing them to spell phonetically. I don’t want to stifle their creativity, which is why I want them to get their thoughts down even if there are mistakes. As mentioned, they correct it later for me.
What I do find is that I learn a lot about my students by their writing. Their words reveal if they are a reader and the level of their reading. Vocabulary level is also indicative in their writing. Their writing also indicates if they are learning disabled or dyslexic.
I need to see their writing “as is” before I have them correct it for the above reasons given. Yes, we certainly should be concerned when the phonetic spelling is marked as being correct when it is not.
What an interesting post! This was very nicely done and it is very helpful to hear from the clients what they are looking for. I just applied for a parenting writing gig that I know I would be perfect for, and I would love to get it. I tried to convey in my email app. why I was qualified, but also that I was sincerely interested in THAT job.
Sometimes I am not sure if I should act like I care about a job or not. There can be a fine line between seeming excited and seeming desperate when you are conversing by email. This time, I did give it a try, and after reading this, I feel good about what I sent.
Thank you for the high quality piece! It was a great read.
Great piece–thanks!
My great-grandmother always told me not to judge people’s spelling, because, “Spelling is a gift, not a learned trait.”
It’s sad she can’t use the computer, because spell check would have been her best friend. She was a C level exec at a Chicago company until she retired, so she wasn’t saying that out of ignorance or fear. She just couldn’t spell. Neither can my husband.
One thing I do have to say, though, is that my husband will re-read anything important before sending and many times will have someone else read it as well. I mean, we all have online friends, how much time would it take to have someone else scan your cover letter?
Oh, I also tweak my resume to add the company’s name I’m applying for in a few places. That way I took the effort with a good cover letter, and follow that through into the resume. If I don’t have an “on topic” writing sample, I’ll throw one together for the application, too.
I figure it’s about the company’s brand, not mine. That means the goal of my application, resume, etc. is to show the company what I might potentially look like to the readers. Putting those details in helps the hiring person see me as a potential part of the team instead of an applicant at arm’s length.
Excellent Post! I’m a new entrant in the freelancing world.
I’ve been blogging personally for 4 years and blogged in a semi professional blog for 2. When asked for blogging experience when I apply for a blogging job, I’ve always given the blog url of my posts done for the professional one. I’ve never stated 4 because I won’t be able to back up that claim as I think its unprofessional to send links to my personal blog even if that showcases me as a writer/blogger more through my posts.
Any differing thoughts?
Could someone give a few words of wisdom on what a basic cookie cutter cover letter looks like? (Say that 5 x!)
Are there certain rules to follow? I’ve never sent a cover letter when applying for a writing job. I’ve been freelancing for about 3 mo. and had 5 gigs, (okay, so 2 of them were from someone I know, but it still paid.:) and for the most part, I only apply for jobs when it’s a subject I’m familiar about.
@ Deb- Thanks a bunch for such a helpful article…I read FWJ everyday and always look forward to learning something new!
When sending an application, it’s all about being intuitive. I used to hire writers for a local magazine, and last winter when I put out a craigslist ad looking for writers I got a wave of under-qualified and under-enthusiastic writers. Most of them evidently didn’t read my ad, and many of them had poorly written cover letters and writing samples.
If you take your time to craft a well-written cover letter, resume, and portfolio then you will have that much more of an edge over those applicants that didn’t take their time. Also, if you’re new at writing resumes and writing samples, then find a friend or family member who is business savvy to look it over and give you pointers. It never hurts.
Thanks Alik. I’ll take the advice.
The advice from everyone was great.
I’ve stated before I am relatively new to the freelance business, though I worked in public relations and marketing for nearly 10 years. I always understood the importance of well-written, personalized cover letters and top-notch resumes when applying to traditional jobs. Similar to Tee’s post, I am a little confused about references to cover letters, resumes and applications as they relate to securing freelance writing jobs.
Traditional job advertisements of course tend to ask for cover letters and resumes to be emailed for faxed. However, the advertisements for freelance jobs tend to provide details about the job and suggest interested parties contact the person offering the job.
Are you all expecting resumes? Am I OK in assuming the response I provide in my email would be considered my “cover letter?”
Another question I have is what is meant by applications? I recently sent a reply to Brian Pipa regarding the job posted here for the CandyAddict.com writing gig. (Brian, the umpa lumpa wanna be says “hi”) I tried to address each of Brian’s requirements in my email. I may have ventured a little over the top creatively speaking – I hope not though.
Brian, like several others in this post, mentions applications in a response in this post – “When we’re hiring and have 50 applications in front of us…” I’m just curious. What is meant by application? Am I missing something, or is the term merely meant to refer to those people who “applied” meaning they replied?
Also, I do blog, but to date what I’ve written has just been silliness and stuff for friends and family. I am currently creating a writing-related blog in WordPress. However, until I get that up and running, I’ve been giving people a link to my ifreelance.com portfolio http://www.ifreelance.com/pro/43390. Does anyone have any opinions as to whether this is a good idea or not?
I’ll stop with the questions now! What wonderful people you all are to share your insight and experience.
Heather
i_write@ymail.com