Every day after we post our lists of freelance writing job leads blog , members of the FWJ community discuss the job hunt. We talk about scams, dream gigs and frustrations with the folks who place the ads.Which brings us to today’s open forum.
I’m frustrated by vague ads giving no information about the job and potential clients who feel they know how long a gig should take. I’m frustrated with the guys who want to pay $3 per article for 300 articles each week. I’m especially frustrated by the content sites that use RSS feeds to place their job ads at every single city in every single state at Monster and Career Builder, as if a few top cities and placement on the top job boards aren’t enough.
Now share, what are your freelance writing job ad frustrations? Which ads make your shake your head and groan?
Discuss…
Jen says
February 7, 2010 at 09:47Hi Deb,
I think you hit on all of my freelance writing job posting frustrations. I especially hate when a company posts an ad, but does not include a website or even tell you who they are. That drives me a crazy. And I agree, there are many postings out there that require a lot of work for minimal money.
Also, I’ve never posted a comment on this site but I’ve been reading for a while. Thanks for the great content! I’ve learned a lot.
Jen
Stephanie Smith says
February 7, 2010 at 09:55I am frustrated by the tons of job boards out there and the necessity to hit every one of them daily or weekly to find jobs. That takes time I don’t have. I wish there was ONE place to post jobs and we could all find them easily. I am not saying we would GET them, but we would be able to find the places to apply.
JulieF says
February 7, 2010 at 10:46I’m very frustrated by the amount of scammers lately. The ads look legit, then you get spam in reply asking you to sign up here, there and everywhere.
The worst so far? I wrote a short note and offered to send my information once I knew the poster was not a scam ad. The person wrote back, stated they were real and understood my frustration, blahblahblah. I sent her my info.
Not 5 minutes later, a scam from them.
.-= JulieF´s last blog ..Constant Content =-.
Kriszia says
February 7, 2010 at 11:58I’m frustrated by the glut of re-writing jobs out there, where you just have to beat Copyscape. Whatever happened to real writing? And “quality” articles for $3/pop? REALLY? Not to mention those who want to get a HUGE discount because the job is “easy” if “you’re good” or “know how to do it.” And here I thought the better you got, the higher you should get paid.
Lucy Smith says
February 7, 2010 at 21:19I get frustrated by the ones that don’t tell you who they are, and expect you to send a resume. I’m happy to send one if I know who it is and trust them, but resumes have a lot of personal information (or at least make it easy to find personal information) so I don’t want to send it to anyone who might not be legit.
I’ve tried sending versions with ‘edited highlights’ but that’s got me nowhere.
.-= Lucy Smith´s last blog ..Passion, what is that? =-.
Angie says
February 7, 2010 at 21:52I was frustrated just today by a recruiting ad from a content company that claims to be “one of the highest paying companies on the web”. Their rates work out to be anywhere from .005 to .007 cents per word! Sadly, some people will take the opportunity because “it’s better than nothing”.
Simple Observer says
February 7, 2010 at 22:31My annoyance stems from the one-job-blasted-to-all-cities-posting. As far as the other scams are concerned, there has to be a certain amount of content written in order for me to respond. 2 sentences doesn’t do it. And that includes the 2 sentence, “I need a technical writer to help me with some documentation. Send resume, rates, and samples.” No go. If you want something worthwhile, then write it as something worthwhile. Otherwise, you are scammy spam in my books.
On the other hand, 3-4 paragraphs gets this expert’s attention.
Simple Observer says
February 7, 2010 at 22:33P.S. Deb, you’re doing a great job. And no, you don’t have to post this one. Just take it as a long, overdue compliment. I like your work, like how you write, and am very happy you’ve taken a stand for those Demand Studios writers. Thank you.
🙂
Kevin Freeman says
February 7, 2010 at 22:48Spam has frustrated me to the point that I have begun actively advertising my services. Since I made that change, business has really begun to improve! I won’t say that clients are beating my doors down, but at least the ones that contact me are actively interested in hiring a writer, even if most of them are still looking to pay less than I charge. Still it is far less time consuming to find the diamonds in the rough with an active approach.
.-= Kevin Freeman´s last blog ..Why Use Freeman Writing Services? =-.
Jan Emo says
February 8, 2010 at 06:56My gripe is the bidding sites. The client always seems to give the job to the lowest bidder. Another gripe is the ones wanting to pay $1.50 for 500 words. Dang, it takes time to research and write a good article.
Jeanne says
February 8, 2010 at 09:11I’m frustrated by the jobs that:
1) are so vague you can’t even tell what they want, as in ” Hi, I’m looking for a writer to help me write some articles, oh, about 300 words but could be longer. Write me a few and let me see what you can do.”
2) Other pet peeves –
Craigslist ads that want resume plus clips. I can send them links to both online, but a lot of my magazine clips are scans or Acrobat files well over the limit of Craiglist’s email system.
3) Not saying what the industry is – how do I know I write in that field?
4) Not saying the rate
5) Demanding sample articles (no clips, unique samples), with no guarantee of payment or getting the gig
I could go on and on.
Jeanne