It’s not all about the Resume
You do not need a long, comprehensive resume in order to become a freelance writer. Unfortunately, many aspiring writers never follow their dream because they think they don’t have the necessary background. The fact of the matter is that you do not need a long resume in order to get started. Even though I studied journalism in college, my resume was not full of tons of relevant experience when I decided to look into freelance writing.
Here are three details that prospective clients consider important. They may look at your resume as well, but if you can perform in these areas, you will be in a good position to succeed.
1. Even if you do not have formal writing experience, your past work experiences can put you in a good position to succeed as a freelance writer. For example, I worked in the background check industry for a couple of years before becoming a writer. With this experience in tow, I began to contact publications catering to human resource professionals. Soon enough, I was landing feature article assignments because these editors were interested in my past industry experience. Believe it or not, many of them never asked to see writing samples.
2. There is no denying that some clients may ask for work samples. But guess what? In many cases you will be able to get away with sending them anything. This can include an article that you wrote for a college newspaper, or a sales letter that you put together at your last day job. Generally speaking, prospective clients just want to make sure that you have a good grasp on the English language. If you can prove this through one sample, that may be all that you need. In other words, a long resume is not the end all.
3. If you are a good sales person, you may be able to talk your way into a job. In other words, once you get a prospective client on the phone, you can talk yourself up until you get what you want. Of course, you need to be careful when doing this. You do not want to annoy a potential client, or come off as a used car salesman. If you talk a good game, you may want to use this skill to obtain work. Just remember, you are going to have to perform for the client sooner rather than later.
As you can see, having an impressive resume is not the only way to break into the freelance writing industry. Try the three tips above when attempting to land freelance writing jobs.
