You Don’t Have to Be the Best Writer to Get the Best Job

It doesn’t matter if you write the most intriguing query letter and it doesn’t matter if you write the perfect article if you’re making any one of the mistakes I’m about to share with you.

The hard truth is, the best writers don’t necessarily get the best writing jobs.

The best writers don’t necessarily get any jobs. Talent alone will not get you hired.

Depending on how you feel about your own writing skills, reading that might have made you feel better or worse. But whether you believe writing skills are the product of inherent talent or years of practice, there are simple steps you can take to ensure you score regular gigs. These steps really don’t have anything to do with talent, but they do indicate whether you are a professional.

As a managing editor of a major website, I look for professionals. Typos, misspellings, factual errors, and sloppy writing are all hallmarks of unprofessionalism. You don’t want that label.

You want to be the opposite of that. You want to stand out from the crowd because you do care and you do comb through every detail of your work. Remember, an editor is typically overworked and overwhelmed. He or she is likely primarily looking for a reason to delete emails, and secondarily looking for quality materials.

So, here are six things you should look for in your article, manuscript, pitch, or query before you hit the send button. These might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often I see them in my inbox. And let’s be real, we all know we’ve committed at least a couple of these.

1. Spelling – Misspellings are an instant reason for an editor to hit “delete.” Keep an eye out especially for things that spellcheckers won’t recognize, such as “their” instead of “there.”

2. Adjectives and adverbs – These should not be the heart of your writing. Superfluous use of them is the sign of an immature writer (in years or in experience). Delete as many as you can.

3. Grammar – I don’t expect all writers to be grammar nerds, but I do expect them to have a general understanding of their craft. Look for non-sequiturs and noun-verb agreement in particular.

4. Repetition - Repetitive use of the same word is another sign of either a young writer or someone who hasn’t reread and refined her draft. If you see the same word popping up, it’s time to bust out your thesaurus.

5. Clichés – By definition, clichés bring nothing new to your work. Delete them all.

6. Incorrect clichés – It is not a “mute point” and there’s no such thing as “intensive purposes.”

Aside from all that technical stuff, there’s another level editors look for in potential writers. They look for people they actually want to work with. People they might even enjoy working with. This is something you should seek out, as well, because if someone enjoys working with you, he or she may hire you again.

When selecting writers, I look at three qualities (I didn’t come up with these, they came from reading many business books):

1. Does the person turn her work in on time?
2. Is she pleasant to work with?
3. Is she skilled at writing?

“Yes” answers to any two out of those three will result in a positive and productive situation for both the writer and me. So, first, get your article, manuscript, pitch, or query in tip-top shape by rereading and checking it against the list above. And then be punctual, pleasant, and good at what you do.

If you can handle that on top of having an excellent query letter and article, then you’ll be shoulder to shoulder with a small percentage of capable people any editor would be eager to hire.

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Becca Borawski Jenkins is the Managing Editor of a major health and fitness website—a job she earned based on the success of her personal blogging. As the editor of BreakingMuscle.com she oversees a team of writers and editors, publishing 24 high-quality articles per week to an audience of almost 5 million readers each month.

Though she was born with the instinct to write, as a teenager she decided that a career in film and television would be more “practical” (don’t ask her the logic behind that). But even while studying filmmaking, she excelled as a writer, having a play produced in undergrad and a script turned into a short film in graduate school. While earning her MFA in Cinema-Television Production at USC, she focused mainly on scriptwriting and editing—both core elements of good story telling and fantastic ways to study story structure.

You can find out more about Becca by visiting her website: writing.huntgatherbrew.com

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Join Becca's upcoming online class, 

How to Write Meaningful Content for the Internet. 

Visit our classroom page for details and enrollment.

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