Freelance Resumes and Cover Letters: Three Tips

What does it take to get your resume taken seriously as a freelancer? It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelance writer, an editor, even a freelance social media maven needs to be able to grab someone’s attention right off the bat.

The key to powerful freelance resumes and cover letters? There’s no SINGLE solution, but there are three areas you should concentrate on:

• Competing well–people lose when they forget that a cover letter and resume are in actual competition with other resumes and cover letters. This is a contest for attention. What do professional athletes do when they prep for a contest? They study the competition. Read other resumes, cover letters, etc. anywhere you can find them.
• Put yourself in the editor’s chair–read your own resume and cover letter with the notion that you have a stack of 20 to go through. What can you do better in both documents with that notion in mind?
• Cut the crap–eliminate anything in your resume or cover letter that’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for. Don’t mention your hobbies or interests unless they pertain somehow to the gig. This may sound like I’m telling you to come off like you’ve got a one-track mind, but remember that stack of 20 other resumes that still need to be gotten through. How much time do you want the reader to spend on material that won’t impress them to hire you for the gig?

–Joe Wallace

Assume At Your Own Risk

by Joe Wallace

I try not to run excessively negative pieces here on FZ. Once upon a time I really let things rip, whenever I felt the urge. But I’ve been leaning toward more constructive writing and less towards venting my spleen, thinking of the value added and time invested rather than self-gratification in print at the expense of whatever bozo has been irritating me at the moment.

But rules are made to be broken.

Today I had to venture out of my Lincoln Square writer’s hideout into downtown Chicago to hit the Apple Store. I needed a replacement battery for my 15-inch Macbook Pro and didn’t feel like waiting out a delivery time of an online order.

I was tired, not quite caffeinated and unwilling to search the store for replacement batteries, so when I got to the Michigan Avenue Apple Store, I went right to an Apple-shirted employee and aksed for a 15-inch Macbook battery.

She promptly reached into a shelving unit and pulled out a box that was far too long and skinny to be the 15-inch Macbook Pro battery I needed. The box clearly said “15-inch replacement battery” but it was the NEW one, not the OLD SCHOOL version I needed for the model I purchased in 2007.

I asked if that was the right one and the rep looked at the box. It never occurred to this person to ask if I had an OLD Macbook or a NEW one.

I realize this is grousing over a mistake any barely trained McJob zombie could make, but my real point is that it’s never safe to assume people who are SUPPOSED to be in the know actually know what they’re doing. … Continue Reading

How Not To Hire A Freelancer

by Joe Wallace

Oh, but that game box art makes freelancing look exciting and lively doesn’t it? And then there are days like these, where a poor freelancer looking for work has to contend with the frustration of wading through job listings like the one I’m about to show you.

Normally I direct my writing here to freelancers, but this time it’s the employers who should sit up and take note. What follows are excerpts from an actual ad seeking a freelance writer. I did not change anything for emphasis. In all cases the case, the spelling, the capitalizations, and the breathless prose are all the original ad writer’s work. Behold:

“we are looking for writing and a sales person”

Great headline. You can already sense the trouble brewing.

“(Company name deleted) A NEW COMPANY IN (location deleted) IT IS LOOKING FOR A
-WRITING PERSON PROFESSIONAL AND WITH GREAT WRITING SKILLS RESPNSIBLE PART TIME JOB WORK AT HOME ”

Oh, yes, we are off to a great start here with the all caps. Writers, you should be ready to run away screaming at this moment, never mind what comes next:

“-SALES PERSON RESPONSABLE ,VERY PROFESSIONAL WITH GREAT SALES SKILLS MOTIVATED AND WILLING TO GROW WITH THE COMPANY IT IS A PART TIME JOB WORK AT HOME. ”

OK, so maybe they couldn’t afford TWO job posts, one for each position? We can give the benefit of the doubt here, right? Um….maybe not.

“VERY IMPORTANT IT IS A REQUIREMENT HAVE A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP WITH INTERNET CONEXION EMAIL US (name deleted@deleted.COM) WITH ATACH RESUME”

Yes folks, that Internet conexion is going to be crucial to your survival at this company–especially when you have to use an online dictionary.

“WE ALSO CHECK BACKGROUND AND CHECK REFERENCES FROM PREVIUS JOBS .
OUR COMPANY IT IS A WEB DESIGNS AND MARKETING ON LINE FOR SERVING SMALL BUSINESS IN USA IF YOU WILL LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT US GO TO www.addressdeleted.com”

Hey! These folks are into MARKETING! That explains why this ad is so…stunning.

That last bit contained my favorite part by far–the marketing geniuses posted entire job ad in all caps except for the URL. Trust me, you’re going to LOVE working for this bunch.

“THE WRITING PERSON WE WILLING TO PAY FOR A JOB (WRITING CONTENT FOR WEB SITE)
THE SALES PERSON WE WILLING TO PAY BY COMISSION 15% FOR EACH SALE .

• Location: (deleted)
• Compensation: IT WILL BE DISCUSS IN THE INTERVIUW“

I’m not sure I would be able to keep a straight face in the “interviuw”. Now I hear some of you already mentally chiding me for poking fun at a freelance job ad that seems to be clearly written by someone who uses English as a second language, but I am certain that the phrase “spell check” is one of those universal things that can–or at least should–transcend the language barrier somehow. Or maybe I’ve been watching too much Bill Maher and it’s started to infect my brain.

So what’s the point of this article, besides having some fun at this poor job ad poster’s expense? My point is this: being critical and using your skills to size someone up for their suitability for the gig is NOT just the job of an interviewer. Freelancers, you should be interviewing THEM just as much as they are trying to interview YOU.

This freelance job poster blew the initial interview, at least in my mind. All the warning signs are there. You wouldn’t work for a boss who told you women can’t do a good a job as men, and you shouldn’t work for someone who can’t toe the professional line in less obvious–but still identifiable–areas (like the standard operating procedures used by professionals when writing help wanted ads to attract freelancers.)

Reply to a job ad like this at your own risk, but my personal advice is to stay away. Or better yet, get into your spaceship and fly somewhere else like the guy in the image above is clearly ready to do.

How to Start Freelancing Part 2

by Joe Wallace

In my first post on How To Start Freelancing (part one of 1,000,000) I discussed how to properly outfit yourself to do the work. From here we’ll assume you’ve got your tools and are ready to get started. What next?

Let me start by saying there are very few hard and fast rules about freelancing that apply to all comers. The first hard and fast rule you should take to heart is this:

The freelance journey is a personal one. It’s almost like spirituality–it NEVER works exactly the same for everybody. The sooner you accept the fact that you’ll be engaging in a unique journey that won’t go exactly as planned, the quicker you can recognize opportunities that come your way as legitimate ones. Even when they’re non-traditional, unusual, or otherwise not written about in the how-to-freelance books.

Now that we have THAT out of the way, here’s some specific advice on what to do next.

Evaluate the subject matter areas you know best and try to focus your earliest efforts on writing on these subjects. What magazines are you interested in within your specialized knowlege areas? Don’t discount ANY of your hobbies, either. Take stock of the websites and mags you read that cater to your passions and consider writing for these publications first.

Whatever you do, don’t just fire off a query letter at this stage–instead, look at the mags in question and ask yourself the most important question you can ask before going to an editor. “What is this mag NOT doing that I as a reader would not just like, but LOVE to read?”

Once you have an answer to that question you stand a fair chance of getting a GOOD response from the editor of that web page or magazine. Outline the article, write a first draft and see how you like it. We’ll go over next steps in the next post in this series.

One important note–as your career develops there’s a very good chance that you will NOT be writing the articles ahead of time and trying to pitch them later. But you have to get started somewhere and this is a very good way to clarify your thinking in the early days when you’re second-guessing yourself to death. We’ll cover how to stop doing that in a later post.

Joe Wallace is a full-time freelance editor, writer, and pro blogger. He has been writing professionally since 1991. His gigs include web editing for Motorola.com, social media and copy writing for FHA.com and VALoans.com, he ghost writes and runs the retro/vinyl junkie site Turntabling.net. Contact him at jwallace242 (at) gmail.com. … Continue Reading

The Devil Is In the Details

by Joe Wallace

Take a good look at the picture and try to figure out what’s wrong with it.

If you have trouble spotting it at first, don’t feel too badly–the image is so tiny you probably missed it the first time, but look again. Nobody in their right mind would actually put a full coffee cup ON their laptop the way this one is. It’s an invitation for disaster all right, and anybody with morning brain could easily knock over a cup of java–especially where THIS one is placed.

Seems sort of dumb not only to put a coffee cup on a laptop, but then to take a PHOTO of it, to boot. Somebody thought this looked great, but didn’t think about the implications. (And before you ask, I’m the one who took that photo. On purpose. It amused me, but stupid things like this do before I’ve had enough caffeine.)

But it does prove a point—it’s easy to overlook something terribly obvious in the rush to get the goods. How many times have we ALL hit “send” on that e-mail before proofreading it? When you find out later that you dropped a “the” or mangled your recipient’s name, the rest of the day is spent kicking yourself until you’re too sore to sit.

I catch e-mail marketers out all the time. You know the ones–they’re trying very hard not to make their sales pitch read like a form letter, but they forget to snip out some crucial part of the e-mail they sent to the last poor schlub. Your “personalized” e-mail has somebody else’s information in it. Or just plain wrong info. “I’d love to help you promote your purple envelope business, Mrs. Wallace.”

Tee hee.

Then there’s the way you get burned when you’ve hit “reply”. Or rather, you THINK you’ve hit “reply”. Instead you hit “reply all”. Then you accidentally send that candid message about your crappy lunch break to someone you really didn’t intend to contact. Whoops.

I’ve made a fool of myself enough to teach myself a couple of tricks in this department.

1. I never hit “reply” anymore unless I’m able to reply to EVERYONE in the e-mail. I always initiate a new e-mail. Sounds obvious, but it’s not–otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation here and now.

2. I proofread my e-mails. This might seem excessively nitpicky, but now that it’s a habit and I do it with ALL e-mail, I tend not to send out things that have flaws, errors, unintended recipients and other not-ready-for-prime-time problems.

3. I walk away from e-mail for 10 minutes or so before replying to bad news, things that make me angry, or information that increases my work load. For me, the time away gives me a moment to think through everything.

4. I always re-read the last paragraph of everything I write one last time before I declare it finished and hit “send”. For some reason, people tend to forget tact most at the end of an e-mail. I like to catch that sort of thing when I can.

5. I try not to assume people know what I’m talking about or even remember conversations we’ve had about what I’m getting in touch for. It makes life so much easier to give a little road map (in a nice and tactful way) just in case.

6. I try to write e-mails and cover letters with the assumption that the reader hasn’t had any coffee yet.

My Favorite Freelance Resources

by Joe Wallace

I have a set of unusual resources I like to use to keep pushing my freelance career forward. A lot of them are things I use to keep tabs on the next big thing, some of them are related to finding freelance jobs, and some of them are about the craft of writing. In no particular order, here are my favorite freelance resources:

Google. Not the search engine, which I use for research, but all the other features. I give my clients access to my work via Google Documents instead of e-mailing attachments, I use Google Alerts to keep me posted when people are reposting or otherwise discussing my writing, and I like to keep track of how my blogs are doing via Google Analytics.

Craigslist. I never use Craigslist to look for freelance work, but I do use it to look for deals on office equipment and other things I should be spending money on to further the business. Sometimes I use Craigslist to hunt for new advertisers for Freelance-Zone.com, too—a company advertising jobs for freelancers on Craigslist is one I probably want to get to know better.

Wired.com. Some people read Darren Rowse to take the pulse of the pro blog world, but I do my own research a bit differently. I like the info Darren Rowse puts out, but I find that information to be far more valuable when coupled with reportage coming from and intended for techies and word nerds not necessarily involved in the pro blogger side of things. Call it triangulation of information–I like to find the sweet spot in today’s fad-driven marketplace by using a combination of intel from a variety of sources.

Small, unknown blogs. There’s nothing more valuable to me than reading the perspective of a new freelancer, pro blogger, or other creative just starting out in the business. A fresh set of eyes on old problems often reveals plenty of new insight. When it doesn’t, you’ve had a good laugh.

Marketplace. I listen to American Public Media’s daily finance report on my Chicago NPR station, and in the two years it’s been quite valuable to be as a freelancer. Financial literacy as a self-employed creative–especially when you’re successful enough to worry about changing income tax brackets and other problems related to cash flow issues–is NOT an optional pursuit. If you want to be a successful freelancer, you have to be aware of your finances, the issues that affect them, even the ones that don’t seem to hit close to home–the collapse of Lehman Brothers, for example–but ultimately DO change the landscape for you as a self-employed business person.

I suppose I should throw a freelance gig-related resource in here. Part of the secret to my own personal freelance success has had much to do with networking, being creatively diverse, and not putting all my eggs in one basket. That’s one of the reasons why I’m a big believer in creative temp agencies like Artisan Creative. Creative temp and placement agencies are not for everyone–they don’t take all comers and your creative chops are only one part of the picture. But if you’re skilled, you’re a people person who can work as part of a team, and you bring an optimistic attitude to the table, a creative temp agency is a great addition to your list of freelance job options.

When it comes to doing the job hunt on your own, I strongly recommend scoping out the Careers and About Us section of any media website you run across. Going directly to the source has been a very productive strategy for me, and while I can’t knock the job sites for passing on the latest details on current gigs, my own personal experience has been better when I take the direct approach. Your own results may vary.

Secret Weapons to Finding More Paying Freelance Gigs

by Joe Wallace

If you’re wondering what a doctored photo of a moon walk has to do with getting a freelance job, keep reading. You won’t find freelance jobs on the moon, but if you’re fed up enough with a fruitless hunt for more paying gigs to consider looking there anyway, you’re well on your way to getting a new freelance opportunity.

I just started a high-paying freelance editor gig for a major national corporation. I found this gig in a place I least expected to–and that was probably the reason why I landed it. There was no horde of eager applicants to compete with–just a reasonable amount of competition. My source for this job isn’t as important as the idea that I landed the work because I opened myself up to new opportunities by looking in places I wouldn’t have explored a year or two ago.

So how can you create your own secret weapon to finding new freelance work? … Continue Reading

6 Freelance Job Resources You Haven’t Thought Of

by Joe Wallace

Looking for freelance gigs? You’ve probably been all over the map in search of more steady work, but there are a few places that haven’t been beaten to death by the scraper sites..though they probably will be after we publish this. Best advice? Keep your BEST job resources to yourself as long as possible to avoid the bandwagon syndrome.

That said, here are a few that haven’t been ruined by scraper sites yet…and some that NEVER will be due to the nature of the job sourcing:

Reddit Jobs is pricey for editors to list gigs on–300 a day for 30 days–so you won’t be troubled by a bunch of spammy ads from the usual places offering you three bucks a post or “revenue sharing”. At press time, the problem with Reddit Jobs for freelancers is that some fields are underrepresented, but that obviously changes depending on supply and demand.

Artisan Creative. The reason why Artisan won’t be scraped out of usefulness for a busy freelancer? They have a screening process for candidates. This isn’t an “all-comers” source of freelance jobs, it’s a situation where talent actually matters. Artisan is a creative staffing agency that places writers, coders, designers, and many other freelance specialties. The jobs are heavy-hitting, too. Major companies, household names. I have personal experience with Artisan Creative and am very happy with them.
… Continue Reading

Freelance Jobs Are Just A Network Away

Yuwanda Black wrote an article many moons ago for CopyBlogger called Where Have All The Freelance Jobs Gone? Where indeed? I’ll tell you where. They’ve mutated.

Once upon a time, freelancers–especially writers–needed a set of skills directly related to putting words down to tell stories, report news, or sell products. They also had to sell themselves in cover letters, queries, and proposals.

Then came the web, SEO content, blogging, and an explosion in online copywriting. The notion that “everybody’s a writer” gave way to “everyone’s a blogger”. Some get paid, some do not, but the cliche is there for a reason.

Freelance work for writers seems to be subdividing into two basic categories, at least for now. I tend to think of it as skilled and unskilled labor. There’s a certain point in a successful writer’s career where a decision is made or a path is taken to an important collection of skill sets beyond the ability to write well. Those who don’t take the leap wind up stagnating. They don’t make it out of content land, instead remaining trapped like prehistoric dragonflies in amber.

… Continue Reading

Freelancing Your Way to a Job

by Mike O’Mary

December unemployment numbers will be reported on January 8, and recent weekly reports on unemployment claims indicate that things are getting better. But it’s still a tough economy out there. As of the end of November, U.S. unemployment was 10%, and underemployment (a freelance writer bagging groceries, for example) was 17.2%. Pretty grim.

If you are freelancing by choice, my hat is off to you. I know some people who have very successful freelance careers and would never consider going to work for someone else. But if you’re freelancing because you’ve been laid off, I have good news for you: freelancing just might be the best way to find your next job.

Twice in the past decade, I was offered (and I accepted) corporate jobs from my clients. So my tip for those of you who desire a corporate job is to offer up your services as a freelancer first. I believe this is actually a better way to get a job than competing with the dozens (or hundreds or sometimes even thousands) of people sending in resumes for job openings.

In the two cases where clients offered jobs to me, I went to the client with no ulterior motive. I really was not looking for a job. I was looking for freelance work. I didn’t want them to give me a job; I wanted to give them some help. That difference in attitude made a difference to them. And in both instances, there was a definite sense that they had discovered me…their attitude was almost a joyful “look what I found!” (Compare that to the attitude of a potential employer during a job interview where all-too-often they are looking for reasons not to hire you.)

Bottom line: Don’t mislead a potential employer. If you’re not interested in freelancing, then don’t present yourself as a potential freelancer. But if you are interested in freelancing – and if you are also interested in the possibility of a full-time job with the right employer – then marketing yourself as a freelancer just might be the best way to get your foot in the door to your next job.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online community for writers and other artists.

What You Can Learn About Freelancing From Your Phone Bill

It’s tough to know when to cut your losses. Deadbeat clients, those who ask for never-ending rewrites, clients who pay later and later, the list goes on and on. How long do you give them the benefit of the doubt?

That’s a question for another article. This post is about something completely different–those situations where the client is nice, friendly, reasonable…but you still find yourself getting the short end of the stick.

Example–the writer I know who has to make international phone calls to get his articles written. Calls that aren’t always reimbursed by his editors. This writer decided to start cutting out the companies that wouldn’t pay his phone expenses (which are regular and fairly predictable). He was shocked to learn he saved himself $200 in one month doing so. One of his publication credits wound up costing him half his fee in phone calls–clearly a losing option. … Continue Reading

Holiday Guilt?

Yo Prinzel wrote a great blog entry aimed at all of us who felt slightly guilty for taking a glorious four-day weekend off for the holidays. Adding my own two cents to this blog post, I’ll just say that one way you can offset the guilts for taking time off to stuff your face full of turkey is to pre-position some content or work for submission during your down time. If you’re running a blog or a for-pay website and have content that shows up over the holidays, you can feel confident that you’re feeding the audience while still giving yourself some much-needed down time.
… Continue Reading

Kaizen for Freelancers

by Joe Wallace

I was reading an interview at FreelanceSwitch and stumbled across a word I haven’t seen used in ages. Kaizen is a Japanese word (and concept) imported to the west by management types. The term basically translates as “improvement” but is used in context as “continuous improvement”.

It’s tied to a philosophy–you never stop learning ways to improve your business, and never stop looking for ways to make it more efficient.

Do you use kaizen in your freelance routine?

… Continue Reading

The Freelance Jackass Factor: Dealing With the A-Holes In Your Business

It’s a fact of life in freelancing. Eventually you’re going to be stuck with people with habit and business practices which are annoying at best, completely infuriating at their worst. What to do? Here are my top five strategies–things I use whenever dealing with these people and their clueless behavior:

5. Risk Management. If I can spot them coming before I am entangled with them, I try to avoid ‘em completely. Sometimes you can’t, so I make sure I define my terms and conditions to the letter in order to head off the endless revisions or pointlessly long conference calls ahead of the game.

4. Get Paid According to the Level of Hassle. Part of defining terms ahead of time for me is getting paid more money for being subjected to a client’s boorish behavior. Those endless conference calls? I bill them. Those additional rewrites for no real reason? Ditto. People get pain and suffering compensation in lawsuits, why shouldn’t you get the same kind of compensation for dealing with a jackass client?

3. Keep Records. A jackass client will turn on you suddenly and demand extra services or other hassles based on what they claim is non-delivery or delivery that fails to live up to the agreement. Don’t be taken by surprise by this, no matter how nice they’re acting lately the potential is ALWAYS there. Get everything in writing even if that’s just you keeping careful notes for yourself.

2. Time Management. Don’t let your crappy clients steal time away from your GOOD clients. I would rather ask for an extension on a deadline from a crap client than a good one any day of the week. Pick your battles well.

1. Give As Good As You Get. The client that takes a full week to get back with you shouldn’t expect you to jump the second the e-mail hits your inbox. I try to “train” my clients to expect the same level of response and attention they give to me. Some get the hint, others don’t. My time is valuable–it’s worth a lot of money–and I try to convey that wherever possible.

One way I do this is by subtly reminding the clients that I work for other people, too. It’s easy to assume a freelancer is at your disposal. I never let that impression happen–I am always talking about other activities in a vague way. “Oh, sorry–I’m not available at 2PM, I’ve already got a meeting scheduled with one of my other clients.”

Freelance Career Stuff that Works For Me

There are plenty of writing blogs that advocate “best practices” or things that seem to be best practices…and enough of those things are similar enough that a newcomer might get the mistaken impression that the writing game has a set of rules or ways to “do it right” that, when used like a magic formula, equal success.

But the fantastic truth of the matter is, there’s no one right way to do this–freelancing is about what works for YOU. No formulas aside from a few professional courtesies and common-sense activities like spell-check and final draft revisions.

That said, here’s a list of things in no particular order, that I do on a regular basis that seem to work for me:

–I like to stay up late. Past midnight. I try not to work myself into the ground, but around 11PM, after Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I do some shameless self promotion. … Continue Reading