Job hunting can be a stressful time, especially if the loss of your job or client-base was unexpected. To make matters worse, 75% of resumes are rejected before they even reach the hiring manager. As content marketers, we spend our days trying to stand out above the noise in the work we do and stories we create. So how do you carry that into the job hunt process? Especially with unemployment at historical highs as the economy navigates through COVID-19.
First comes the idea, and that can be hard enough to figure out. But once that’s set, someone has to actually create it.
Creating a piece for SEO should never feel unnatural; if it adds value to users, that’s all that matters. But what do we want to see in a piece in order to feel good about its SEO chances? As an editor, this is the charge I would give the person tasked with putting it together: Give me one thing worth noticing. Not 500 words on this, or seven tips for doing that — one thing.
By the time I landed my first paid writing gig at the #BosCon Bash, I had known for 10 years I wanted to be a writer. My room was always brimming with books and journals, bits of poetry and scraps of prose on napkins. As a teenager, Carrie Bradshaw confirmed my career aspirations. Even if my life did not include designer shoes, I still wanted the freedom to write and that skinny Macintosh computer. But as I forged a different path after college, the discomfort of dismissing my dreams became greater than my fear of leaping into the unknown.
When introducing a new member to your content marketing team, you may feel a rush of excitement. New blood, new ideas and new attitudes can completely re-energize your team, your strategy and even you.
But when faced with a stack of all-too-similar looking resumés, all from candidates lured in by the trendy title of “content marketer,” hiring can seem like a challenge — especially when you are tasked with deciding among a crop of equally well-read, well-educated and eager professionals.
Just the thought of it makes you cringe. But you know it’s a necessary part of business, so you drag yourself to events, zealously hand out business cards and make awkward small talk for as long as you can bear it.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Networking doesn’t have to be a chore. Believe it or not, it can actually be fun. Follow these tips the next time you go to a networking event, and you may find yourself having a good time while you forge important professional connections.
