Getting started as a professional writer can be difficult.
I know I’ve been asked how I got started as a writer before. I’ve always answered in a very general way that I thought would help the most people. I don’t think I’ve ever shared the full story of how I landed my very first paid writing position, though.
Until today…
It was over twenty years ago. I was a brand new college graduate. I had been looking for work for weeks. I was scanning the Sunday paper and noticed an advertisement from a very large corporation. They needed account reps and interested candidates could either mail a resume to the address in the ad, or they were invited to drop by the firm’s human resources department in person on Monday between 9:00 and 12:00 a.m.
Face-to-face in Corporate America
Believe it or not, in an uncharacteristically bold move on my part, I chose to do the latter. Without sending my resume on ahead, I got up Monday morning and dressed in my best navy blue power suit. I packed a copy of my newly minted business degree and the resume that the college career center had helped me put together into my otherwise empty briefcase.
I then drove over to the corporate address listed in the ad, which turned out to be fairly close to the apartment where I was living at the time and asked the receptionist for the Human Resources department.
Apparently, I was the only person who had decided to show up in person. What’s more, the HR person didn’t remember that the ad had given candidates the option to come by in person.
The Waiting Game
The HR assistant took a copy of my resume and asked if I could wait. Naturally, I could wait. (I didn’t have a job, so what else was there for me to do anyway?)
I sat in the little HR waiting room for well over an hour reading the business magazines and trying very hard not to wrinkle my suit.
After a while, the HR assistant looked up and said to me, “Are you still here?” She disappeared into the back of the HR area and in a few minutes, the HR director appeared and ushered me back to her office.
“Well, I’ve looked at your resume and we needed someone more experienced for the account rep position,” she started. I was pretty deflated. I felt like I had probably just wasted my entire morning.
A Stroke of Luck
Then she added, “I noticed on your resume that you edited your college newspaper. Did you like doing that? Would you be willing to do something like that here?”
I stated that I had enjoyed it and would be willing to write and edit another newsletter. Then she went on to describe a position with a subsidiary company that involved writing their customer newsletter. She had been trying to find someone willing to take on the newsletter for some time, and I until I walked through her door no one had even been interested.
She made a quick phone call to the marketing director of the subsidiary and within minutes I was sitting in his office answering questions.
To make a long story short, I became the marketing coordinator at the subsidiary company (which just happened to be a software company). I took on the task of writing, printing, and distributing the monthly company newsletter. When the marketing director left a year later, I assumed his other responsibilities as well.
How Did You Get Started?
While I’d like to say that finding my first writing position was a result of brilliant strategizing on my part, it was actually largely a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
How did you get started as a writer? Share your story in the comments.
18 responses so far ↓
1 Lillie Ammann // Mar 3, 2010 at
Laura,
What a great story. It just shows boldness can pay off.
I never worked for anyone else as a writer (or as much of anything else). I’ve been an entrepreneur except for the first few years I was out of college. When I sold my business, I started freelancing.
2 Laura Spencer // Mar 4, 2010 at
Thanks Lillie!
To tell you truth, I hadn’t thought about how I got started in years. It was fun dredging up those memories.
I ended up staying at that company for quite a while. After that I moved into technical writing, where I was an employee at several major corporations.
It all started with that first break, though. 🙂
3 Sharon Hurley Hall // Mar 4, 2010 at
I was lucky; when I left college I applied for three jobs that matched my skills. One was a travel rep, one was as a language teacher and the third was as a journalist. I ended up getting the third; it was the luck of the draw but I can’t imagine doing anything other than writing now.
4 Laura Spencer // Mar 4, 2010 at
Sharon,
I definitely think there is a luck (or a providential) element to where we end up in life.
Starting out I definitely wasn’t focused on writing at all. Now, like you, I can’t imagine having another career.
5 Matt Keegan // Mar 4, 2010 at
What a great story, Laura!
My first regular job as a “writer” came about via a temp position I took. It was supposed to be a one day gig, but while on the job a subsidiary company (sounds familiar?) learned that I had more than a passing understanding of WordPerfect.
Turns out that they laid off their secretary, but realized that they couldn’t do without her. I wasn’t interested in being a secretary, but they needed someone to write and update their aviation manuals. I quickly went from the “hunt and peck” method of typing to become a fairly skilled typist who had a way with taking complex words and breaking them down into everyday language. Along the way I wrote three different newsletters and honed my writing skills.
Nearly 11 years went by before I was laid off in November 2002. A few weeks later I was in business for myself and have been freelancing ever since.
6 Laura Spencer // Mar 4, 2010 at
Thanks Matt!
That’s an interesting story. Thanks for sharing it.
I think it’s fascinating that these seemingly accidental circumstances often turn out to be much better than anything we planned.
BTW, I started out on WordPerfect too, back before MS Word was standard. I progressed through Ventura Publisher and then FrameMaker before becoming somewhat of a power user of MS Word.
7 Allena // Mar 5, 2010 at
I also consider myself “lucky” in that I got a position as an Editor at the local community college not one week after I earned my BA in English. It was the first job I interviewed for, too. Interesting, about “luck”– I mean, I’m not sure I “believe” in luck, but those examples above, and mine I suppose, are some pretty interesting meetings of circumstances.
8 Laura Spencer // Mar 5, 2010 at
Thanks for sharing your story Allena!
It’s really interesting to read how everyone got started as a writer. It sounds like you had a great first writing opportunity.
I know that starting out can be frustrating, so I hope that others reading this post will be encouraged.
9 Anne Wayman - About Freelance Writing // Mar 22, 2010 at
I wandered around an early computer show and convinced Juki that I could write a computer manual… then I went to work writing inside Kaypro – first in their tech writing department and then for their magazine, Profiles… (I’m really dating myself).
I kept submitting freelance things and got contracted with Hazelden for a booklet… oh my that was ages ago.
10 Laura Spencer // Mar 22, 2010 at
Wow Anne!
I didn’t know that you came from a tech writing background too.
Your story does illustrate one thing that seems to be a common thread throughout all the comments–keep trying and don’t quit.
It’s interesting to see that I’m not the only one whose writing career keeps evolving…
11 Master Dayton // Mar 29, 2010 at
I started off freelance writing because it was the only job I could do from my apartment. On my 25th birthday I was between college and grad school, and a car accident messed up my legs with deep bone bruises all the way from ankles to hips (think hundreds of tiny micro fractures), so on a Frankenstein computer pieced together from the remains of three others and held together with duck tape, bubblewrap, and cardboard, I looked around until I found Guru.com and Constant-Content online. I started with those sites, got some side work from a couple of Brits in Morocco, and have absolutely took off in the 5 years since. I do wish I still had that first computer – it would get incredible stares and be a nice little “historic piece.” 🙂
12 HRIS // Apr 1, 2010 at
I’m still trying to get my first job in writing. Its interesting trying to change careers. Especially now when I “grew up” in sales and everything I do tends to point me towards that. Now when I do try to write I feel like i’m trying to sell whatever I write. I think my creative techniques will start to out shine my sales techniques and hopefully will provide to be beneficial.
13 Randy Murray // May 3, 2010 at
Here’s my story: I finished my MFA in playwriting and looked at my choices: teach, starve, or find a “straight” job. In 1985, the higher ed market was completely frozen and I’ve never missed a meal, so I needed to find work. Through connections and friends, I got an interview at AT&T Technical Training Services and the next thing I knew I was a writer and trainer at Bell Labs.
I spent the next 25 years writing technical documentation, marketing materials, and virtual every type of business materials, worked my way up through marketing and management until all I was doing was managing and making myself miserable.
Now I’m out on my own, with a very nice writing and consulting business and happier than I’ve been in years. Writing is a great gig and there’s a lot of demand for it. Don’t sell yourself cheap and network every chance you get. And enjoy the work!
14 Laura Spencer // May 3, 2010 at
Great story Randy, and very inspirational.
I agree with you. Good writing skills are VERY marketable.
15 savvysavingbytes // Sep 24, 2010 at
I always enjoy stories about how people got started in their fields. I was in high school when a friend I had earlier gone to school with called and asked if I would be interested in writing a column for the county’s weekly newspaper about the comings and goings of an upscale part of town. I remember that I was paid by the word — which probably wasn’t beneficial for developing a spare, streamlined style.
My main source of information was a woman who, among all her ice-cube clicking, always had a tidbit or two of information for me. One of the best things about that first free lance writing job was having my own byline.
16 Laura Spencer // Sep 25, 2010 at
Thanks savvysavingbytes!
It sounds like you got a good break early on. I’m definitely against payment be the word in general (although I realize it’s common), for the reason you describe and others.
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