Creative writer skills for your resume and career

I mentioned developing unique research skills as an important part of your resume, but to me, it is the single most important hard skill for a content writer. You often won't have a lot of time and will have to start a project from scratch. Moving from general information to more specific sources and knowing how and when to do this will make you stand out as a writer who has important things to say. You have to think of your writing as always persuasive, no matter what you are working on. You are telling a story, and you have a specific audience that needs to hear that story. The more specific you can make that story, the better your information and the more unique your approach to the topic will be. Make your writing stand out.

The second is probably the ability to edit your work. I teach many students who tell me they aren't very good at editing their own work. Most likely, it is because they don't like to read their own work. Become a fan of writing; what I mean by that is read writing for the writing itself. Develop a sense for the style of other writers, but most of all, enjoy your own writing. Read your own writing, silently and out loud. Listen to how it sounds, your word choices, your rhythm, the cadence. When something sounds off, you will be able to revise it. Editing does not just mean typos or grammar mechanics (although, it is definitely that as well). This all leads back to developing your own style and brand of writing.

I think that skills that stand out on resumes are going to be those that make you unique. In other words, skills that you have been able to make your own and that blur the boundary between technical and soft skills. For example, every content writer needs to be able to have solid research abilities. However, the writer who can leverage different research sources will adapt to the various jobs a content writer may be asked to do. So, not only do you have experience with using digital archives to research your topics, but you talk to people or businesses, you go out and show you have an interest in your task beyond getting a job done. Just as the jobs you accept will determine what kind of writing you do, how you approach your jobs will establish your writing brand. That brand is your writing ethos and will give a potential employer an idea of the type of writer you are. That means that originality or creativity might be important, even if they aren't necessarily the kind of skill that immediately comes to mind on resumes. But you should use your resume as a space to tell the story of your writing ethos, your style, your unique approach.

Employers consistently tell us that effective communication is both a skill in high demand and one that is often lacking in employees. English majors enter the workforce with exceptional communication and critical thinking skills that are already valued. With the explosion of A.I., these skills will become even more important; English majors' facility with language will become all the more essential. The ability to adapt and respond to A.I. tools will be essential going forward for those with English degrees.

College graduates in 2021 and beyond, need all of the skills that English programs have to offer: critical thinking, effective communication, creativity, and flexibility. New hires need to be able to adapt to workplace changes quickly and with aplomb, which requires critical thinking and problem solving and the ability to communicate those solutions to a diverse audience clearly and effectively. Those skills are refined and practiced regularly in English programs.

Many employers tell me that they seek graduates who can bridge the stereotypical-yet very real-divide in the technical world between the more rote elements of coding and the more creative elements of narrative that departments like my own (English) have traditionally taught. Creative coding and the ability to mesh what computer scientists and poets do-employers have consistently told me that there is great promise in that, now and going forward.