Struggling to effectively highlight your transferable skills can pose a serious resume challenge for career changers. Our detailed guide will provide you with strategies to showcase your versatile capabilities in a way that resonates with potential employers.
- Format your writer resume to ensure that it balances professionalism with creativity, and follows the best practices.
- Match the writer job requirements by including industry keywords on your resume.
- Use various resume sections to showcase your skills and achievements to answer why you're the best candidate for the writer role.
Take inspiration from leading writer resume examples to learn how to tailor your experience.
Optimize Your Writer Resume Format to Pass the Recruiters' Assessment
You may be wondering just how much time you need to spend on designing your writer resume.
What recruiters are looking for is systematised content that is clear and coherent. Thus, your writer resume needs to answer requirements and why you're the best candidate for the role from the get-go.
Often, a clear layout consists of:
- Sorting your experience in the reverse chronological order - starting with your most recent and relevant roles. This is an excellent choice for more experienced professionals;
- Writing your contact information (e.g. personal phone number and email address) and your portfolio or LinkedIn link in your writer resume header. If you're wondering to include a photo or not, always make sure that it's appropriate for the country you're applying in;
- Use the basic, most important writer resume sections - your experience, education, summary, etc. Use your resume's real estate wisely to tell a compelling, professional story and match job description's keywords;
- Don't go overboard with the length of your resume. One page is absolutely fine if you happen to have under a decade of relevant experience.
Are you still wondering if you should submit your writer resume in PDF or Word format ? The PDF has a few more advantages, as it doesn't change the format and the text can't be altered upon application.
Format matters most when your writer resume is assessed by the Applicant Tracker System (or the ATS).
The ATS parses resumes, looking for specific keywords, skills or experience that match the job description.
P.S. We recently did a study on how the ATS works and were able to demystify three of the biggest misconceptions about how it assesses candidate resumes.
To pass the ATS evaluation, select any of the serif or sans-serif fonts. Popular choices that would help your writer resume stand out include Raleway, Exo 2, Montserrat, etc.
Most traditionalists go for Arial or Times New Roman, but it's often the case that many candidates choose these fonts, and you'd thus lose points on the uniqueness front.
Targeting Canada? – Keep in mind their resume layout may differ from others.
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PRO TIP
The more trusted the organization you've attained your certificate (or degree) from, the more credible your skill set would be.
The key to your writer job-winning resume - present your expertise with these sections:
- A header to make your resume more scannable
- Snapshot of who you are as a professional with your resume soft skills, achievements, and summary or objective
- Job advert keywords in the skills section of your resume
- Resume experience quantifying your past job successes with metrics
- A relevant education, certification, and technical sills section to provide background to your technological/software capabilities
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Portfolio of written work showcasing versatility across different mediums and genres.
- Strong command of language and grasp of grammar, syntax, and style.
- Documented ability to meet deadlines and manage multiple projects efficiently.
- Experience with content management systems and SEO best practices.
- Proof of successful audience engagement metrics, such as high-readership articles or viral content.
What is the Resume Experience Section and How to Write One for Your Past Roles
The experience section in a writer resume is critical for your profile and overall application. It should not only display your work history, but also highlight your achievements in previous roles.
Many candidates either simply list their duties or provide excessive details about past, irrelevant jobs. A more effective approach involves first examining the job advertisement for keywords - specifically, skills essential for the role. Then, demonstrate these key requirements throughout different parts of your resume, using accomplishments from your roles.
Format each bullet point in your experience section by starting with a strong action verb. Follow this with a description of your role and its impact on the team or organization.
Aim to include three to five bullet points for each role.
Finally, gain insights into how professionals have crafted their writer resume experience sections by exploring some best practice examples.
- Conceptualized and penned over 200 feature articles for an online platform, consistently meeting the monthly quota and enhancing reader engagement by 30%.
- Orchestrated the writing team's efforts in a large-scale rebranding project, ensuring tonal consistency across all content, contributing to a 50% increase in brand recognition.
- Collaborated with SEO specialists to optimize content, achieving top 5 rankings for 70% of targeted keywords and driving a 40% uptick in organic traffic.
- Authored extensive documentation for newly released software products, facilitating a seamless user adoption rate that surpassed initial estimates by 25%.
- Developed and maintained an internal knowledge base used by 200+ employees, significantly reducing onboarding time by an average of 15 days.
- Coordinated with the development team to translate complex technical processes into user-friendly guides that improved customer satisfaction scores by 20%.
- Managed a portfolio of 10+ clients, consistently delivering high-quality content that increased client engagement on social media platforms by an average of 45%.
- Successfully pitched and wrote a quarterly column for a major industry magazine, leading to a 15% rise in subscription rates among targeted demographics.
- Leveraged expertise in copyediting to improve the clarity and impact of client marketing materials, resulting in a client-reported average sales increase of 10% per revised campaign.
- Crafted compelling ad copy for over 50 national campaigns, which were instrumental in driving a consistent year-over-year revenue growth of 15% for our clients.
- Played a pivotal role in a groundbreaking email marketing campaign that achieved an open rate of 25%, well above the industry average of 18%.
- Led a team of junior copywriters in creating content for a major e-commerce platform, doubling the site's conversion rate from 1.5% to 3% in under a year.
- Assisted in the development of episode scripts for a popular television series, contributing to the show's 20% increase in viewership.
- Implemented a detailed script-reading process that heightened narrative cohesion across episodes, positively received in critic reviews and fan feedback.
- Conducted in-depth research on diverse subject matters to enrich the show's content authenticity, heightening audience engagement and fan base growth.
- Curated and produced a weekly blog series that garnered an average of 10k reads per post, significantly boosting the site's visibility and advertiser appeal.
- Strategically enhanced the company's digital content strategy, leading to a 60% increase in user retention and a 25% growth in premium membership enrollments.
- Pioneered a cross-platform content initiative, synergizing blog posts, videos, and social media to create a cohesive brand narrative.
- Authored a bestselling young adult novel series that was translated into six languages, propelling the publishing house's international sales by 35%.
- Engaged with fans through social media to foster a community around the book series, leading to a successful crowdfunding campaign for related merchandise.
- Mentored aspiring writers in workshops and online forums, enhancing the company's community outreach and driving a 100% increase in workshop attendance.
- Ghostwrote a celebrity memoir that made The New York Times Best Seller list, resulting in a surge of high-profile ghostwriting contracts for the agency.
- Maintained strict confidentiality while capturing the authentic voice of diverse client personas, leading to repeat business and long-term collaborations.
- Streamlined the ghostwriting process by implementing structured interviews and research methods, cutting content delivery timelines by 20%.
- Revitalized the content strategy for a major retail website, optimizing for SEO and user experience, which increased monthly visitors to over a million.
- Spearheaded the content team during a critical website redesign, maintaining content production timelines and quality standards throughout the transition.
- Partnered with the marketing team to develop a successful inbound marketing campaign that boosted lead generation by 50%.
- Advised startups on developing persuasive copy for fundraising campaigns, which collectively raised over $20 million in venture capital.
- Designed and executed a custom content strategy for a new app launch, leading to 500,000 downloads within the first three months post-launch.
- Provided expert analysis and revisions to existing marketing materials, increasing customer conversion rates by an average of 18% across ten clients.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Include the number of articles or pieces written to showcase volume of work and consistency.
- Detail the percentage increase in website traffic or engagement due to your content to demonstrate impact on audience growth.
- Mention specific figures related to social shares or comments to highlight your ability to generate conversation and interest.
- Document any awards or recognitions received in numerical terms, like '1st place in a field of 50 competitors' to emphasize prestige and superiority.
- Quantify the size of the audiences for which you have written, such as 'articles reaching an audience of 100,000 monthly readers' to show reach.
- State the number of successful marketing campaigns you've contributed to which can indicate applied skill and relevance.
- Report on any efficiency improvements, like reducing content production time by a certain percentage, to demonstrate productivity gains.
- Measure and specify the direct sales or conversion increases resulting from your writing to illustrate your value in revenue terms.
Action verbs for your writer resume
Lacking relevant writer resume experience?
Learn how to write your writer resume experience in spite of having no real-world (or applicable) experience for the job.
You should:
- Feature relevant projects or publications that could impress recruiters or showcase that you have the basic skill set for the job
- Shift the focus towards your people (communication, organization, etc.) skills to demonstrate that you're a quick learner and can easily adapt to a new environment
- Use the resume objective to not only highlight your accomplishments but also map out how your career plans are perfectly aligned with the company's vision
- Select either the functional-skill-based resume format (that puts the focus on your skills) or the hybrid one (balancing expertise with skills).
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
List all your relevant higher education degrees within your resume in reverse chronological order (starting with the latest). There are cases when your PhD in a particular field could help you stand apart from other candidates.
Key Hard Skills and Soft Skills for Your Writer Resume
At the top of any recruiter writer checklist, you'd discover a list of technical competencies, balanced with personal skills.
Hard or technical skills are your opportunity to show how you meet the essential responsibilities of the role. The ability to use a particular job-crucial technology or software would also hint to recruiters whether you'd need a prolonged period of on-the-job training - or you'd fit right in the job.
But to land your dream role, you'd also need to demonstrate a variety of soft or people resume skills . Employers care about soft skills as they show how each candidate would fit into the team and company culture.
Both types of skills are specific and to best curate them on your resume, you'd need to:
- Create a skill section within which you showcase your hard and soft skills and present how they help you succeed.
- List specific examples of projects, tasks, or competitions, within which your skill set has assisted your results.
- Soft skills are harder to measure, so think about situations in which they've helped you thrive. Describe those situations concisely, focusing on how the outcome has helped you grow as a professional.
- Metrics of success - like positive ROI or optimized workplace processes - are the best way to prove your technical and people skills.
Take a look at some of writer industry leaders' favorite hard skills and soft skills, as listed on their resumes.
Top skills for your writer resume:
Content Management Systems (CMS)
SEO Optimization
Copywriting
Research Tools (e.g., Google Scholar, JSTOR)
Editing Software (e.g., Grammarly, Hemingway)
Word Processing Software (e.g., Microsoft Word, Google Docs)
Social Media Platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
HTML/CSS Basics
Plagiarism Detection Tools
Project Management Tools (e.g., Trello, Asana)
Creativity
Time Management
Critical Thinking
Communication
Adaptability
Attention to Detail
Emotional Intelligence
Collaboration
Problem-Solving
Self-Motivation
PRO TIP
If you happen to have some basic certificates, don't invest too much of your writer resume real estate in them. Instead, list them within the skills section or as part of your relevant experience. This way you'd ensure you meet all job requirements while dedicating your certificates to only the most in-demand certification across the industry.
How to Include Your Education and Certifications on Your Resume
We're taking you back to your college days with this part of our guide, but including your relevant higher education is quite important for your resume.
Your degree shows recruiters your dedication to the industry, your recent and relevant know-how, and some form of experience in the field.
Your writer resume education should:
- Include your applicable degrees, college (-s) you've graduated from, as well as start and end dates of your higher education;
- Skip your high school diploma. If you still haven't graduated with your degree, list that your higher education isongoing;
- Feature any postgraduate diplomas in your resume header or summary - this is the perfect space to spotlight your relevant MBA degree;
- Showcase any relevant coursework, if you happen to have less professional experience and think this would support your case in being the best candidate for the role.
As far as your job-specific certificates are concerned - choose up to several of the most recent ones that match the job profile, and include them in a dedicated section.
We've saved you some time by selecting the most prominent industry certificates below.
The top 5 certifications for your writer resume:
- Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) - Society for Technical Communication
- Certified Grant writer (CGW) - American Grant writers' Association
- Certificate in Professional Writing (CPW) - Various institutions, such as University of Chicago Graham School
- Copyediting Certificate - University of California San Diego Extension
- Creative Writing Certificate - Stanford University Continuing Studies
PRO TIP
List all your relevant higher education degrees within your resume in reverse chronological order (starting with the latest). There are cases when your PhD in a particular field could help you stand apart from other candidates.
Recommended reads:
Adding a Summary Or Objective to Your Writer Resume
One of the most crucial elements of your professional presentation is your resume's top one-third. This most often includes:
- Either a resume summary - your career highlights at a glance. Select the summary if you have plenty of relevant experience (and achievements), you'd like recruiters to remember about your application.
- Or, a resume objective - to showcase your determination for growth. The perfect choice for candidates with less experience, who are looking to grow their career in the field.
If you want to go above and beyond with your writer resume summary or resume objective, make sure to answer precisely why recruiters need to hire you. What is the additional value you'd provide to the company or organization? Now here are examples from real-life writer professionals, whose resumes have helped them land their dream jobs:
Resume summaries for a writer job
- Seasoned writer with over 10 years of experience crafting compelling content for major online platforms. Expert in SEO strategies with a proven record of increasing web traffic by 70%. Award-winning author with a passion for storytelling and a commitment to engaging a diverse readership across various genres.
- Accomplished journalist with 8 years at a leading national newspaper, specialized in investigative reporting and in-depth political analysis. Recipient of the National Press Club Award for a series on campaign finance reform. Skilled in research and conveying complex information clearly and accurately.
- Dynamic marketing professional transitioning to a writing career, bringing a unique perspective from 5 years of developing successful brand strategies. Holds a Master’s degree in English Literature and has a passion for creating narratives that resonate with a broad audience while driving brand engagement.
- Talented graphic designer with a focus on digital media seeking to pivot to content writing. With 6 years creating visually engaging campaigns, merging a keen eye for design with a love for the written word to produce stories that are both informative and aesthetically pleasing. Completed a professional writing course to enhance writing prowess.
- Seeking to leverage a strong foundation in blogging and social media management to start a career in professional writing. Versed in creating viral content that has reached over 500,000 views, aiming to apply storytelling abilities and social media expertise to produce impactful written materials.
- Recent university graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Communications, eager to delve into the world of professional writing. Demonstrated excellence in academic research and editorial writing, aspiring to combine theoretical knowledge and creative flair to craft engaging narratives for a wide audience.
Taking Your Writer Resume to the Next Level with These Four Additional Resume Sections
Your writer resume can feature a variety of skills (both hard and soft) in diverse sections. Choose those that align best with the job requirements and reflect your suitability for the company culture.
Consider these four additional resume sections recommended by our experts:
- Languages - State any languages you are proficient in and your level of proficiency. This demonstrates your commitment to communication and potential for international growth.
- Projects - Highlight up to three significant projects you've completed outside of work, showcasing skill development. Include a link to your project portfolio in the writer resume header, if applicable.
- My Time - How you allocate your time outside work can indicate your organizational skills and cultural fit within the company.
- Volunteering - Detail causes you're passionate about, roles you've held, and achievements in volunteering. Such experiences likely have honed a range of soft skills crucial for your dream job.
Key Takeaways
- Pay special attention to the tiny details that make up your writer resume formatting: the more tailored your application to the role is, the better your chances at success would be;
- Select the sections you include (summary or objective, etc.) and formatting (reverse-chronological, hybrid, etc.) based on your experience level;
- Select experience items and, consequently, achievements that showcase you in the best light and are relevant to the job;
- Your profile will be assessed both based on your technical capabilities and personality skills - curate those through your resume;
- Certifications and education showcase your dedication to the particular industry.
Writer resume examples
Explore additional writer resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.
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