Rreelance writing and resumes.

June 22, 2004 2:45 PM

Inside, there's a lengthy question about freelance writing and resumes.

I've worked at a string of office-type day jobs for several years while doing freelance writing on the side. An editorial spot too good to pass up has just opened up in my town, and I'm hoping to sliiiide right into it. They want to see a resume, though, and I'm not sure how to approach that… my existing resume is completely centered on the string of office jobs I'm trying to escape, relating a string of museum administrative jobs with no reference to writing. But my cover letter and writing samples make it clear that I have writing experience. Should I send in the resume in its current state, seeing as that's my honest-to-god work history, and count on the letter and samples to establish my word cred? Or should I gin up a new resume that doesn't emphasize all of the museum admin, but instead lists my writing credits? And if I do that, what's the etiquette for listing freelance gigs on a resume, since you're never actually an employee?

posted by COBRA! to work & money (5 comments total)

This thread is near the same territory, by the way, but not quite the same.
posted by COBRA! at 2:54 PM on June 22, 2004

As an assigning editor, I can tell you that your clips will sell you. Redo your resume with the freelance writing info at the top and use the space to list your clips, the publications you've worked for, any special projects/ways you've gone above and beyond the call of duty for said assignments. (Turning in a story two hours after an event, for example.)

I'd call that section something like Writing Experience, and then maybe put a heading on your "real" jobs that says something like "Additional Experience" or some such. With the clips and a cover letter that explains the deal to me, that'd be all I'd need.

I don't think there's any etiquette to listing the freelance work. It's real work, even if you're not a full-time employee. In fact, it shows me that you were interested and ambitious enough to pursue writing even while working fulltime at something else.

Hope that helps.
posted by GaelFC at 3:24 PM on June 22, 2004

Ah, now I realize you live in Minneapolis, my former hometown! I think I know what job you are talking about -- a friend of mine is also applying. Good luck to both of you!
posted by GaelFC at 3:37 PM on June 22, 2004

Clips do make it. Take the most reputation-enhancing writing gigs and put them on top of a list of writing you've done, preferably for pay and hopefully in print or a well-established web site. I've done a lot of freelance writing of two different kinds: educational/encyclopedia and more standard magazine/newspaper. My resume is in its current form because I was looking for library work, but you can see how I outlined the two sections. Most people realize that if you've been doing freelance, you've had to probably have another job to make ends meet. Keeping the "additional experience" section is good because it tells a story of being able to stay employed, work with other people, and get in to work on time, more or less. Make sure your cover letter states why you are different from all the other freelancers out there and make sure it's got impeccable spelling and grammar because it's a clip in a sense as well.
posted by jessamyn at 4:05 PM on June 22, 2004

Thanks a ton, GaelFC and Jessamyn. Everything's revamped, updated, and on its way (and aside from adding a writing section to the resume, this was a good chance to reevaluate whether people care at all what my undergrad GPA was or what sort of fancy awards I got in high school).

And now the wait begins.
posted by COBRA! at 7:22 AM on June 23, 2004