Recently, I’ve been helping a few job-seeking friends out by teaching them what I know about freelancing, getting started, cover letters, where to look for jobs, and tactics to make them appear professional to prospective employers (as opposed to clueless, which is often the norm at the very beginning).
I am particularly happy to help them because nobody was there to guide me when I first started, and I would like to spare others the limitations and frustration I experienced. Naturally, I would have been able to progress faster had I had a mentor or friend in the industry.
I first started applying to magazines for entry-level freelance work when I was 19. My mother, a change management consultant, helped me draft a résumé and simple cover letters, but I did not know anyone who was already writing or who even wanted to and would join me in my adventure.
For example, at first, I only applied to magazines that explicitly sought contributors. It had not even crossed my mind to apply to publications that weren’t explicitly seeking writers because I thought I wouldn’t have a chance, that they wouldn’t be interested in adding to their repertoire of writers and editors.
Then, after I transferred to New College of Florida in Sarasota and gained more writing and editing experience from working for local magazines and college newspapers, I became interested in feminist jurisprudence and animal law. The college’s savvy and sweet career counselor, Cathy, patiently answered all of my questions, taught me how to write efficient résumés and CVs, and hugged me after each consult. It worked.
But because I had been seeking employment in a completely different field, my knowledge became largely irrelevant when I decided to switch industries and delve deeper into freelance writing, editing, and translating.
Because I didn’t have a go-to buddy who shared my specific professional interests back then, I spent countless hours researching and compiling information on how to go about becoming a successful freelancer—not to mention where I could even find a decent source of job postings that applied to me.
What I would like to know is how other freelancers started out: how you learned the ropes (ack, cliché!); if you were mentored, and if so by whom and how; and what you’d advise and warn newbies about. Please feel free to share.
