Why Is It So Hard to Break Into Copywriting Right Now?
Ah, copywriting. The perfect side gig or full-time venture that allows you to work on your own schedule and from anywhere wifi. There are billions of businesses in the US alone and they all need copy. So why is it so freaking hard to break into copywriting right now?
Several factors go into your bid to become a full-time paid writer. For this video, let’s assume you already have your portfolio and a smashing resume. We’re going to focus on the job market itself. In the career services branch of my business, I pour over job descriptions and company career pages to make sure the assets I’m building reflect what’s actually needed and in demand in real time.
But I’ve been noticing some disturbing trends lately and I think they are contributing to a highly competitive, difficult job-searching environment. I want to share 5 disturbing trends and unfortunate circumstances I have been seeing so you can avoid common job-seeker pitfalls. Then I will share my top 5 helpful tips that will get you ahead of the competition and in the interview seat…finally.
Disturbing Trends & Unfortunate Circumstances
Ghost Jobs
Ghost jobs are posted jobs that do not represent a real open position. They aren’t really there…that’s why they are called ghosts. Companies post ghost jobs for a variety of reasons, all of which are internally beneficial. Ghost jobs never benefit the job seeker and could even make you miss career opportunities because you spend time applying to a job that isn’t even available instead of applying to companies with actual openings.
How can you spot a ghost job?
I’m so glad you asked. There are a few tells that help you identify ghost jobs.
The job posting is old (20-30 days or more)
The job description is vague.
When you cross-check the role on the company careers page, it doesn’t exist
Save yourself time and headache and skip those postings.
Illegal Jobs
Sadly, companies sometimes post jobs that shouldn’t be on job boards at all. This takes advantage of early-career job seekers because they don’t understand what is and is not legal in the workplace yet. Let’s be honest, most professionals regardless of experience don’t know this stuff either.
When you’re uniformed, you can be taken advantage of. I came across this actual job posting in mid-November advertising a Volunteer internship that would be responsible for weekly deliverables and meeting fundraising targets. This job had 292 applicants.
This is an example of an illegal job. According to the Fair Labour Standards Act, an intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. If a person is producing assets or performing work that is used to run a business, it must be paid. But lots of companies get away with workers don’t understand their rights.
It’s uncool and illegal. Watch out for those.
Delusional Expectations
These are the legal jobs but still BS jobs that I see on job boards that my clients have to contend with. Can you imagine being a new writer, filtering your job search by “Entry-Level” and seeing this pop up?
This entry-level job is asking for 8 years of tech industry business-to-business experience. That’s mid-career, not entry-level. I’m not even addressing all of the typos in this posting. It’s all very suspicious. What is happening?
When the job descriptions aren’t asking for 8 years of experience or a master’s degree for an entry-level position, there are other pie-in-the-sky asks. If you read a job description and the list of responsibilities just never ends and/or it could be broken into 2 or 3 different roles, that might be because that’s exactly what it is. Many team members and departments are stretched thin. When a new opening is greenlit, it is an opportunity for another person to absorb some of that burden. New job descriptions can be written however the company sees fit and they might be trying to fit 2 or 3 roles into one in the wake of massive workforce reductions.
That leads us to the next reason it is so hard to break into copywriting right now:
Layoffs
According to TechCrunch, there have been over 240,000 layoffs in the tech sector alone as of mid-November. Layoffs have hit the US and other countries hard in 2023. Fewer available jobs means stiff competition. It’s the perfect recipe for long waits for interviews, even if you’re applying to several jobs a week.
Resume Worded is saying that there are about 114 applicants per open role right now, but check out what I found just last week on LinkedIn.
I searched “Content Writer” on the Jobs tabs. These jobs were on the first 2 pages.
144 applicants within 2 weeks.
292 applicants, 2 weeks
647 applicants, 3 weeks
823 applicants, 1 week
1,138 applicants, 2 weeks
1,552, applicants in 3 weeks.
3,726 applicants, 1 week
With competition like that, it’s easy to become discouraged. But don’t give up just yet because I have some tips and insights that will help you navigate this coming up in just a minute.
Unexplored Territory
We are currently in unexplored territory as a discipline. The emergence of AI has shaken up the Creative industry. There is a completely new landscape being terraformed right now. Companies and brands are literally writing the handbooks on AI and how it’s going to be used in their work, teams, and daily operations.
They might be hoping to replace some jobs with new efficiencies but so much is up in the air right now. Even top leadership and experts are still figuring out how AI is going to fit into their plans, so this could mean they are tightening spending and navigating this within their existing teams before they open up new roles.
That could also mean that brands will be introducing new AI-focused creative roles in 2024. Something like an AI prompt engineer and copywriter, fused into one role. That’s my prediction: we are going to see a need for AI-savvy content and copywriters this year. Stay tuned and keep your eye out for that coming soon to a job board near you.
That feels like a perfect segue into some helpful tips and insights to help you navigate the current job market.
Tips for Breaking Into Copywriting
1. Skip the Easy-Apply / One-Click Applies.
Remember those huge applicant numbers you saw just a few minutes ago? I’m making an educated guess that 90-95% of them were One-Click Apply applications. The problem with that is that it doesn’t give the applicant a chance to customize a resume or write a cover letter pitching their case for an interview. This gives someone like you the upper hand because you can bypass the One-Click Apply and head straight to their career pages on the website. This lets you upload your customized resume and a tailored cover letter, giving you a leg up on the competition.
2. Perfect Resume vs. Speed
Should you spend time perfecting your resume and making it ATS-compliant or just get your resume sent ASAP? There seem to be two camps when it comes to ATS philosophy. One lays out several best practices and rules to follow if you want your resume to have a fighting chance. The other says that format and style have little to no bearing on your chances—and that relevant experiences and speed are your ticket to an interview.
While I am a huge fan of the idea that we don’t need to be too fussy about format and style, I also think it’s smart to ensure your resume is clear and legible, giving you the best possible chance to be ‘picked up’ by a recruiter. My advice is to have a great base resume with clearly labeled sections, all information in written format, and loaded with robust experience bullet points containing your responsibilities and results. This way, you can “Make a Copy,” preserving your original, and customizing each resume for each specific application quickly and efficiently…
Because one of the biggest contributors to you landing an interview, besides your aligned experiences, is timing.
Interview invitations are extended on a kind of “first-come-first-serve” basis, prioritized by how well you match the job expectations. Once they have enough candidates that fit the job description, they don’t really need to look further.
So, apply early and quick. And make sure you have the relevant keywords loaded in your resume.
3. FlexJobs, Not Open Job Boards
I love FlexJobs for remote and hybrid work opportunities. It is a paid platform, but it is fairly affordable and the staff hand sorts all of the jobs, writes job descriptions, and surfaces key information for the job seekers. Instead of rolling the dice on ungated job boards that allow anyone to post jobs, you will see only real, vetted jobs. I have used FlexJobs myself and I have had good experience doing that.
4. Close Your Skills Gap
It’s a daunting road, the job search, especially if you are making a career transition. I had a client ask me recently, “Would you tell me if you feel like a career transition is unrealistic?”
It definitely made me pause to think…I have never encountered a situation where I felt like the career transition was unrealistic. Brian May, the guitarist for Queen, became an astrophysicist, earning his Ph.D. in 2007 and helped NASA land on an asteroid. No background or personal history needs to dictate your future. What I think he may have been worried about was if he had enough skills and experience to make the leap. And it’s a fair concern.
Here’s the thing: career transitioners inherently have some level of skills gap. You have an untraditional background compared to the typical candidate. But your non-traditional background also means you bring diversity to your new role, a value with immeasurable benefits. It’s up to you to figure out that value so you can leverage your difference as an advantage.
Short term solution for resumes, interviews, and other career assets:
In this situation, you need to identify your transferrable skills and build a case for how that transferrable skill applies directly to your target role.
Here is the formula for writing these in your resume:
[Powerful verb] [transferrable skill or core competency], demonstrating [a desired outcome relevant to your target role].
This is how a retail manager transitioning into writing could write this, for example:
Writes project briefs for floor set team with specialists such as client success staff, merchandising leads, and sales associates, demonstrating attention to detail and communication skills in cross-functional environments.
Setting yourself up for success in the long term:
While you’re on the hunt for that perfect role, be sure that you are taking actionable steps that close any skill gaps that could be preventing the transition. For me, what that looked like was me applying to writing jobs while I continued to hone my writing skills and build my portfolio. It pattern went: work, write, apply, repeat. Eventually, that gap in my experience closed and I became a paid writer.
Admittedly, my journey took 9 years. But it didn’t have to. I could have launched my new career so much earlier, but I kept holding off for something fancy and, in my view, “portfolio-worthy.” If I only had found some kind of roadmap that helped me assess my skill level and identify what I still needed to work on, it would have shifted my perspective on my value, abilities, and level of confidence. I could have become a writer years earlier.
Trust me, I tried to find such a resource. I scoured every corner of Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube to find something specifically designed for industry outsiders transitioning into professional copywriting roles. But it didn’t exist. That’s why I created the Roadmap to Writer in hopes that your transition is short, sure-footed, and relatively painless. You need something specific that illuminates every milestone and checkpoint from now to hired without the fluff or irrelevant details.
What’s Inside Roadmap to Writer:
Starts with a career goal-setting step so you have a dialed-in destination (making all your following actions effective)
Helps you assess where you land on the skills required for that role (helping you identify any holes in your skill set)
Develop a customized Upskill Plan so you can take real steps toward becoming that professional
Followed by milestones like: Revamping your Resume, Landing Interviews, and Achieving your dream job
5. Download Roadmap to Writer
Roadmap to Writer is the field guide for early-stage writers and career transitioners looking to break into copywriting. It breaks down the steps to becoming a skilled, full-time writer into milestones and guides you through each one so you can plan, map, and achieve your career goals.
It’s completely free. Download it and start on a well-paved road.
