Do You Find It A Struggle To Secure Writing Jobs In Your Speciality Areas?

By Dan Smith

Each writer has their own speciality topics. Some writers state this blatantly and obviously on their website, blog, business cards and e-mail signature, while others don’t explain their specialities, often stating that they’re a general writer.

However, whichever type of writer you are, you will have topics and subjects that you prefer to write about.

For many, specialities have come from past careers. For instance, there are many financial writers out there who spent years working as corporate accountants, did a few one-off pieces of writing and eventually found themselves writing regular columns for finance magazines.

There are plenty of other writers, however — me included — who essentially fell into freelance writing and didn’t come from a specific career or writing background, yet who still have speciality topics.

In some respects, I’ve found this to be somewhat of a hindrance — as I don’t have any formal qualifications relating to the topics I specialise in or don’t have years of experience working within a specific sector, I’ve occasionally found it a bit of an uphill battle when pitching for certain writing jobs.

I’m not particularly surprised by this, as it’s something I’ve seen outside of the freelance writing industry and on many occasions I’ve seen people blatantly rejected for jobs because they don’t have the necessary, formal qualifications, even though they have years of experience in the industry.

One of the most pleasant feelings I get as a freelance writer is when I convince a client to choose me for the job, even though I don’t fit the bill in terms of education and qualifications and I deliver over and above what was expected.

Maybe it’s just a personal aspect, but it’s that feeling of proving that you can do the job, when others aren’t too sure, even though you have years of experience.

For me, this is often around small business development and search engine optimization. OK, there aren’t any formal qualifications in SEO, but I’ve never worked in a dedicated SEO role or for a well-known SEO agency. However, I spent several years researching SEO so that I could implement certain techniques for my own benefit and I still keep on top of the latest practices today, so I feel that I can comfortably hold my own with SEO discussions at all levels.

It’s the same with small business development. I didn’t go to university to study business economics or any similar subject, but after years of working with small businesses, I’ve built up enough knowledge to be able to consult on numerous best practices related to small business development.

As a freelance writer, what are your speciality topics? Do you find that you occasionally have trouble getting related writing jobs because you don’t have the relevant qualifications or do you find any troubles you have come from you not having a sufficient amount of writing experience, irrelevant of your qualifications?

Image: stumayhew (Flickr)