The Style Files
My thoughts on design, writing and entrepreneurship.
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Photo credit: www.pexels.com Just don't. Here's the thing: the job hunt is enough to make me cringe on the regular. It's not that looking for work is a foreign concept or especially thrilling under normal circumstances. In the world of marketing, there's a lot more to wince at than normal. You'd think that crowd would be particularly sensitive since they're in the BUSINESS of making a good impression, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Writing is therapeutic so I thought I'd air my grievances once and for all. Below are some particularly annoying pet peeves of mine rampant on job boards everywhere. Here's to hoping corporations, employers and strategists take the hint or hit me up for questions. 1. Crafting Compelling Content This phrase crops up ALL the time on job boards and in the writing world in general. I hate it with a vengeance. If you're actually a content writer or copywriter or even vaguely aware of what advertising is all about, you'd know how counterintuitive it is to have poor, boring word choice. Yes, I know that alliteration is a tool of the trade particularly in ad copy and there's no getting away from the fact that content starts with c. Deferring to the same exact combinations is still inexcusable. While not as common, 'clear and concise content' is almost as obnoxious. Could you not? Yes, it may be accurate and no, it's not the worst literary offense ever but we've still all heard it one too many times. Use the writing skills you claim to have in spades and come up with a fresh alternative. 2. Double Hyphen Yet another thorn in my side, the double hyphen is barely acceptable in common use. People who don't live and breathe reading, writing and mass communication can be begrudgingly forgiven though the rest of you ought to know better. It's time for all of you marketing people to get your grammar straight anyway so do yourself a favor and start with this. For crying out loud, it's your JOB! More on that later. 3. Excessively Long Posts My guess is most people applying to copywriting and content writing jobs don't read every word carefully. I'm not sure how much that varies by profession but when you're paid per word, time is of the essence. Why companies decide to post novellas of job descriptions is beyond me. Roles of particular responsibility or technical expertise are certainly given some leeway, but many of these are ordinary openings. Most copywriters or content writers know the tricks of the trade from prior experience and/or a solid foundation in writing, so please don't waste our time with a lot of extraneous text. Btw, your lack of SEO know-how is showing. 4. The Use of Wordsmith I'm incredibly grateful that this one doesn't rear its ugly head often. Maybe it's because the rest of us have come across it enough times to avoid it in our own writing but the why hardly matters. To all the stuffed suits writing these dopey descriptions, hear me loud and clear: make mention of this word again and I'm giving it a hard pass. I didn't study language for years to scrape the bottom of the barrel and am not about to accept your sloppy seconds. 5. Skills Tests Like I said before, good content writing, copywriting or other writing meant for public consumption is mainly a matter of practice and ability. If an applicant spent years honing their craft, please don't inundate them with a barrage of prefabricated tests. A writing sample is evidence enough of our skill and style so leave the exams on campus. 6. Remote* Work Is it remote or is it not? As someone shopping remote jobs alone, I'm not into this borderline business. Either offer remote work with no strings attached or remove the qualifier because there's an enormous difference between being temporarily remote and forever apart. Words matter so choose yours wisely. 7. Sucky Grammar Galore Technically speaking, this already came up once before in the double hyphen item. I've said it before and I'll say it again: many, many people in marketing have terrible writing skills. I stand by it, too! In fact, the lack of basic aptitude leaves me speechless on a regular basis. I'm talking mismatched capitalization, obvious spelling mistakes, absent punctuation and everything in between. To their limited credit, people who study marketing, advertising, HR or similar fields also learn things I didn't and don't intend to. They're versed in all kinds of website tracking techniques and analysis of our digital existence. I still firmly believe that communication in written form depends most centrally on the ability to write and write well. Things like skipped proofreading, glaring typos or other writing blunders can cost your business big time. Here's a perfect example of an embarrassing mistake I came across earlier today. Check out the string of random words towards the bottom of the first paragraph: www.ilumaagency.com/about/franchise-digital-marketing-blog/ See it? Do you? Let me point it out. "What Information Should You IncludeConsider your sales strategy." Yes, someone wrote that outside of their diary. It's a real thing that exists somewhere along the space time continuum. Whether intentional or not, this miscellaneous word train was published on a prominent website that represents brands many Americans cannot afford. Someone's livable salary is being paid while many other employees lost their fast food wages only to be evicted during a pandemic. Do you understand my frustration? Because if you can read and especially if you get paid to write, you should. In brief, I'd like to remind you that if you write for a living, LEARN TO WRITE. You wouldn't expect a pilot to stare questionably out the window or a cleaner to hold a mop upside down. All of the other writers out there making my newfound profession look bad have none of my sympathy. Go read like the rest of us. Be inspired by authors, genres, prose and etymology. Brush up on grammar and syntax and idioms and synonyms as often as the next guy. I'm not here to hold space for mediocrity. Final Thoughts What began as a tirade against job boards has since digressed into me turning against the marketing community as a whole. Oh, well. Aren't they all the same? This whole camp of people trying as little as they possibly can needs to change their ways. Here's to less cringey job board posts, more attentive content and setting a higher bar overall. Let's rise to the occasion.
0 Comments
|
AuthorHi, my name is Martha Oschwald and I'm a content writer focused on design. This page is meant to give you a taste of my writing style and latest musings. Archives
April 2022
Categories |