Answering A Job Posting.

I have read many articles and blog posts dealing with this subject, but now that I am offering small jobs here and there, I am surprised at the lack of...well...something that writers who are responding to these ads have when writing their emails.

I tried to be clear in my ad, say exactly what I was offering and for how much. I'm still getting people asking me how much I am paying and what the job is for. Or even emails that have no welcoming speech in them.

I am not the queen of all writing knowledge, but I just have to say something here. If you are going to answer an ad, don't ever, ever forget to address the person who placed the ad. If you do not know if they are an Editor or not, still assume that they are. I would prefer to see 'Dear Editor:' over nothing at all. Even if I am a webmaster, it is still nicer than 'Hey I am replying to your ad'

If you are writing me, I know you are replying to my ad. Easy enough, huh?

It's all about manners and careful reading of the ad. Give me a catchy subject line or just make sure to put the position title in the subject line. No subjects and snarky ones are likely to get deleted. No subjects might get a look, though, because all of us have made that mistake before.

If you are sending multiple emails, state 'resend' in the subject and WHY in the very first sentence. The first sentence shows up in most emails, giving the editor a chance to scan their email and see what catches their attention. That also means, make your first line in a cover letter SNAPPY. Get that editor to open your email!

Always, always send a nice cover letter. Your email is selling yourself and no matter what someone else tells you, the email answering a job post IS a cover letter. Whether you paste in your resume is another question. I only do it if the job calls for one or is tasty enough to make me really, really want to give that extra OOMPH.

So, give it your best when you send an email answering a job ad. It might well land you that job everyone else wants.

Tip Site!

Hey, I thought I'd post this because so many of us need tips when we're looking for jobs. You can apply the tips to your writing career or to the job you're holding until your writing takes off.

I see over and over on writing forums people asking questions about how to write a resume or a curriculum vitae. I was one of those people and my resume looked really pathetic. This site CV Tips has a wealth of information for someone who wants to write a great, job winning CV. Along with CV Tips and info, I checked out the Resume Sample page and the Cover Letter page. I hate admitting it, but I didn't know how to write a cover letter. Felt like an idiot because I passed up jobs that asked for one. Never wrote one and now I am working on my first! My first CV, too, to give it the 'proper' term. It makes me feel more professional.

Not only that, you can find information and tips for Job Promotions, Job Interviews, and Resigning. Here's a link to the Job Search Organizer, a page you can find a lot of links to the info on this site.

And no, this isn't a PPP post. I really like this site, just wanted to share with everyone. If you haven't found CV Tips in your search for writing info, go give'em a look, I bet you'll be glad you did. Let me know if you find anything that helped you!

I Signed Up For PPP!

And what is PPP? PPP is Pay Per Post. I'm so hyped up because this blog was approved for Pay Per Post, so you'll be seeing reviews on things occasionally.

You can sign up and make money, too. It's easy and since you're already writing a blog, why not make some extra cash off of it? We all use a little something here or there in hopes we will make a little extra cash from our blogs and writing. With Pay Per Post, you get to choose what shows up on your blog. You pick from a list of opportunities, then go with it!

You probably noticed the badge on the sidebar, that's where people can make me an offer to review their site or product. It's cool because even if your blog isn't approved for the PPP Marketplace, you can STILL use PPP Direct! (that's the badge, ppp direct)

I found out about PPP through the Paid Opportunities Blog. I signed up because, well, I need extra money. I thought that by trying this out I could get better at doing reviews and get paid. Now that I've been approved, I'm going to be using the cash to pay off some bills and maybe do some eBaying for things I need. I really love this so far and I'll keep you up to date on how it's working for me.

Go try it out for yourself!blog

Rejection

Heard from an editor concerning a short horror piece. My experimental format threw them off and got the story canned.

Blah.

Though he liked the story, just not the format, which is encouraging and asked me to submit again. I may just rewrite it or churn out something new. I'm out of a job for the Virtual Assistant gig. Their site and emails kept going down, so I'd get five at one time and several days late. So, I need some income.

Been checking out the job blogs, so if I see anything promising, I'll post it. If I don't get the gig, maybe someone who needs it will! And if you know of some, let me know, I need it!

Another Writing JobSite

If you are familiar with copywriting or ghost writing, then you can register on this site, RentAGhostwriter. Employers check out the site and you are likely to pick up a gig!

Another site where you can find freelancing work is located here, Online Summer Jobs. I've linked directly to the freelance section.

The cool thing about Online Summer Jobs is that they scour the net and condense all the jobs onto one site. Pretty cool because it eliminates jumping from page to page.

Don't forget to come back and comment if you find a good job, I want to know. I'll make a post about it!