A Day in the life of a Content Writer

We chatted to Veena, 22, who walked us through her journey from being a recent graduate to working in digital marketing as a content writer.

What did you study and how has it helped you in your current role?

I completed a BA in English at the University of Exeter from 2015-18. The course was predominantly literature-based, but I did undertake two creative writing and one language-based module – which was great preparation for my current role which requires a lot of creativity and precise grammatical knowledge.

My role is that of a digital marketing assistant which means I work as a content writer, across SEO and run social media accounts for client and company marketing.

As a content writer, I create around 11-14 pieces of content per month which covers two client accounts and the company blog. For SEO, I fill in Google analytics and keyword rankings reports as well as copy-write landing pages for clients. I am also responsible for running social media accounts which includes 1-2 posts per day across Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Each specific aspect of my job requires a different skill but I love the flexibility I have in this role to work across all aspects of digital marketing.

Studying English helped to greatly refine my academic writing — a very useful skill as I ghost-write for various clients often for niche topics under a knowledgable and professional voice. For instance, I’ve written about .NET development, private equity and legal mergers (which, before I did my research, my only knowledge on the subject consisted of a few seasons of Suits).

I feel studying English really prepared me for my role in digital marketing which naturally consists of a lot of researching, writing under a time-crunch, organisation, creativity and analysis.

How did you land your first job?

While the most prepared students had internships, job offers and grad schemes lined up months before July, after I graduated, I took off to travel North and South America instead. By the time I returned, it was the middle of November 2018 and all my friends from university were securely in jobs or already undertaking a master’s which meant I needed to catch up and fast.

Though at the time, I felt pressure to enter the working world because everyone around me had, I realise now that there was no actual pressure (except from myself) and that it’s perfectly fine to delay starting work for whatever reason — it doesn’t make you lesser.

I started job-hunting online for creative and writing-based roles but found little luck as for every ten applications I sent out, I got two rejection e-mails back. With only a degree and a personal writing blog to my name, I started to feel hopeless — until I came across a particularly interesting vacancy for a content marketing role on Inspiring Interns.

I sent in an application and within one day, I got an e-mail and call from one of the team saying they were impressed with my CV and wanted to invite me into the office to create a video-CV. Very excited, I accepted and made the journey in to complete the vide-CV which after, I saw a substantial increase in the number of jobs that became available to me.

I became quite picky with the interviews I selected, so picky that I didn’t accept any until Claire, one of the amazing recruiters at Inspiring Interns, contacted me.

“What do you want in your dream role?” she asked me when I picked up the phone.

“I want to be creative and I want to write,” I said.

“I think I have the dream role for you,” she said back and this role became the first I accepted to interview for.

Claire prepped me extremely well and was incredibly supportive. After my second interview at the company, I got an offer two days later and began working a week and a half later.

It was such a quick turnaround from feeling hopelessly lost to being employed at an amazing company in the exact role I wanted after my first ever interview.

Do you have any advice for recent graduates looking to get their first job?

Yes — DON’T WORRY! You have a plethora of opportunities and time, even if everything seems the opposite right now. Take this time in your life to really consider what you’d enjoy doing and be picky with what you apply to.

Your time is your most valuable asset and if you plan on working a full-time job, then the most important thing – beyond salary, beyond benefits, beyond paid time off, is enjoying exactly what you’ll be doing every day and making sure it aligns with your goals for the future.

Remember, it’s 2019, the golden age for job-hunting in a highly-candidate driven market, so there will always be opportunities at every horizon. Believe in your capabilities and never feel pressured to take up a job you know you won’t enjoy — your career is extremely important to your well-being and should be something you look forward to every day. Don’t settle until it is.

Happy job-hunting!