A pigeon is bred to race. It soars higher and faster from A to B to deliver its message. But what if the message has to go to several places? How does the pigeon know who to deliver its message to first? Should it fly from A to B or cut across to C and back again? It’s tiring being a pigeon. When you pigeonhole a copywriter, somewhere a bird dies. 

Don’t apply unless you have relevant copywriting experience

(No, twenty years in agencies and freelancing doesn’t count)

“Do you have alcohol experience? Yes, I do. Great, we can put you forward. Also, are you a UX copywriter? Well, yes. Can you prove it? Yes, I can. But wait – is the experience in the last year? Yes, it is. Do you also have retail experience? I do, but I think it was a while ago. Debenhams and Next to name a few. Wait, do we want to talk about Debenhams when things are all too, you know, going bust? Ah, ok, well, maybe don’t mention them then. 

I’ve worked on Vodafone, Argos, Sainsbury’s, Carphone Warehouse – any of them any good? Oh, you need jewellery experience. I’ve proofread for De Beers and Patak Phillippe watches. Too high end? You need something more ‘mid-high street’. Well, how about Debenhams as a copywriting example? Oh yes, no, not Debenhams. John Lewis! Now why didn’t I mention them?! But I didn’t write about watches or earrings.

No, I didn’t work on their social media copywriting because they don’t outsource that to agencies. Is that a problem? I have got social media experience in my portfolio. No, not jewellery copywriting. Ok, well, I’ll wait to hear then.”