Dammit, Jim, I’m a Writer, Not a Welder!

Why Professional Writers Don’t Need Specialized Experience

WANTED: Accomplished career ballet dancer with at least two years of experience in the professional nut-cracking industry. An employment history with Planters is preferred.

This is what most online advertisements for freelance writing opportunities look like to me. The client would like not only a professional writer with the skill and creativity to bring their product or service to life in a way that they and their coworkers are unable to achieve, but they would also like that writer to have already spent years working in that industry.

On the surface, it’s an understandable notion. Of course the ideal candidate would already be an accomplished professional in both fields. The perfect actor to play a superhero would also already possess and have spent life living with super powers. Instead, we just have to find someone who looks and sounds like they might.

The problem is when the potential client believes the ideal to be a necessity.

Most professional crane operators aren’t also professional writers, nor vice versa. And when that hypothetical superstar responds to this to prove me wrong, I’ll ask them if they’re willing to write a 2,000-word trade magazine article for $35…