Career options if you are good at writing
Growing up, were you that one kid who had an affinity for words? Perhaps the first time you put pen to paper or finger to keyboard, you realised that this was your calling.
Writing is a skill you can put to good use. Irrespective of whether you are writing in English or Bangla, your skills have value, and you can use them to generate some income if you so choose.
This article is for anyone who wants to make writing their profession. So, with that in mind, here are four career opportunities that you can go for if you're good at writing.
Copywriter
I am sure you've seen thousands of job posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram looking for copywriters. Copywriters are always in demand, and copywriting is a great way to start your writing career at an entry level.
The main task involves writing interesting and persuasive text for marketing products, websites, social media pages, etc. If you have ever come across a product description that made you want to impulse buy a product, a copywriter is doing their job right.
If you're looking to get into copywriting, consider reading up on the topic or doing a few online courses before you dive into it. Also, go through social media pages of brands whose content appeals to you. You can take inspiration from their posts, or get an idea about what type of content gets more engagement.
Content Writing
Writing content is a whole other ballgame. Not in the sense that it is difficult, but because it requires a very different set of skills.
While copywriting requires you to be concise and measured, content writing lets you break the walls down and explore writing in a longer format.
With a longer format, comes the challenge of keeping your readers hooked from start to finish. That is a hard skill to learn. Add to that the fact that you never know what you will have to write about. It can be a boring commercial piece or a feature on something you are passionate about. The topics will vary greatly, and you will seldom have the option to choose what you want to write about.
Social Media Manager
Companies need someone to handle their social media accounts, and a good writer is necessary for that.
You will primarily be writing content for social media, whether in bite-sized format or slightly longer content format. The content in question is somewhat a hybrid of what copywriting and content writing requires. It needs to be interesting and engaging, while also not being too long.
An important skill you will need to learn for this particular job is what type of audience you are catering to. While copywriters and content writers also sometimes need to understand their target groups, social media managers have to focus on which demography they need to cater their content towards, both for engagement and conversion purposes.
Communications
While the three previous jobs might have had very specific tasks involved, communications is more of an all-encompassing role. It varies from organisation to organisation and generally involves doing a bit of everything.
Your job as a communications person is to handle all communications of your organisation/project/team either internally or externally (sometimes even both if you are short-staffed). That includes everything from handling reports to writing PR. Being a communications personnel can be quite a challenge, as it requires you to be aware of the many technical details of your organisation, even if you're not working with them directly.
These are just four of the many jobs you can get if you are somewhat skilled at writing. More writing jobs are out there, alongside other jobs and roles where being a good writer can give you a slight edge.
Aaqib will someday finish writing all of his stories. But not today. Write to him at aaqib.hasib@thedailystar.net