If you are a journalist, author, technical author or other editorial specialist, this is for you.Whilst we are happy to take approaches through this site, please note that we can’t take everyone on. Firstly, you must be an established writer or journalist with a demonstrable track record, in print and/or online. We know it’s a horrid job market, but we are unable to accommodate students or those just embarking on a career in the written word. If you are new to writing, we recommend you try the many freelance sites like Guru, Upwork or People Per Hour (our favourite) – they’re a great way to build a credible portfolio of work.
If you’ve got some experience under your belt, though, take a look at our exhaustive checklist – and if you’re still conscious by the end of it, hit that ‘Send’ button right away!
Got the skills?
Let’s start with some skills. We need a resounding ‘Yup!’ to all of these…
- Do you have experience in one or more of these areas?
- Enterprise Technology: Can you make CRM systems sound interesting? Could you knock up a case study on cloud deployment? Help small businesses embrace mobile security?
- Healthcare Technology: Do you get a bit sweaty at the thought of EPRs? Have wearables taken over your kitchen? Do you think tech is the answer to an aging population… sometimes?
- Business and Entrepreneurship: Do you watch The Apprentice through gritted teeth? Do you love business models and metrics? Does Porter mean Competitive Strategy to you, rather than someone who works in a hospital?
- Professional Services: Can accountants get your sap rising? Does software make you weak-kneed?
- Are you comfortable juggling all sorts of media and deliverables? We produce articles, blog posts, white papers, infographics, storyboards, tweets and everything in between. If ‘content marketing’ gets you hot under the collar, we want to talk to you. If you would prefer to be given gigs in isolation from the strategic objectives of our clients, you’re probably better off moving on.
- Do you think through a brief? We generally write good briefs. Not pernickety, form-filly, ticky-boxy briefs, but briefs which identify the soul of a job; the outcome we want to achieve, and how the reader/consumer should feel after they’ve bestowed their attention upon us. And that means briefs are sometimes flexible and organic: we want writers who enjoy the upfront thinking associated with a job because it will save them time in the long run, and deliver a more measured and more satisfying result. Indeed, we have a rule here: anyone who ‘blames the brief’ never gets more work from us. As professionals, it’s 100% our job to extract an adequate brief from a client, rather than expecting them to do it for themselves. If they could, they wouldn’t give us their work.
- Can you construct an argument? Nobody is interested in boring pieces pushing a product. Even press releases need to be more interesting than that. So we want to know that you enjoy discovering arguments; the fulcrum about which a piece of editorial can become interesting. We expect you to collect evidence, interview specialists, make a point, tell stories and paint pictures. That way. we can give the reader some recompense for their time.
Got the admin?
We’ve got to do some housekeeping to stay on the right side of the law. So…
- Are you either operating as a limited company, or a self-employed person with your tax affairs handled by a certified accountancy practice?
- And are you also a resident of the United Kingdom?
Basically, if you take our money and put it in your back pocket with a bus ticket and old Minstrels wrappers, that’s your problem and not ours.
Got the documentation?
Still here? Excellent. Whatever you send us, please include the following bits and pieces:
- Your name, address and contact numbers
- At least three examples of commissioned written work, ideally in different styles and for different clients. Word or PDF formats, please.
- A brief biography and CV
- Your specialist areas of expertise
- A general/flexible idea of your standard dayrate or charge per 1000 words
Now you’re ready! Please only use this email address to tell us about yourself; we don’t accept telephone enquiries because we just like a good natter too much, and we’d never get anything done.
Email us at talent@wellspark.co.uk.
We look forward to hearing from you!
