Good writing gets you hired, bad writing gets you fired.
Did you doubt that?
Here it is again from sexy business stars Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of the legendary 37signals.com (developers of Basecamp, Backpack, Campfire and Ruby on Rails).
I quote an entire chapter:
"If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. It doesn't matter if that person is a marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever; their writing skills will pay off.
That's because being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else's shoes. They know what to omit. And those are qualities you want in any candidate.
Writing is making a comeback all over our society. Look at how much people e-mail and text-message now rather than talk on the phone. Look at how much communication happens via instant messaging and blogging. Writing is today's currency for good ideas."
Yeah, yeah, that's just we've been trying to tell you!
Other chapters are equally blunt:
- Launch now
- Good enough is fine
- Your estimates suck
- Say no by default
- Long lists don't get done
- Go to sleep
- ASAP is poison.
They ruthlessly refute some communication conventions:
- Resumes are ridiculous
- Press releases are spam.
And they cram an entire style guide into these chapters:
- Four letter words
- Sound like you.
If you want to get ahead in your career, if you want to be hired by a brilliant company, make a note to self:
improve writing skills!
Start right here: get the Diploma in Web Content, for all the skills you need as a writer in today's communications environment — high-tech, electronic, and knotted into a network of social media, search engines and content management systems.
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