Having recently started working here at Mitchell Adam and coming from a Construction Recruitment background I have to be honest, I am no expert in all things Finance! I began writing blogs last month and a colleague of mine who recently started working for our Sister Company “M A Executive” wrote her first blog just last week.
This got me thinking, how do you write about something you don’t know much about?! I love working in Recruitment, and I think I am pretty good at my job (without blowing my own trumpet) but having no previous creative writing or sector experience, I questioned myself, how do I start?!
Let’s take this back to last week; my colleague, who I mentioned earlier on, had just finished completing her first blog. It took her a fairly long time and when completed she handed it over to a Superior, a few things were then changed – which is always pretty standard (a second pair of eyes can bring a different perspective). We then had a little chuckle and I told her about the previous month when I sat at my desk staring at the screen wondering what the hell I should write about?!
Creative Writing is by all means not easy, and I think it’s a really good skill to have – so I am happy I get to challenge myself and really dive into something I have never done before, as really, who wants to stay inside their comfort zone all the time? So I sat looking at my screen, then suddenly I thought of something, I started to type …. Oh wait! Then I hated it. This went on I’d say for about an hour, and I honestly questioned myself, am I able to do this?!
After breathing and having a quiet word with myself, I came up with a plan, which didn’t involve just loading word and hoping my fingers start to move.
Communicate and Ask Questions
Yes, I know this point may sound pretty standard, common sense right? But you’d be surprised at how many people would suffer in silence instead of asking a superior or somebody who has been in the company a while and knows what they are talking about. Every blog will have its own trademark style – whether it is casual or straight to the point, establishing this is the first step. I read through previous blogs posted by Mitchell Adam and asked around to see what sort of route they personally wanted to take.
GOOGLE – Do your research (Hear me out)
This can be helpful in a couple of different ways – if you are having writers block with absolutely no idea what to write about, there are plenty of ideas on different subjects here (without copying of course) no harm can be done in getting a little bit of inspiration!!
Secondly, if you know the subject you want to cover but are unsure on what content to put in, this can be the best place to get some more information – especially if you are like me and new to the industry!! What information exists on it already? Is there any current news about the subject that is important to consider? Spend a lot of time simply reading during this step. Identify the most credible sites of which to draw actual facts and information.
Social Media
This is a good place to see what’s trending, what people are interested in and most importantly, what’s actually getting read!! I use LinkedIn a lot – it’s a more professional site and a good place to find out all the above information. If you do an Advanced Search on LinkedIn, it has an option to search through Posts – with no Creative Writing experience myself; I tend to do this to get a feel of what people generally like, but also to understand and read different writing styles.
Quotes
If you are writing about a specific subject or something relevant to the Industry, you’re not a subject-matter expert, so your credibility can’t come from personal experience. Find relevant articles and quote subject experts within your blog (ensuring you note this as a quote) with this will bring other peoples experience and knowledge.
Finally, start writing!!
You’ve asked the company, looked at previous blogs and done your research – It’s time to start writing. At this stage you should have a pretty good idea of the route you want to take, if you’re anything like me, you’ll find that you already have a written piece you just need to put it onto paper.
You will probably write the full blog, read through and change sentences a million times; I simply move things around to start to form my story – before you know it, you suddenly feel like a blog genius and paragraph after paragraph just keep coming!! Be sure to stick with the same writing style from start to finish, throw in any facts and quotes you may have found whilst previously researching, or if it’s more of a casual blog – just have fun with it.
Being new to the Finance Industry and the Blog world, I have definitely realised that I need to take my time, do my research and learn how to get my point across while not getting too serious – sometimes you need somebody to throw you out of your comfort zone so you can really improve yourself. Mitchell Adam is a brilliant company to work for, and hopefully one day, I can be a Blog Writing Genius!!
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