I Hereby Certify That Writing Certifications are Worthless
Collect all you want, but don’t add them to your resume.
Novice copywriters often ask me what credentials they need to get a well-paying job as a writer or to become a freelancer. What kind of education? What certification?
They’re often a little shocked when I answer, “None.”
As senior creative director of an advertising firm, I reviewed a lot of job hopefuls through the years. I looked over their resumes. I noted if they studied at a school known for high achievement in the field, but otherwise, where they went to school or what degrees they earned wasn’t very important to me.
There is only one criterion
The only thing that mattered to me then, and that matters to those who hire writers now, is: how good is your work?
90% of what I need to know about your credentials for a writing job is in your portfolio. The other 10% is: are you a stable co-worker and not insane?
Take those courses, read those books
I’m certainly not suggesting that you don’t study writing or take online courses to add to your skills. Copywriting, all writing, is a craft, and craft is learned with study and guidance.
Employers expect you to have training and knowledge about your chosen career. In most cases, that’s the basic requirement to get into the consideration set.
Copywriting is also an art, and art usually grows from solid craft plus experimentation. The only way you can show that is in your actual samples.
Certifiably unimportant
Many writing courses offer a certificate of completion once you’ve taken the course, including mine. If taking courses and showing you’ve completed them is part of your company’s continuing education requirement, or if it’s for school, sure, get those certificates.
Don’t add them to your resume; it’ll only make you look amateur. Absorb the lessons from those courses and put them into practice with your samples.
That’s the only way to certify that you have the skills a client needs.
