Cecily Kellogg

Interview!

Good news; my networking is finally paying off with a face to face interview early next week. I'm excited and looking forward to a new challenge, but feeling like I could use a crash course on interviewing again. It's been over six years since I've interviewed for an in-house job, and my freelancing gigs have all come through well established contacts and friends. I'm looking forward to it, however, and feel sure that I'll manage to keep at least one foot firmly on the floor and away from my mouth (but possibly only due to the decreased flexibility that comes with age).

In other good news, a second article of mine is appearing in tomorrow's USA Today (got advance notice this time), so feel free to review the Education section and look for an article discussing How Podcasts are Changing Online Learning. The best part of writing that article was explaining Podcasts to my husband. My husband that listens to a tube radio from 1952.

He seems to mostly get it now, and trying to explain Podcasts to him gave me a great foundation to build from when I wrote the article--after all, I figure that if I can make someone as non tech savvy as he is understand podcasts, I can make anyone understand them.

Next week, I'll let you know how the interview went, and maybe we'll discuss the many challenges of a 5% or higher keyword density in SEO articles. Now, won't that be fun?

Networking & USA Today

Networking can happen at the oddest places. Yesterday I went to a memorial for a dear friend, and while chatting with the folks there (most I know from the literary scene in Philadelphia) and BAM! It happens. I mention that I'm now working as a freelance writer full time, and someone says, "Are you looking for paying work?"

Like a freelancer isn't ALWAYS looking for paying work (I suppose that some are just so busy they don't need new clients, but I don't know any). So today I followed up with an email with a link to this site and my clips. I'm looking forward to hearing back.

I don't recommend memorial services as networking hunting grounds. But luckily, my friend Sandy (it was her memorial reading), would have been thrilled.

It seems clear to me that only way to make freelance writing work is through networking. I've done plenty of cold soliciting, as well as applied to hundreds of posted jobs, and gotten little response. But when I can find a way to make that personal connection the magic happens, and I get my foot in the door.

Now I just need to find more doors.

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Last week, on Tuesday (apparently), this article I wrote for a client appeared in USA Today. Very exciting! Sadly, the client is listed as the author and not me, but hey--that's the name of the game with corporate writing. I still get to be proud.

It was such a fun article to write. I really enjoy research (I know! But it's true), and I got to do extensive research to get those tasty tidbits. One of the benefits of writing about topics like this is that it changes my view of the subject; like many of you, I viewed MBA holders as stock traders and financial managers. I had no idea the variety of options available to MBAs today. I also wrote another article (as yet unpublished online) about how MBA graduates are helping the third world. Fascinating stuff (really!).

I haven't been able to find a link to the USA Today article, but when I get a copy I'll scan it and post it.