Three-quarters of the battle to becoming a successful copywriting is getting the right training. But the other quarter is finding the right opportunities to get experience (and, of course, to get paid!). Where do you find those gigs and jobs?
That’s the magic question, isn’t it? Well, luckily, I have the magic answer … but it’s not entirely what you think.
There are some copywriting job boards and copywriting sites where you can find full-time positions and freelancing opportunities. You’ll want to register with all of them and sign up for regular job listing announcements. Once you put a little work into signing up, let the sites do the job searching for you!
Remember, if you’re planning on working as a freelancer, you’ll want to keep pitching new clients and keep the jobs rolling in, so it’s always beneficial to stay up to date with the latest job boards and sites.
You do not want to apply through any sort of “easy apply” or “one-click” apply. (More on why you don’t want to do that here >>)
General Job Sites
Before we get into industry-specific job sites, make sure you don’t neglect the more general job sites. Hop on to Indeed, LinkedIn, and SimplyHired and set up a search that will get emailed to you whenever new results appear. Search the listings on LinkedIn regularly.
Copywriting job boards are updated frequently and offer lots of great opportunities to find regular jobs or side hustles.
Just as with pitching, you want to add value when you reach out about these opportunities. We’ll repeat it again: do not use the one-click apply options. You want to demonstrate how you’re already thinking about the business, so put the focus on your potential client, not you. Treat your cover letter like a pitch. What opportunities do you already see that could benefit the company?
See a full-time opportunity that interests you, but you want to remain freelance? Reach out! You never know if a company is open to working with a freelancer. They may find you’re the perfect bridge as they continue to look for a long-term hire. Or, they may realize that don’t need a full-time employee and that you’re completely capable of filling their needs! You don’t know until you reach out …
Copywriting job boards are also great resources to network! See who’s posting then connect with them on LinkedIn.
Now, let’s talk industry-specific resources.
Copywriting Job Sites
1. Mediabistro
This site is dedicated to hiring top media and creative talent so it’s idea for copywriting professionals. You can filter jobs by level of experience (entry, experienced, manager, executive) and by duration (full time, part time, contract, freelance, internship).
Looking exclusively for remote work? You can filter results to show only those that are open to remote candidates.
2. Behance
Behnace It’s the place for creatives to see and be seen. It lists freelance and full-time job opportunities. You can list yourself on the Creatives for Hire section of the site. However, remember you still need your own standalone online portfolio.
Just like with job bidding sites, passively leaving your portfolio on a platform full of other copywriters puts your career in someone else’s hands (and, frankly, leaves it up to chance). It’s the equivalent of crossing your fingers and hoping work lands your way.
Instead, you need to be the one choosing the opportunities that interest you and reaching out to prospective clients. As Comprehensive Copywriting Academy (CCA) students know, when you have a system for finding and landing clients, you are in control of your income, your schedule, and your career.
3. SolidGigs
We’re sharing this last one, but with a word of caution: you can do what SolidGigs does for free. Here’s how it works: you describe the types of projects you want to work on. SolidGigs alerts you when they find a good match. But here’s where CCA students will get the catch: you send a pitch directly to the lead.
So, you still need to write an effective pitch. All SolidGigs does is find potential leads for you. But, CCA students, you have an entire course on how to find and land clients.
Are SolidGigs leads any warmer than the potential clients you decide to pitch? Maybe. As with anything, quality of leads can vary.
There’s also a monthly fee (slightly discounted if you opt to pay yearly). You can try it for free for a week and see if the leads are in line with what you’re looking for and if it saves you any time. As with anything, you don’t want to pay for software unless it’s going to pay for itself and then some! (And, you certainly don’t need to pay for anything before you’re landing client work and have income coming in!)
Finding Copywriting Jobs via Recruiters
Working with recruiters is another great way to expand your potential job opportunities. Recruiters often know about job opportunities that aren’t advertised on job sites. But the biggest thing to remember is recruiters do not work for you. They are working for the company that has hired them to fill a position. They may reach out to you … and then never follow-up.
As with job bidding sites, working with recruiters puts your career in the hands of someone else. You want to connect with recruiters as a supplement to your own job outreach. If you rely solely on recruiters to find you a job, it’s likely to take significantly longer to find work.
Hear more about how to effectively work with recruiters here >>
A Note on Jobs Bidding Sites
If you’ve been part of the Filthy Rich Writer community for any amount of time, you likely know that we do not under any circumstances recommend using job bidding sites like Upwork and Fiverr. These sites are a way to waste valuable time and undercut your rates.
But, in case you’re wondering why job bidding sites are not the place to land work, here’s a quick recap. On the surface, they seem like the easy win. Clients, actively looking for copywriters (and other freelancers) post job opportunities on these sites. You—and dozens if not hundreds of other copywriters—then compete to work on the project. You spend valuable time coming up with a proposal. Most often, clients are looking for the best possible work at the lowest possible rate.
There are always freelancers on these sites willing to work for peanuts (the quality of the work, is another matter). But, there’s no reason to work for peanuts when there are plenty of clients willing to pay your full rate.
Instead, you want to flip the equation. Instead of one client and any number of copywriters, you want it to be one copywriter and any number of clients. That’s where sending well-crafted, value-packed pitches comes in. Pitching opens the door to millions of potential clients.
Your turn!
Where do you look for copywriting jobs? Let us know in the comments below!
Last Updated on July 4, 2023
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