Improve Your Writing Skills

Marcianne Kuethen

March 27, 2013

A writing teacher once told me, “Writing is nine-tenths revision.” That was definitely not what I wanted to hear at the time! But she was right. Unfortunately, our first attempts at putting our thoughts into writing aren’t always our best attempts. Yet, too often, we dash off a poorly written email or fail to proofread a resume, and our errors make us appear less intelligent than we’d like others to think we are!

Would you like to differentiate yourself as a great thinker and valuable team asset? If so, admonishes CEO David Kerpen, then you need to improve your writing skills, because your writing is a reflection of your thinking. To be “taken seriously by your manager, colleagues, potential employers, clients and prospects, you must become a better writer.”

Kerpen gives 5 practical tips that work:

1. Practice writing repeatedly.
2. Read your writing out loud, then edit it.
3. Say the same thing with fewer words.
4. Write an attention-grabbing headline.
5. Read other people’s good writing.

Whether we’re looking for a job, hoping to advance our career, or gain the respect of our colleagues, we all have room for improvement in the way we write. The good news is, better writing skills are achievable by using Kerpen’s 5 steps. Try them out the next time you write!

Another action that we at Amtec highly advocate, especially for candidates working on resumes, is that you have someone else proofread your work when possible. The more important the written work, the more eyes you ought to have on it before submitting, sending, or posting it.

What does your resume reveal about you? Click here to find out.

Hiring managers, can your first impressions of a candidate lead to a mishire? Read more here.