People ask me regularly who writes this email.
2 people:
– Julia, my OFS:
– and Me (my wife gets me a formal picture every year when we take family photos):
The next question is
What did you look for when hiring her?
Simple.
English skills.
That’s it.
Although, when I hired her I wasn’t hiring her to write my newsletter. I hired her like 12 years ago to write other things. Over the years she has written countless pieces for me including my personal blog, my personal social media, articles we’ve published…
So how do you find someone to write for you?
Obviously English skills. That’s a given.
Here are a few questions I think would be great to ask when you’re interviewing an OFS for a writing position.
1. Do you like reading for fun? If yes, what do you like to read?
If they don’t like to read, that could be a problem. Because to write, you have to read, A LOT. That’s where the ideas come from. If they don’t like reading, how will they keep writing?
If they like to read, ask them what they want to read. What they read for fun is going to influence how they write. Most Filipinos are exposed to American culture. If your potential writer reads a lot of American literature, that’s good. It means their writing would be close to a native English speaker.
2. Do you write every day? Do you journal, or do you have a blog?
Writing is a skill. The more you practice, the easier it is to write on cue. A ‘writer’ who doesn’t write every day will struggle if you ask them to write something quickly.
3. Do you know how to create an outline?
Writing every day requires a lot of creativity AND organization. When doing research, you need to know how to organize the information you’ve gathered. This makes the writing process faster and more efficient. That doesn’t mean that disorganized writers aren’t good. But if you need your writer to create newsletters, articles, and blog posts regularly, having a system helps.
4. Go read these 4 articles I wrote, then write an intro paragraph about X in my voice.
This let’s them hear my voice (reading what I’ve written) and then write something short to see how well they pick up on my voice.
Finding a great writer isn’t exactly a science…but it’s not that far from it.
Follow my steps at www.OneVAAway.com. I’ll give you like 50 more questions I ask people. I guarantee you’ll find someone great.
John