Career chart of a web content writer in India
As promised in my previous post I am gearing up for the post on the expected career growth chart of a web content writer in India. Recently my Dad asked our Leader (Aji Sir) a very straight forward question, “What is the future of a content writer?“. He was so rude and blunt in his answer when he said, “There is no future for a content writer?“. I wasn’t very sure why he said so. This actually prompted me to ask him in details about the future of a content writer.
My post is not to scare you. This is just an attempt to bring forth the hidden reality (challenges a content writer faces). I was about to write my post when I decided to go for a series of video interviews (Just thought of making it more interesting). I will be posting all the interviews on my blog, it would be pretty exciting to watch people from different fields talking their mind.
People I am approaching for Interview (talks)
- Susmita (Our content head and our mentor)
- Daisy (Our HR head, she is looking great in her new avatar)
- Kinkini (Content writer working on US credit system, she joined with me)
- Rituparna (A content writer, who took a lot of initiatives in the last few months).
- Aji Sir (The devil himself, he is very blunt when it comes to career. Thanks for lending me your N95 for video interviews)
- Joyeeta (Forum manager for Insurance community)
- Arindam (Forum head for Insurance community)
- Antara (a new joinee in the Debt team, she is working on blog posts and blog reviews)
So we have people from different backgrounds and I am sure that the interview would be really interesting. I am thankful to everyone for their participation. Lets make it really interesting. Most of the people will be there for the interview during the TT session (4 pm IST). I am really looking forward to it.
When will be my interview :(? What happened to other interview?
Hi Abhi,
Do not be afraid to either hear or digest that comment. Your ‘Sir’ probably meant well. In fact, I think he means to do you a favor.
If you are going to use phrases such as ‘in details’ and ‘talking their mind’, who in the wide world will want to take your content seriously? You cannot be a knife juggler if you do not know how to hold a knife, can you? Well, the English language (any language, for that matter) is the sharpest ‘knife’ you will come across. A single misplaced comma can mean the difference between life and death. Any content writer worth his or her salt will tell you that you need to get your basics absolutely perfect before you think of such a career.
Content writing is by no means easy. Nothing worth much is ever easy. It requires astute reading habits and a healthy respect for TIME.
If these attributes aren’t your cup of tea, I’d congratulate your ‘Sir’. He gave you the most professional piece of advice.
People have made stupendous careers out of all kinds of vague things such as hitting a ball with a bat, jumping like a monkey in front of a video camera, and even simply making empty promises. And content writing is not vague by any stretch of the imagination.
It is not WHAT you do that counts, it is HOW you do it that is more important.
Take up content writing ONLY if you LOVE writing content, playing with words for great effect, and communicating well. Otherwise, do something else that you will genuinely enjoy even if you are asked to do that same thing every day.
I do not mean to discourage you. All I seek to do here is to make my point clear enough.
Best,
Nikhil Khandekar
very well said nikhil
What your boss said is absolutely right. Content Writers are not quite “writers” – they are just machines writing SEO articles.
The breed mostly consists of journalists who failed to make it big. Like it or not, content writers earn very little. Try your hand at something else.
@sree – u hit the nail on the head! SEO content writer is what online content writing has reduced to…but I have tried to keep my writing team away from SEO. I dont bother my writers with keywords at all. It’s clearly for the SEO guys in the team who take care of it.
Hey,
My name is Hitesh Chandna and i have worked as a content writer for 3.5 years in the travel company, Delhi. In the year 2012 when i switched on to technical writing profile, my bad days started lingering on the door. I was doing very well in the travel writing field but when i changed my writing forte, the problems started occuring in my writing style. It seemed like i had to start everything from zeroe. I was terminated from 5 companies within a span of one year. Now i have a work ex of 4 years but companies are not willing to pay a salary package more than 25 or 30,000. There are although very less companies who do pay good salary package but you can say they are very few in numbers. Companies like Aptara Corp(Delhi), publication houses-India today, Hindustan times, Times of India, sofwtare companies-keep on creating requirement for these profiles and they can pay you around2.40 lakhs as the starting package. But still as i said, there are very few companies who are willing to pay good amount, so there written test for that very purpose is very hard to crack. The over all gorwth in this field is slow but if your luck will accompany you can definitely achieve great hieghts. Company’s while providing details about the opening although write that they are willing to pay 500,000-600,000 for the right candidate but reality remains something else. But yes, if you have done master in mass comm or English then i will recommned corporate communication or PR can be the best option. Now a days companies demand a person who is an allrounder. So if you have an experience of 2 or 3 or 4 years in content writing then i would suggest that you should go for a regular MBA program in marketing. Marketing degree plus writing experience can lend you in PR or corporate comm manager job. I will suggest you thatyou should restrict yourself to content writing and try for PR or do an MBA. “Life really sucks when you spend 13 hours a just tucking a keyboard and writing only SEO articles”. Writing kaa experience waste nahee jaayegaa dost because you writer have a good thought process and even if you will get in marketing, this experience will help you to get at the heirarchy level.
I am also going for an MBA marketing program. I am just 25 year old with 4 years work ex.