“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Just as college professors complain about the writing skills of their students, so do managers complain about writing skills of their employees. The difference? While your college professor will have to tell you about it; neither recruiters nor your managers are obligated to let you know.  I can tell you that throughout my assignments working in four different college career centers and since I started The HBCU Career Center a decade ago, poor writing skills from job applicants or new hires, is routinely one of the biggest complaints I hear about from HR managers.

One of the reasons that writing skills are so important is that our written documents have a way of getting into places before we actually do. It is therefore very important that our written words always represent us well, and we look good to the reader - at least on paper.

Think about it, some of the first writing samples a potential employer will see from anyone includes a resume, a Linkedin or other social media profile, job application and maybe a cover letter. A few employers may even ask applicants for writing samples.  We will deal with social media writing later, but for now, I can't stress enough how important it is that you look good on paper through these documents.