Creative Writer Resume: Guide, Expert Tips & Sample

You shock people with how consistently you can pump out creative, original content.

Stories, agendas, creative vision, multi-medium marketing campaigns, media & reporting—regardless of your particular niche, it’s time to shock once more.

Show the recruiter with a perfect creative writer resume, and they’ll be bedazzled with how their company functioned without you all these years.

Ready?

This guide will show you: 

• A creative writer resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a creative writer resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a creative writer resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for a creative writer to get any job you want.

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Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

Want to write home about something else? See here:

• Copywriter Resume Examples
• Freelance Writer Resume Examples
• Technical Writer Resume Examples
• Grant Writer Resume Examples
• Editor Resume Examples
• Grant Writer Resume Examples
• Writer Resume Examples
• Digital Marketing Resume Examples
• Marketing Resume Examples
• Best Resume Examples for Any Job

Creative Writer Resume Sample

Here’s the step-by-step on writing a creative writer resume:

1. Pick the Best Format for a Creative Writer Resume

Creative writers adhere to their clients’ needs and desires, adjusting their writing to fit the client’s agenda, business strategy, and vision. Mastery of the written word (preferably with a portfolio), researching skills, and creativity are musts if you want your creative writer resume to shine.

Speaking of research—

Not doing any before putting a single word down could be considered asinine—you need an outline.

Begin with a creative writer resume outline:

• Choose a resume format, first and foremost. The reverse-chronological resume layout is typically most efficient in terms of displaying accomplishments that the hiring manager wants to see front and center.
• The margins of your resume should be set to 1” on each side, plus you need some white space for enhanced readability.
• Divide your resume into sections. It’ll be even easier for the recruiter, which is ultimately easier for you.
• The font you choose for your resume matters. Classics you’re most used to, like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica, are your best bets.
• Last thing to consider is the resume length. Keep it to one page—only go for a two-page resume if you’ve got more than 8 or 9 years of noteworthy experience and enough achievements to justify adding a second page.

Pro Tip: Some application scanning software cannot parse PDF resumes, but in general, that’s the format you want to go with unless it’s not allowed. Check the job ad for file requirements. 

2. Write a Creative Writer Resume Objective or Resume Summary

You probably know this, but website users only ever read about 20–28% of the words on the page.

The sad truth is, recruiters are much the same.

If you produce an epic novel, no matter how grand, you’re in for a disappointment if you think they’ll read it and be enlightened.

To them, your wordsmithing matters not (though they would love to use the figurative forge to burn your application!). 

Anyway, back to the topic—Why is that?

Simply put, they don’t have the time. You need to entice them with a succinct resume profile.

Got more than 2 years of experience as a creative writer? Great, use that to compress it down to a resume summary and mention the most notable achievements. Back them up with numbers while you’re at it to make them more tangible.

Just picked up a keyboard for the first time? Write a resume objective, and focus on experience that’s still relevant. Try to think of ways it transfers to a writing career, and exude creativity, determination, and ambition to impress recruiters.

Pro Tip: Got completely no experience? Anything you’ve done in the past, even casual writing (e.g. for school magazines, blog posts, freelance writing jobs), can hold up if you present it the right way. You can also try writing courses on Udemy, Skillshare, or similar websites.

3. Describe Your Experience as a Creative Writer

Great, you got them reading with an engaging resume intro, fantastic.

Now they’ll want to read about your creative writing experience in the work history resume section.

And you will blow their pants off. It’s what you have to do, if you want to end up in the higher brackets of creative writer salaries.

But only if you know how:

• Start with the last job first, and proceed in that order. Write your job title, the company name and the time you worked there.
• In bullet points, describe your achievements and daily job responsibilities. Once again, add numbers to up the wow factor.
• Keep them occupied with action words.
• Here’s the big one: don’t send generic resumes. Instead, look to tailor your applications to the job. It’s quite easy, just extract the right resume keywords from the job posting, and you should be good to go!

Read more: How to Put Freelance Work on a Resume: Full Guide

4. Talk About Education on Your Creative Writer Resume

Listing education on a resume is a must, despite semi-popular belief.

Learn how to do it right, and reap the rewards:

Creative writers with more than 5 years in the industry will only need to list their school name, highest completed degree, and the year of graduation.

With less than that, beginner creative writers can include additional information like relevant coursework, academic scholarships or extracurricular activities to help make themselves look like Hemingway.

Pro Tip: Should you list your GPA on a resume? Depends: if it’s 3.5 or higher, go for it. If not, it won’t add anything of value to your application, so you may as well leave it off your resume and use that space for something more relevant.

Creating a resume with our builder is incredibly simple. Follow our step-by-step guide and use content from Certified Professional Resume Writers to have a resume ready in minutes.

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When you’re done, our online resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

5. Show off the Right Skills for Creative Writers

First, take a gander at this list of desired creative writer skills. These will come in handy for social media, content writing, anything:

Creative Writer Resume Skills

• Editing
• SEO/Keyword Research
• Time Management
• Creating Engaging Content
• Content Strategy
• Creativity
• Problem Solving
• Design Skills
• Research Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Social Media
• Understanding Audiences
• Brand Expression
• Excellent Language Skills
• Communication Skills
• Adaptability
• Taking Criticism
• Imagination
• Technical Skills
• Teamwork Skills

However, instead of using an extensive list that looks more hopeful than George Martin’s next book releasing this century, scan the job ad for well-scoring resume keywords. We’ve already mentioned these: they’ll help you tailor your resume to the employer’s needs and expectations.

Only add those technical skills, hard skills and soft skills that match those keywords and are thus likely to help your resume pass ATS scans. 

Read more: Real Difference Between Hard Skills and Soft Skills

6. Put Extra Sections on Your Creative Writer Resume

As a writer, you know that a little often goes a long way.

And it’s just as true for a resume.

Who knows, maybe you did some project management on the side? Or you like to write press releases for a local government office.

Whatever it is, listing extras on your resume could help you stand out from the crowd.

You could list language skills, your hobbies or interests that speak to your skills in some way, special certifications, other notable achievements, the list goes on. The key takeaway is to make yourself look more human.

Read more: What to Put on a Resume

7. Attach a Cover Letter With Your Creative Writer Resume

Yes, even writers need cover letters. They more so than others, even.

Our statistics report makes it clear as day: almost half of all recruiters expect one, come hell or high water.

No point in risking it, is there?

Follow these cover letter ideas to get that creative writer cover letter done in a moment’s notice: 

• Pick the right cover letter format to begin with.
• Address the cover letter properly. You don’t want to make any blunders in the first 2 seconds they spend looking at your letter!
• In the middle section, show off the passion you have for writing and how you want to use it to exercise success for the company.
• Using numbers to go hand in hand with accomplishments continues to be a great way of exuding success.
• Finally, end the cover letter with a call to action they won’t forget.

Read more: Copywriter Cover Letter: How to Write + Examples

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Done and dusted!

A complete creative writer resume.

Got any tips of your own that you’d like to add? Not quite sure about your way of listing creative writing experience? Write to us in the comments and we’ll get back to you right away!

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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/writers-and-authors.htm#tab-5