Freelance Marketplace Critique of the Week: 6.21.05
You’ve posted your mini-bios at the MB Freelance Marketplace in hopes of snagging a great freelance – or full-time – gig. Good for you! But, are you completely satisfied with your listing? Do you think you’ve described your accomplishments, specialties and skills in the best possible light? Let’s check in with our expert, Jane Ashen Turkewitz, the premiere resume writer for MediaBistro, in our weekly segment where a real Marketplace profile, just like yours, is critiqued to give its owner insight on how to make it even more effective. As a former media recruiter, Jane has reviewed thousands of resumes and has successfully placed candidates at Time Inc., Hearst, Hachette, Primedia and other major media companies. Turkewitz has written hundreds of resumes for writers, editors, publishers, sales executives, marketers, graphic designers, business managers, technology executives, public relations professionals and others.
The critique of the week belongs to Cari Shane Parven, whose profile starts with:
A Manhattan girl with a gift for gab, Cari Shane Parven writes for numerous magazines and newspapers covering everything from long-distance swimmers to Holocaust survivors. She has a talent for incorporating enlightening quotes into an article to make it flow seamlessly, a technique she perfected during her years as a television and radio reporter.
“She can meet a friend in a phone booth,” her husband says, which enables her to disarm her subjects so they can tell their stories calmly, with emotion and detail. Parven publishes more than a dozen articles a year in The Washington Post’s Style, magazine and Sunday Source sections. In all her articles, Parven stresses accuracy and honesty in reporting.
In the 90′s Parven ran a successful media-tour company, placing client products on news programs and often acting as spokesperson for her national media campaigns.
Parven is a graduate of Vassar College and currently lives in Maryland with her husband and three children.
Jane says,
Cari, I would revisit your profile if I were you. I’m not crazy about your opener and recommend taking out the “Manhattan girl with a gift for gab” clause. The first line should really draw the reader in and make them want to know more about you. The current opener, in my eye, positions you as a gossip columnist. I’m sure that this is not what you were going for here. I would prefer to read something more professional with credentials backing up your assertions. Why don’t you tell the reader about some of the interviews you have conducted instead of quoting something your husband says about you?
Delete the last two paragraphs in your current summary. It looks like you have condensed your bio and that’s not really what this section should be about. The summary should be used to highlight your core journalistic strengths. You mention below about your former company so there is no need to have it up top as well. The same holds true for your education and family life.
Last but not least…you have a typo in the word “Socialize” in your first writing sample. Make sure to proofread everything. Then do it again. And, again. Good luck.
If you’d like your profile critiqued by Jane (and really, if you took the time to create one you should have the best one possible), drop a line to the Marketplace people.
A reformed editor who now gets to do what he does best, write. I have extensive experience covering fitness, sports and business. I have also done several marketing and public relations pieces for magazines and outside companies over the last few years. If it’s not listed here, don’t worry I can do it all from humor to lifestyle to politics to promotional and advertising copy!
Quirky and creative I live to eat. I love writing and being a part of the food and nutrition journalism world. If I’m not in the kitchen whipping up a snack or at the computer composing for newspapers, cookbooks and national magazines, you are sure to find me with my head in the latest food magazine, glued to Food Network TV or salivating over one of my favorite cookbooks. Everything about food fascinates me as does the relationship between food, people and places. I have a particular soft spot for the Southern coasts and make a pig of myself whenever I get the chance to visit. I have covered topics from the most standard nutrition pieces to racy items about how food affects your sex life. I am a dietitian but don’t let that scare you. New York Times food writer and book author Amanda Hesser is my hero and the late Julia Child, my inspiration.
I am a travel writer, photographer and journalist based in and covering Southeastern Europe. My work is informed by a strong academic background (Master’s in Byzantine Studies, Oxford), rich experience living and traveling in the region, and necessary language skills. Versatility is my key strength. So long as it’s Balkan-related, I do it. I’ve written on everything from Islamic terrorism, Microsoft expansion and opera stars to sultry beaches, oil pipelines and EU integration. Complementing this topical variety, I can offer diverse writing styles – business, academic, journalistic, literary, etc. Further, my sensitivity to people and places means I try to convey something more than the typical Western writer’s superficial outside view. By living full-time in the Balkans, I keep the connection vital and discover something new daily. I live for investigating unusual places, seeking out the stories and pictures that usually go untold.
As a hungry, young, roving reporter I already have interviewed the likes of music legends such as Smokey Robinson; political dignitaries, such as Senator Hillary Clinton; and up-and-coming stars, such as R&B singer Alicia Keys– and that was just as an intern. (Check out the thumbnail in my profile. I am pictured with Miss Keys, fashioning our fingers into our sorority symbol.) My tenacity is matched only by my curiosity, as evidenced by my rather diverse skill set: I studied biology at the baccalaureate level before attending J-school. Thus, with strong backgrounds in entertainment and health reporting, I would bring to your publication a vast knowledge base, speed, accuracy, and, of course, a knack for tracking down celebrities.
Creative, flexible, and reliable writer/photographer with credits ranging from Rolling Stone to the Journal of Visual Anthropology. With three books on American culture, a graduate degree in social science, and experience stretching from combat correspondent to wildlife photographer, I’m equally at home interviewing Condoleezza Rice or photographing Hawaii’s best beaches (though given the choice…).
Blessed and sometimes cursed with the superpower of “morphing,” I am a versatile writer who has worked with local hard news to light, celebrity scum reports for WFAN’s Don Imus. I hold a degree in journalism with a concentration in broadcast, so much of my experience lies in radio and television and the entertainment industry. I have freelanced as a comedy writer for various high-profile New York radio shows. My recent work has been in the newspaper industry — writing more serious features on nature, health and real estate. Aside from my college degree and 10 years media experience, I am also certified as a Personal Trainer. While not an expert on exercise physiology, I am certainly familiar with basic technique, fitness trends, etc. I look forward to writing for print, broadcast or electronic media.
Multi-media communications “jill of all trades” specializes in creating stories, imaging and messaging that resound. Expert writer/editor for print/online and broadcast. Resourceful, broad base of experience includes public and media relations, creating/maximizing outreach opportunities and collaborative partnerships. Interested in most subjects, especially music/culture, community and cause-related events/projects.
Travel, art, and culture are my areas of expertise. To date my writing has been short pieces (book reviews, newsletter articles), company-confidential reports, and front matter and cover copy for textbooks. I am ready for feature stories and major markets. I have more than 12 years of experience with the written word–from fact-checker to librarian to editor to writer; broad-ranging interests; a keen sense of deadlines and responsibilities; and to top it off, a light-hearted and humorous side.
A seasoned writer and former editor for a leading British website, I know what makes a good story. I am accurate, punctual, dependable — and multilingual (English, Italian, French and Spanish). I have written both hard news and features for a wide range of print and online publications in Britain and America. My areas of interest are culture and the arts, wildlife and the environment, food, real estate and travel. I am a member of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists, the Guild of Food Writers, the Circle of Wine Writers, the Online News Association and Women in Journalism.
