Many creators pursue the goal of going full-time with their content and other endeavors, but not everyone makes it. Some gather other commitments like their job or their family and are unable to continue. Some realize being a content creator isn’t as fun as they hoped it would be.
In these scenarios, it’s easy to feel discouraged and defeated—you might be giving up on a dream you’ve had for a decade or longer. However, the time you spent working on your content isn’t a waste: you can always take the skills you gained with you.
My Content Got Me Hired (Back in 2020)
My first job out of college was with AVerMedia, originally hired vaguely as a marketing specialist, which eventually became a much more intensive social media, influencer relations, and community management mashup. Of course, I have a degree in marketing, otherwise I wouldn’t have been looking for this kind of job in the first place, but at least at the time, AVerMedia had robust operations in North America for creator-oriented marketing.
Anybody could have a degree in marketing, but I’ve been making videos since 2014 (most of which are on PRIVATE because they’re crappy let’s play videos) and started building my current style of content in 2020 during the early pandemic. Because I’d been making content, including streaming (streamers were the company’s target market), that already put me at a much more favorable position for getting that job.
I got the job, and while yes, I met all the technical requirements for a marketing role, the fact I had the skills and mindset of a creator tipped the scales (and this was confirmed to me after I started). I wasn’t even really flaunting my creator side through that process—since getting that job, I’ve realized that creating content provides you with many, many skills relevant to getting jobs.
Thanks to that, I’ve been making it far in interviews with other companies thanks to my creator skillset, even getting an offer… that was rescinded because I barely tried negotiating, and I even said “I understand if my request isn’t possible?” That was a crazy disappointing time, but back to showing your creative skills!
List Out Every Relevant Professional Skill
You’ll surprise yourself by realizing how many relevant skills you’ve developed as a content creator. Depending on your niche, the skills you chose to really develop, and your level of organization, you could have an exhaustive list of skills to place on your resume, and you’re most likely good enough at most of these skills to start applying them in a professional setting.
Here’s just some my list of relevant skills:
- Photography—from learning the ins and outs of my cameras and getting pretty good at taking photos as a result.
- Videography—from shooting my videos / vlogs.
- Online Broadcast Production—from streaming w/ OBS and mastering relevant technology like capture cards + cameras.
- Open Broadcaster Software—for streaming, as well as recording my videos now for a quicker workflow.
- Notion—I am a power user at this point, and it’s useful for content + work in managing projects and tasks.
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Premiere Pro (Video Editing)
- Photoshop (Thumbnail Making)
- Lightroom (Photo Editing)
- Project Management—from planning out my videos and using calendars/task management in Notion and Google Calendar.
- Copywriting-from writing my blog posts + learning how to structure my ideas in a more engaging way for videos.
- Social Media Management/Marketing—from curating + managing my social presence as a creator.
- Buffer (scheduling posts)
- Twitter + YouTube analytics (gauging success)
- Community Management—building my community through my content.
- Marketing Strategy—from developing and executing a long-term strategy with my content.
- Market Research—research for planning my content + using analytics.
- Content Marketing—content marketing is basically just making content but for a job… content and especially brand deals fits in here.
- Influencer Relations—subject matter of my content + being on the creator side of brand deals.
- Problem Solving—you have to figure things out yourself as a creator… this is SUPER valuable.
This is a non-exhaustive list on my end, and your list will likely look different. I’m showing what’s moist relevant from my experience to get you started in developing your ability to showcase your transferable creative skills.
Note that the scope of work and tools used will often be different than the same activities while on the job, but as a creator you’ve likely more than dipped your toes in many of these areas. Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to list a skill on your resume or to use it on the job—you don’t need to be as fluent as a native speaker to get by with a language, and the same goes for many skills. In fact, needing to use these skills on the job is the fastest way to improve them, just like a language learner who speaks enough to get by will improve much faster through immersion.
If relevant, see what skills from your content already overlap with your skills from your career. By finding overlaps when relevant and building a bridge between your creative and professional lives, you might realize you have more years of experience and a wider breadth of knowledge than anticipated.
For example, anything related to social media, influencer relations, and marketing applies both to both my creator side and my career side. Thus, even if I only have 2-3 years of experience professionally as of writing this (depending on if you count internships), some of my skills may be at a higher level, especially given how much I intentionally overlap my content’s subject matter and my career.
Your Content is a Public Portfolio
There obviously are exceptions to this rule, like if you’re a shitposter or want to be able to candidly discuss (or criticize) your job in your content, but it’s generally a wasted opportunity to not share that you’re the type of person to passionately build something.
If the content you make is relevant to your work, you’re also showing future employers that you’re passionate about what you do! Be careful not to let your passion be exploited, as is the case in many gaming and entertainment roles, but employers would generally rather have employees who are clearly passionate about their field. You can showcase this passion in a public manner through your content.
Furthermore, if companies are screening you through the interview process, your content allows your skills to speak for themselves beyond just a highly curated resume. If you write blogs, make videos, and otherwise share your passion about your field, that is your real resume. Companies will have a much easier time trusting the outspoken creator who passionately discusses their field than someone who says “trust me, I have a great resume.” They can see your skills in action through your content before you’re even interviewed.
Put Your Channel on Your Resume
Why stop with simply putting your skills on your resume? Go all the way and include it as work experience. Of course, whether this is useful varies from job to job and whether your channel and skillset are relevant, but in my field, marketing, there is more or less no reason not to include that I make content.
If your content is relevant to your field, it helps to distinguish you as a thought leader in your discipline. It showcases a portfolio of work with your passion front and center. You develop numerous marketable skills that can largely transfer to almost any field.
Whether you end up quitting making content because you’re too busy with work and life or you continue making content while you maintain full-time employment, the skills you gain from being a creator are worthwhile and absolutely applicable to your career.
Embrace the hard work you’ve done to level up your skills, and embrace your creative side when applying these skills to your career!
Andy Cormier 