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Since May 25th is National Wine Day, we thought it would be a good idea to whine a little about how your boss might be driving you to distraction (or wine, for that matter). The statistics back us up on this assumption: 44% of American workers say they left their last job primarily to get away from their boss. Gallup puts the number even higher at 50%.

Everyone reports to someone else and if the person that’s paid to hold you accountable is a poor manager, they could ruin more than your chances for a promotion. Having a bad boss can force you to look for a new career.

Blog posts. E-books. Banner ads. Social media posts. The marketing world is full of content that aims to capture attention, inform, and inspire action. The verdict is set and (you know this): content is king.

At this point, most agencies and in-house marketing departments have full-time Copywriters responsible for the words that populate their materials. But when the same people are producing and reviewing content all the time, it can be easy for mistakes—think: typos, inconsistencies, poor structure—to make it all the way through production.

That’s where Editors come in. As a Freelance Editor, I work with a variety of companies to make sure their marketing content is up to snuff. I do everything from suggesting different blog post intros to making sure that e-book headings are capitalized consistently to catching embarrassing spelling errors.

All of these things fall under the big, polka-dot umbrella of “editing,” but they actually represent different kinds of editing.

I break down the main three kinds of editing below, but before we get into it, let’s answer this question:

Should you contract or go full-time? That’s a question a lot of American workers are asking right now, because, let’s face it, job seekers have options. Historically low unemployment has shifted the balance of power toward the skilled worker, who has more choices when searching for work because there are more jobs to choose from.

More employers are turning to contracting as a way to staff up during fluctuating markets or to help with large one-time projects. Employers that are trying to figure out if contracting is better than hiring full-time will need to know the types of legal options available beyond full- or part-time employment. What are the benefits of having contract workers on the team?

Employees wondering if contract work is right for them should carefully consider their personal work and financial requirements. What are the ins and outs of contracting over full-time employment?

Is contracting right for you?

It’s hard to find good help these days. Thanks to historically low unemployment, this cliché is the real deal. Employers are adjusting to the new balance of power in the hiring game because, in most markets, the workers have the upper hand.

Simply put, there are more jobs than skilled workers right now, so employers are scrambling to sweeten hiring incentives while adopting new recruiting techniques to try to find the help they need to get the job done.

Attention Employers: If you think it’s time to consider lowering your hiring standards, here are some creative tips from your favorite creative talent firm to help you find top talent in 2019.

Attention Employers:
You might be doing onboarding wrong.

There’s no escaping it: All of us function in the economy of words.

From Instagram captions and Facebook posts to the newsletters you find in your email to the mini-magazine that comes with your Dollar Shave Club subscription, words are everywhere. And they have the power to make or break your impression of whatever you’re following—or the impression you have on whoever’s following you.

That’s where I come in. As a Freelance Editor, words are my bread and butter. And I mean that as literally as possible: the money I make editing pays for my groceries, not to mention my rent and utilities and other fun life expenses.

How to Survive an Unhealthy Work Environment

Winter is coming but if you work in an unhealthy corporate culture, it might already feel as bleak as season three in Game of Thrones. If your office feels like competing houses fighting for the Iron Throne, it’s time to stop playing the game.

When it comes to bad hires, Hiring Managers and Recruiters feel the same pain. You know the scenario: the candidate made it through the first month and started to struggle. Maybe it’s culture fit or perhaps something went wrong during the screening process, but somehow, the new employee isn’t exhibiting the skills or attitudes that seemed to shine so brightly during the interview process. They’re rocking the boat, not doing the job, and it’s just not working out.

Hiring is a huge responsibility and an inexact science. Despite our best efforts, sometimes we hire the wrong person.

How can a hiring team reduce its chances of having an April Fools’ joke played after the employee onboarding is over? What can companies do to reduce the chances that they hire the wrong person?

In 2019, I celebrated my fifth year as a Freelance Writer. Artisan Talent was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post on how I built my business. (Thanks, AT!)

Last year, I made a full-time living writing for business clients on nights and weekends. This was in addition to my full-time day job.

Read this article to find out how I did it — and how you can, too. All you need is a little talent, a good spellchecker, and the internal grit to sell yourself and always meet client deadlines.

Some Developers lead "lives of quiet desperation" (thanks, Thoreau). These are the cubicle Developers that you can find near the backbone of any major corporate or governmental setting. Over time, these Developers can get into a rut, where there’s nothing but the factory-like drudge of maintaining status quo.

Tech is alive with possibilities, and computer programming is a field that positively crackles with innovation. For the mid-level or senior Developer that’s lost touch with how exciting their career should be, it might be time to change things up.

How can these skilled Developers stay on top of the latest changes in the field while still maintaining their not-as-challenging corporate or government positions?

How can employers encourage these valuable team members to keep things fresh?

Here are some tips for keeping it real while modernizing your developer stack.