At The Esports Observer, we always intended to have a pool of freelance writers to contribute. After our launch, we listed an offer here on eSports Career, and waited. Applications that came in, however, were sadly lacking—some were missing simple things like home addresses, others were more severely deficient, like not addressing the job description.

We purposefully left the posting open to interpretation—rather than asking for traditional elements like a cover letter, resume, and CV, we simply asked for pitches or topics that an author would like to write. We wanted to see not only what freelancers would bring to our company, but also how well they understood the basic standards of applying for a job. Unfortunately, only a few attached any of the aforementioned documents, and even less pitched an idea.

Esports is young, and it’s easy to assume that many applicants were applying for their first time. However, if we want to grow as an industry, we need to have better standards. Creating a solid job application is a useful skill in every single career—there’s no excuse not to learn how. So, in order to better ourselves, here’s some tips and suggestions for how to apply to jobs in general, and in esports.

Research

Reading a job listing is not enough. In many cases, the company will provide some basic information about their mission, a job description with duties and responsibilities and the benefits you receive. Addressing the job offer only with regards to those informations will most certainly not be convincing enough to those in charge of the decision.

Finding out more about the company, its products and services, and more importantly, about the job you are applying for is the first step to any successful application. With a possible job interview in mind, it has to be your aim to know more than other candidates. Having more information on the company and specific job duties will give you a massive leg up on those that don’t put in the effort.

Prepare

Once you feel confident, you need to prepare your documents. Unless otherwise stated, you should stick to a cover letter, a resume, and any relevant work samples (articles, illustrations, etc). It’s easy to find examples online for this trinity of documents. My basic advice when writing them is this: “More substance, less rhetoric.” Stand out without exaggeration. And never put down knowledge or experience you can’t back up! Your potential future employer will do their own research and preparation too. This is also where you should think about payment terms and your salary.

Narrative

You want to tell a story when you apply to a job, and that starts with your application, but it goes beyond that. You also have to prepare for your job interview.. It’s possible that you’ll get asked questions that are already answered in your application; if so, be careful not to be repetitive. It is most likely that your future employer wants to have more context, or simply wants to check how you interact in person.

This is typical, especially if you are entering a new field or apply without any experience at all. If that’s the case, your employer needs to know that you can adapt quickly, or transfer your experience across fields. If you are uncomfortable in such situations, practice with a friend or family member, or even a mirror. Above all else: reinforce what you said in your application, but have new things to say as well. Tell the story of why you’ll be successful in this new position.

Pledge

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]As you start to picture yourself in the position, your future employer will do so as well.[/perfectpullquote]

Ok, so you landed the interview, now you have to show up and present yourself. If you have come this far, your main task is to explain what you will bring to the company. Tell your story, and deliver upon all that preparation and practice. This is your opportunity to tie your experience and understanding of the job into a vision for the position. Don’t mistake that to rush ahead—you don’t have the job yet—but as you start to picture yourself in the position, your future employer will do so as well. If that’s enough to convince your employer to hire you, great! If not, don’t worry! Employers take their time to reconsider and will come back to you with a result. Ask how long it will take and if you can answer or prepare anything else.

Negotiate

Negotiating salary and payment terms is a world of its own. As a rule of thumb: asking too much hardly ever knocks you out of competition. But if you ask for too little, your employer will jump at the chance to pay you less than what they expected.. On the other hand, if you ask for too much, you could be considered bold or arrogant. The unsatisfying answer: learning by doing is the only way to get good at salary negotiation.

One thing that can help is to research comparable salaries in the industry and calculate any additional personal costs that you predict you would have. If you’re just starting out, don’t expect too much, especially in esports. The industry is still maturing and unfortunately, you can’t expect ‘big money’ from the get go. We learned from the #esportsunpaid discussion that many talented esports employees have struggled with earning salaries for a long time. The bottom line is that you need to value your own time and work, even if that means looking outside the esports industry to make ends meet.