The crazy 3 part writing test I had to do before an interview

These are testing times to land a writing job.

Normally, my CV and a few content samples are enough of a portfolio to land a writing job. But not this job!

I was on LinkedIn and applied for a job as a Senior Medical Content Writer.

“I’m a pharmacist, so I’ll land this easily.”

Or so I thought.

Well, the truth is I only have 2 years of online writing experience and it’s ‘not enough’. Nevermind the fact that I’m over 30 and I’ve got a Master’s degree.

The job pays 21k more than my current job. So I’m going for it.

I get a quick call from the recruiter. They ask me the usual questions:
1. How do you make sure a piece of work is high quality?
2. How do you maintain a good relationship with clients?
3. What do you like about the company and why do you want to join?
4. Why do you want to leave your current job?
5. What are your salary expectations?
6. What is your notice period for your current job?

So then came the writing test tasks:
1. Read a journal article and create a powerpoint (with notes for the design team) for a ‘satellite symposium’
2. Create a half day training agenda for the morning before the powerpoint slide presentation (with an idea of resources to create)
3. Read an…