Pieter Verschuren: Commercial writing with an academic background

By Pascale van Gils

Pieter’s first job is at an international software provider for the fitness industry. As a communications officer he works as an editor and lead writer for the blog and is responsible for all email marketing. On top of that he writes articles for professional magazines, press releases and all sorts of other texts, and is responsible for the translation management of the company.

It turned out to be quite a challenge to find his first job. Pieter tried his luck in London, but soon returned home to do an internship at a creative agency, where he gained a ton of work experience in commercial writing and marketing. Why this line of work? “I basically took a step back and thought about what skills I had acquired that I would enjoy the most to put into practice. Writing was pretty high on the list, so yeah. Writing.”

He benefits a lot from the research and writing experience and the analytical mindset he gained during his studies, which helps him to identify and solve problems. What hindered him was the academic vocabulary and the fact that he never nurtured a commercial mindset during his studies.

Pieter’s advice:

“Learn how to sell yourself, especially if you want to work in the commercial sector. Try to find out what you love to do, and pursue that with a dogged persistence. Oh, and don’t be discouraged if your first fifty applications fail.”