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How to get a content writer job with a cold email

A writing job is the one where your email is read as a writing sample before anything else. Keep it short and clean, and lead with two published pieces that match what the company writes, each with a line on what it did.

Updated

What content writing posts ask for

Writing roles split three ways: content writers (blogs, guides, newsletters, often with SEO), copywriters (ads, landing pages, emails, social posts) and technical writers (documentation, help articles, API guides). The posts ask for:

  • Writing samples or a portfolio link, almost always. Many posts ask for them before a resume.
  • For content roles, SEO basics: keywords, search intent, headings, and briefs from tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush.
  • Tools: Google Docs, WordPress or another CMS, and a style guide or Grammarly.
  • For copywriting: short forms (headlines, ads, emails), a brand’s voice and, sometimes, Hindi or a regional language.
  • For technical writing: explaining a product step by step, Markdown, a docs tool, and enough technical depth to read code or an API.
  • A subject, such as fintech, health, B2B software or education. A writer who knows the subject is easier to hire.
  • A writing test or an assignment, often as the first round.

Your proof as a fresher

As a fresher, published work is your experience. Lead with the two pieces closest to the company’s subject and format:

  • Articles, posts or newsletters published with an editor or real readers: a college magazine, a student publication, a blog or a newsletter people subscribe to.
  • Freelance pieces, even small paid ones, with the kind of business the client was.
  • Copy for a college fest, a club or a small business (posters, social posts, emails) and what it led to: registrations, sales or sign-ups.
  • For technical writing: a README or a how-to guide you wrote for a project or an open-source tool, and whether people used it.

Pick two, and say what each one did: read by how many, found on Google for what, led to what. A link to “all my work” makes the reader choose; choose for them.

Your proof if you are switching in

People move into writing from teaching, journalism, marketing, support and engineering. Lead with the writing you already do at work:

  • From teaching: notes, lesson material or a course you wrote that students used.
  • From support: help articles or reply templates you wrote, and whether they cut repeat questions.
  • From engineering or testing: documentation, runbooks or release notes, the natural start for technical writing.
  • From journalism or PR: published bylines, and how you would adapt to a brand’s voice.
  • From marketing: campaign copy, and what it achieved.

Your proof in two sentences

Sentence one: what you wrote, for whom, and where it was published. Sentence two: what it did (readers, search rankings, sign-ups, fewer questions), with one link.

Content writer, fresher

For our college’s finance club I wrote a twelve-part newsletter series explaining money to first-year students, which grew to about 1,100 readers. My guide to filing a first income tax return is the club’s most-read post, and the link is below.

Technical writer, switching from support

In two years of product support at a payroll software company, I wrote 60 help articles, and the questions they answer now come in far less often. I also rewrote our setup guide for new customers, which the onboarding team sends to every new account.

Both are made-up examples. The numbers in yours must be your own, and ones you can explain in an interview.

An example email

Neha, the content lead at a fintech startup, posts for a content writer, 0 to 2 years, with finance knowledge as a plus, and asks for samples by email. Ishaan finished his B.Com this year and writes a personal finance newsletter. This is the whole email.

To
neha@paylark.example
Subject
Content Writer (Finance): Ishaan Bhatia, B.Com 2026, two samples inside

Hi Neha,

I saw your post for a Content Writer at Paylark. I finished my B.Com this year, and for the past year I have written a weekly newsletter that explains money to people starting their first job.

Two pieces closest to what Paylark publishes: a guide to reading your first salary slip, which a personal finance page shared and which brought my newsletter about 400 new readers in a week, and an explainer on UPI autopay that is on Google’s first page for that question. Both are on my newsletter, linked below.

Your blog writes for first-time earners, the readers I write for every week. My resume is attached, and I’m happy to do a writing test.

Ishaan Bhatia
+91 98xxx xxxxx
ishaanwrites-example.substack.com

A made-up example: Ishaan, Neha and Paylark are fictional. Every claim in the email comes from Ishaan’s own resume.

What makes it work:

  • Two samples chosen for this company’s readers, not a link to everything.
  • Each sample comes with what it did, which tells an editor more than “well-researched”.
  • The email is short, clean and plain: the first sample Neha reads.
  • Offering a writing test answers the next step before she asks.

The subject line

The role, the subject area if the post names one, your name and your stage. For a writing role, “samples inside” is worth adding.

  • Content Writer (Finance): Ishaan Bhatia, B.Com 2026, two samples inside
  • Copywriter: Sakshi Arora, 2 years writing ads for D2C brands
  • Technical Writer: Pranav Kulkarni, 3 years in QA, API docs samples

Avoid subjects like “Job application” or “Resume”. The person who posted may have several openings, and the role first tells them which one.

Mistakes to avoid

  • A typo or a clumsy sentence. In a writing job, one can end it.
  • “I am passionate about writing.” Show a piece you wrote instead.
  • Ten links, or a portfolio with no word on which to read. Pick two.
  • Samples far from their subject when you have closer ones.
  • Samples an AI wrote for you. The writing test will show the difference.
  • Long unpaid tests that look like real work, such as five full articles. A short test is normal; a large free one is a warning sign.

And the ones that hurt in every role: a guessed address, a generic resume, and an email longer than a phone screen. More in how to email a recruiter about a LinkedIn hiring post.

Where content writing posts appear

  • LinkedIn posts by content leads, marketing heads and founders at startups, agencies and media companies.
  • Company job boards on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby, under marketing or content, and under documentation for technical writers.
  • Content and digital marketing agencies, which hire writers often; their websites usually give an email address.
  • Writers’ groups on Telegram, WhatsApp and LinkedIn that share openings and freelance briefs. Check that the client is real and the pay is stated before you write for them.

A LinkedIn post search to start from (search Posts, Date posted Past 24 hours):

Writing posts for freshers

("content writer" OR copywriter OR "technical writer") ("send your" OR "share your" OR "writing samples") fresher

4 of 5 ORs, ANDs and NOTs

Looking for freelance work? Drop fresher and add freelance: one plain word costs no operator. LinkedIn finds nothing at all once a search has more than five ORs, ANDs and NOTs: see how to find hiring posts on LinkedIn. If there is no reply in about a week, follow up once.

Guides for other roles

All of them, with what to lead with for each: cold email by role.