You’ve seen the posts encouraging new writers for SourceCon and you’ve read some of the articles. Maybe you attended SourceCon and heard about the opportunity to write for SourceCon’s Sourcer’s Anonymous program and you really want to do it, but something is holding you back. Perhaps you’ve never written professionally before, or you feel like you don’t have anything to offer the community. Those reasons held me back for a couple of years from putting myself out there but having since written 5 articles for SourceCon, I wanted to take a minute to share my experience with writing for SourceCon, the fears that I felt (and still feel sometimes!), and hopefully encourage someone who might be on the fence to take the first step to engage with and contribute to this great community of sourcers!
What is holding you back?
The feeling of being an imposter within your career, or “imposter syndrome” is something that many of us have felt. It is often felt at work when one is trying something new or presenting their work or ideas to a larger audience. Though the prospect of writing professionally can be daunting, what really kept me from writing for SourceCon was the feeling of not having anything new or special to add to the community when I was relatively new to the sourcing world. Imposter syndrome can often feel like someone is telling you that you have entered a situation or place by chance and that one day everyone will find out you were faking it all along. To help combat this feeling of being an imposter, I started to write down ideas for articles and then slowly created a full professional article from those ideas. By starting small, I didn’t feel as overwhelmed at first. Once I had a solid list of topics, all I had to do was pick one and start writing a paragraph at a time. Receiving publication was intimidating, but it connected me with other professionals who are also all continually learning and growing within their careers.
Similarly to feeling like an imposter, I faced the fear of rejection when deciding whether to write for the Sourcer Anonymous program. I didn’t want to write something wrong, silly, or so simple that someone might laugh at it. Simply having the spotlight on myself was a scary enough prospect that even when I did choose to write my first article, I was nervous to share it with others on LinkedIn. It’s intimidating when you open your work up to your friends, co-workers, and a larger audience of people you might not even know. I didn’t want to face the possibility of rejection. However, in writing the few articles I have for SourceCon, I have found nothing but support from my co-workers and other sourcers. Writing has enabled me to connect with other sourcers and writers which has helped me grow professionally, and personally while learning some new sourcing skills along the way.
What can writing do for you and your career?
I’d be remiss not to mention earning a ticket to SourceCon as the first opportunity that writing for Sourcer’s Anonymous provides! I had attended the SourceCon convention virtually in the past, but this was my first time attending in person after I earned my ticket by having 4 articles published. When I arrived at SourceCon, the nerves of meeting new people were high, but I quickly found connections and made new friends. In having my articles published, many people already knew my name and I immediately had a small group of people I could connect with made up of the other writers! I read their content and learned so much from the exceptionally talented sourcers that had work published through the Sourcer’s Anonymous event. I may not have had the same opportunity to grow and connect with these professionals had I not written as well.
Writing professionally will grow your communication skills personally and professionally. After having my work reviewed by my peers and by a panel of sourcers, I feel more confident and validated in my daily work and professional discussions. Validation can come from having your work accepted to a professional blog as can credibility among your peers when you share your work. The best part of having your work professionally reviewed is the feedback received. With feedback comes the opportunity for growth moving forward. We can’t grow without a little discomfort here and there, and I truly feel that as writing professionally has pushed me outside of my comfort zone, it has also helped me quickly grow my overall skills and knowledge pool.
A lifelong journalist and nonfiction writer, William Zinsser, once said, “Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know—and what we don’t know—about whatever we’re trying to learn” (Zinsser, 1988). The great thing about writing professionally is that you don’t have to know everything because you will learn along the way. Even if you aren’t a subject matter expert on something, you have a real opportunity in writing to research and build upon your understanding of the topic. An example I can personally attest to is in writing about AI. AI is such a new and ever-developing tool and in writing about how to use AI in sourcing projects, I developed a new understanding of how different AI tools respond to the same prompt. Before writing, I didn’t understand how vast the differences in responses can be between AI programs. Had I not taken deliberate time to write about, research, test, and document my findings, I likely would not know as much as I know now on that topic!
If you are new to the sourcing community, you should write content because you have a fresh perspective on things that many who have been in the field for years may not have. If you are a seasoned sourcer and have been in the community for years, you should also write professionally because you have a perspective that has been molded by years of experience. Everyone has something to say and share. No matter the topic, your information and perspective will benefit someone. You have a voice and sharing your knowledge and experiences will help continue to make the sourcing community great.
References:
Zinsser, W. (1988). Writing to learn: How to write—and think—clearly about any subject at all. Harper & Row. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/572323-writing-to-learn