How To Get A Proofreading Job

Finding a proofreading job might sound like a dream come true for many people – ostensibly you get to sit at home all day and read books – but the truth of the matter is that it is a position that takes concentration and a great eye for detail. If you think you have what it takes to make a successful career out of proofreading, then continue down the page to see our helpful tips on how to get a proofreading job.

1. Make sure you are up to the job. You need to know your grammar inside out, and a qualification that will teach you about such things would be a great start. Try to get a qualification, preferably a bachelor’s degree in English Language to put yourself in a great position both to pick up work and to complete the work effectively.

2. Join forums. This sort of work is mostly available online but you need to be well aware of potential scams going on out there. If you join forums with proofreaders and content writers, then you will be mixing with the people that can potentially employ you , and if you develop and become part of a community, then you have a good chance of avoiding the jobs that are scams, and a good chance of landing the proper jobs.

3. Visit job boards. Look for job boards online which seem to advertise plenty of other legitimate jobs. This will help you to find the legitimate proof reading jobs which should be posted on these boards.

4. Get some references. As much as you want to avoid scammers, equally, employers will be looking to avoid employees looking for an easy job. See if you can find opportunities to do small proof reading or editing jobs through a forum for free, in order to have something on your resume that states that you have completed and understood this work in the past, and you have a happy client ready to vouch for you.

5. Create your own website advertising your abilities as a proofreader. You may want to combine this with offering editing skills in order to hit a bigger target market.

Getting regular work can be the difficult thing in this industry, but the more experience you build up, the better your chances of finding more work more often.