A recent student graduate applied for a position right out of college in a large market serving a three-city triad on the east coast. The student graduate had e-mailed the resume and materials as requested and, because it was a large market operation, was a little surprised to get a call. The interviewer called on the phone and asked, "Can you write a press release or a commercial?" She responded positively. Her interview went quite well. The interviewer expressed a little concern about her lack of experience, but the interviewer did note that her internship had been in a large market, and that was good.

Just before she thought the interview was over, the interviewer handed the student graduate a production order and told her she had 20 minutes to write a great commercial. Gulp! She completed the commercial and noted on the copy that the production order did not specify a generic address for the business and that it would be hard for listeners to "visualize" the business location.

The interviewer read the commercial and laughed. The interviewee was told she was the first candidate to catch the intentional error and the first candidate who wrote a commercial with proper grammar and punctuation. She was hired.

Again, I want to stress the need for writing skills. You may get a job with a great audition CD and fake it on the writing skills, but I can almost guarantee you that you will not get a promotion unless you can express yourself in writing.