What Copywriters Need to Know About Getting Hired

Straight talk from Executive Creative Recruiter, Keva Dine, on portfolios and landing the gig.

Meet Keva Dine, former Art Director turned founder of The Keva Dine Agency, the recruiting firm brands turn to when they need to find the right creative person.

With 25 years in creative recruiting and over $400M in salary growth generated for candidates, Keva has seen every kind of portfolio, cold email, and copy test you can imagine. We asked her to tell us exactly what she tells her clients.

Let’s talk about where the job market actually is right now.

Before you send a single application, it helps to know what world you're walking into. Right now, companies are dating before they marry. Hiring managers are hesitant to commit to full-time overhead right now, so they're testing talent with project-based and freelance work first. If you've been holding out for a full-time offer, it might be worth starting with a project instead. Prove yourself, and let the relationship develop from there.

There are also industries that are always hiring. Health-tech, B2B SaaS, and sustainable or DTC e-commerce consistently need writers who can translate complex products into digestible language. If you want steady work, get good at explaining things that are hard to explain.

And then there are the invisible skills: the ones that get you cut before you even know you're being considered.

Hiring managers won't list them in a job posting because they assume you already have them: Google Workspace, Slack, Asana or Notion, basic SEO literacy, the ability to write a punchy subject line without being coached.

What's the pay range, actually?

It definitely varies by industry, but sharper positioning does translate to better rates and opportunities, and the writers who get there fastest are the ones tracking their wins as they go, not trying to reconstruct them later.

→ Want more salary insights and insider tips? Download our Copywriter Job Directory

What's really behind every copywriting job posting.

Something broke, grew, or changed. A product launch that snuck up on the team. A writer who left mid-campaign. A website that hasn't been touched in two years. The specifics are different every time but the urgency isn't.

This matters because it changes how you position yourself: less about beautiful writing, more about speed, reliability, and the ability to hit the ground without hand-holding.

This matters because it changes how you position yourself: less about beautiful writing, more about speed, reliability, and the ability to hit the ground without hand-holding.

Job boards are fine, but relationships are better.

Word-of-mouth accounts for roughly 70% of creative hiring. The formal application process? About 30%. If you're spending most of your time refreshing job boards, you're not playing to your strengths.

The math suggests spending 60% of your time building real relationships and 40% on your portfolio. Not followers, not impressions. Actual relationships with people who can refer you, vouch for you, or hire you directly.

So what does that actually look like? Start small. Make a list of people whose work you genuinely admire (other creatives, marketers, brand managers, project managers). Follow their work, engage with them meaningfully, and when the moment feels right, reach out with something specific and low-pressure. Comment on their newsletter. Reply to a post with a real thought. Send a note that says "I loved what you did with X." You're not asking for anything; you're just showing up as someone worth knowing.

The goal isn't to collect contacts. It's to be someone people think of when a name comes up in a conversation you're not in the room for.

Soft skills matter more than you might think.

Keva has seen talented writers miss out on roles because of how they showed up, not because of their writing. The ability to receive feedback well, communicate clearly, and just be a good collaborator is something every hiring manager is quietly evaluating.

Send the thank you note. Take the feedback without making it a whole thing. Show up as someone people actually want to work with.

The fastest track from junior to senior has a clear pattern: act like an owner. As Keva puts it, "Don't wait for a brief. Spot the gap on the website and say, 'I drafted a fix for this, want to see?'"

The writers who move up fast are the ones who make things happen without being asked.

What recruiters are actually looking for when they open your portfolio.

Your portfolio doesn't have to be a website. A well-organized PDF deck or Google Slides presentation can work just as well, especially when you're starting out. What matters is that it's easy to navigate, easy to read, and makes a strong first impression fast.

If it's a website: the first thing a recruiter notices is navigation. If they can't find your Work page in three seconds, they're gone. The second thing: your headlines. If your own portfolio headlines are flat, why would anyone trust you with a client?

If it's a deck or PDF: the same rules apply, just in a different format. Lead with your strongest work. Don't make them click through 12 slides to get to something good. And make sure the file is named something professional, like Keva_Dine_Portfolio_2026.pdf, not final_v3_ACTUALLY_FINAL.pdf.

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Regardless of format, every piece should be easy to skim and have enough context to understand what you were solving for, not just what you wrote. Recruiters want to see your thought process. Even better, if you can show how copy solved a concrete business problem like "this drove a 20% lift in conversions", that's when you can expect callbacks.

The best advice is have a hiring manager, creative director, senior copywriter review your portfolio. Then actually implement that feedback. It’s invaluable!

When to reach out to a recruiter (and what to have ready).

You don't need to be perfect, but you should be prepared.

Reach out when you have three solid, diverse pieces of work and a clean website or PDF. You don’t need ten pieces! Three strong, different samples and somewhere to send someone that doesn't embarrass you. Have a PDF resume ready. Have your site link ready. Don't make them work to evaluate you.

About Keva

Keva Dine is the Founder and CEO of The Keva Dine Agency, a boutique creative recruiting firm she built after a career as an Art Director and Brand Designer. With 25 years of placements and over $400M in salary growth for her candidates, she's THE recruiter whom disruptive brands reach out to when they need the right creative professionals. She specializes in copywriters, content strategists, and creative leaders. If you are looking for hiring guidance, she’s a great resource to have in your corner.

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