Learning & Development

The world of writing: A day in the life of a Content Writer…

At olano we are a team built up of specialists and experts within the Learning & Development industry. This wealth of combined knowledge from a variety of areas allows us to create the best learning content possible for businesses. We use everything from animation to expert writing in order to meet our clients’ requirements.

However, to understand our expertise it’s beneficial to know what our team does and what a regular day-to-day workday looks like for them.

Catherine, our Learning Content Writer shares what a regular day is all about for her…

“I mix my time up being in the office and working from home. Normally doing two to three days at the office each week.

“So, when I go into the office, I normally wake up at around 6am. With not driving, I commute to work via public transport meaning I set off a little earlier than others.

“As soon as I wake up, I quickly scroll through notifications on my phone. Then I pop downstairs, make breakfast and grab a coffee. This provides me with the energy to start my day! Then at 7am I leave the house to begin my hour-long commute to work. I take this time to listen to some music  and prepare myself a little more.

“On arrival at the office, I get set up, and give my desk a quick tidy. Once I’ve done this I get my notepad out which has my to-do list for the day.

“My days are never the same. The writing tasks I’m assigned could vary from blog writing to storyboarding for eLearning.

“This is one of the main things I love about being a Content Writer here, the variety. I can’t predict what I’m doing from one day to the next usually.

“First thing I do once I’m logged in is go to LinkedIn. I check both my personal account and the olano company page. I’ll see if there’s any messages we need to respond to and engage with on the accounts.

“I think it’s important to check your personal account because not only is that linked to the company you work for, but it also helps you build relevant connections for yourself. You’ve got to stay active with your social medias.

“Additionally, I check our Instagram account. This is to see if there were any comments or messages that we need to communicate back to. Then I go through my emails.

“I work closely with other employees in NA Group. One being our Brand Marketing Executive, Alex who I work with to create themes, post ideas, and content. We normally share a blog post a week, so every week I will write a new one for the following week to post out.

“Blogs can be written well in advance as plans can be set months ahead of schedule, however, we also work to trends which means we often work to tight deadlines.

“Once they are written I work with the designers in the olano team providing them with a brief to develop the visuals that will support our content.

“I get so much gratification when a blog post that I’ve worked on is engaged with. Seeing positive comments, likes and interactions motivates me to keep writing.

“Additional to this my other main role is within eLearning development. Some days I’ll be given a new course to design and storyboard. When this happens Kris Randall, our Digital Design Managing Consultant will have spoken to the client already or I will have been part of the briefing process to establish the content needed to engage the audience of that particular client.

“From this, I’ll go away and create a storyboard of the course from start to finish including the audio and text that should be included for that screen.

“Within this part of my role as a Content Writer I get to bring out some design creativity as I formulate the ways in which the content will be displayed, whether that be through, video, animation, imagery, and/or text. This is presented slide by slide on PowerPoint for the client to review.

“Once reviewed I will make any amendments, then it heads over to the designers who as and when will communicate with me any help they’d like with the course material. I move over the audio into a written script at this point for further review and recording.

“The length of time these can take vary from three days to three weeks depending on the course.

“Around this, I like to go on walks at lunch with my colleagues and take brief breaks to separate my day up. I receive lots of random jobs throughout the week. This means I could be proofreading a project one minute and the next writing a blog, so breaks are key in helping me quickly move across jobs.

“When the day is over, I pack up my stuff and jump on the bus home.”

Interested in developing your learning content or start afresh with training?

Our Content Writer, Catherine has helped alongside others to produce high-quality learning content. Particularly for the Bespoke eLearning courses we have created for clients. Learn about one of our other specialists, Olivia who shared her ‘day in the life as an animator’ here at olano.

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