Writing is a crucial skill that plenty of workers tend to overlook. But in an increasingly digitized society, writing skills are starting to play a larger role in communicating with others, whether it’s with a client, your boss, or your colleagues.

According to Zoho Corp. President Raj Sabhlok, individuals with well-written online profiles and even blogs are more likely to catch the attention of prospective employers.

Since it’s become so easy to look people up on social media and other online platforms, the fastest way employers can gauge your communication expertise is through how well-written your profile is. Even offline, some documents like resumes and paperwork require a certain amount of writing skillfulness to attract positive attention.

4 WAYS Strong WRITING SKILLS CAN Unlock YOUR CAREER

It may seem to come naturally to some, but like any skill, writing can be honed through constant practice and diligence. Use this essential communication tool to increase your chances of leveraging your career. Here are four ways writing boosts your career advantage:

Good Grammar is Attractive

Grammar is one of the most basic things to watch out for in any composition. Before going into the content, people skim through a written document’s grammar. Subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and spelling are all key to communicating ideas effectively.

This skill can also translate to more elaborate and bigger competencies required in the job. Some employers see an error-free work to be a sign of their employee’s meticulousness and attention to detail. In fact, a study by Grammarly shows that higher-ranking corporate officials have fewer grammatical mistakes on their LinkedIn profiles. This shared trait may give some insight into what makes an individual come out on top in the long run.

While it’s good to brush up on your fundamental writing skills, you might not always be able to compose a perfect message. To avoid missing some grammatical errors, make sure your spell check is on all of the time. If you’re working online, it could also help to download free grammar-checking apps like the Grammarly spell checker.

Fact-Check Can Make or Break Your Career

Plagiarism and libel are major issues in the professional field. Professionals and even students who engage in these practices can face charges in court. Aside from that, however, fact-checking benefits you by building your credibility in a work and providing reliable facts that are relevant to your target readers’ interests.

Fact-checking involves looking at the sources used in your article or composition. But it could also involve something as simple as seeing if you’re addressing the right email recipient or addressing them with the right title. Tiny details like these escape some people’s attention, but they are crucial in forming a positive impression in your employers’ eyes.

There’s no easy way to pick out instances of plagiarism. It requires dedicated research to ensure only quality sources are included in a written work. However, there are some online plagiarism checkers that can help you out. Copyscape is one site that you can use to find duplicates of your content on the web. Simply enter the site URL in the Copyscape search bar and see if there are any other websites that have the exact same content as yours.

Editing Extensively Leads to Perfect Results

As they say, practice makes perfect. In the case of honing your writing skills, it takes a lot of time and effort to perfect them. But even writing experts can make mistakes. That’s why it’s important to review your work to avoid embarrassing slipups in your professional career.

A simple typo or the wrong tone can lead to a misunderstanding that could cost you a promotion. Make it a habit to look back on what you’ve written and polish it until it fits the standard.

To make editing easier, make sure you know what you’re looking for – is it faulty grammar, unreliable facts, or inconsistent structure? Going for everything at once can be overwhelming. As general writing advice, edit in phases so you can focus on perfecting one aspect of your work at a time. This will ensure that you’ve cleaned up one aspect of your writing before moving to the next phase of editing.

Still, sometimes, we inevitably miss things because our own work and style are so familiar to us. Getting feedback from an objective outsider is a great way to improve your writing. If you’re using Microsoft 2007 above, turning on your track changes lets you comment and edit your work without completely overwriting the original. Sites like Resumes Planet also get you in touch with professional editors who can provide feedback and polish your work. Using any of these tools and tricks to editing can improve your writing greatly.

Better Communication Leads to Better Networks

Being unable to communicate with others can hinder you from expanding your professional network. In the same way that inarticulate speakers appear less credible to their audience, writers who are unable to communicate their thoughts clearly on paper, especially on important requirements and documents, might give your readers a negative impression of you. Polishing the way you craft your message is the final and possibly, most important part of writing.

There are a number of ways to improve the way you construct your sentences and create compelling and engaging compositions. Some people enroll in extensive writing courses, while others opt for constant feedback from trusted friends or mentors.

If you want to work on your writing skills as you go along, downloading an app like Ginger keyboard helps you with a range of writing-related skills from spelling to grammar. This app for Android proofreads your composition as you write, in real time.

It also detects and points out your common mistakes, rephrases awkward sentences, and acts as a personal trainer, among other features. As a bonus, that demonstrates how tailor-made the app is for Android users, Gingers offers various emojis and GIFs for informal communication. This Android keyboard add-on costs $4.90 a month, but it’s a price worth paying for personal improvement.

Write it Out

Different industries require various abilities, but writing is a consistent skill needed in almost all fields. If you want to leverage your career, get on the right track to improve your writing. Sharpening your written communication skills can help you go a long way.

Good grammar, fact-checking, constant editing, and better sentence structure and construction are tools in the professional world to impress your audience, build your network, and work your way to the top. Learn how to write more effectively and improve your chances of moving up in your career today.

About the Author

Paige Donahue is a blogger and editor from Pennsylvania. She is an introvert who spends her free time reading books and watching movies. A true blue millennial, she loves making friends online. You can connect with her on Twitter.