Should I do a freelance medical writing test?

I’m going to take on a bit of a controversial topic today – tests for freelance Medical Writers.

I’m Eleanor Steele and I’m the MedComms Mentor.

I’ve worked as a freelancer but I’ve also worked in agencies hiring and assigning work to freelancers.

Tests are a standard tool for recruitment in MedComms agencies, say for permanent positions, but for freelancers it’s a bit of a different situation. Not all agencies use tests for freelancers, and some actually don’t really use freelancers at all, apart from in dire emergencies.

Some freelancers refuse to do a test, under any circumstances, and I totally respect this as a position, but I think there are some nuances that it’s worth thinking about.

I never required freelancers to do a test before I worked with them when I was back in agencies, but I can see why they might be useful under certain circumstances.

For other types of freelance writing, people might have a portfolio of previous work, but in MedComms, this is quite unlikely. Most of our work is very confidential and we sign NDAs so that we can’t show examples to demonstrate our skills and experience.

If an agency wants to get a taste of a freelance Medical Writer’s work before they commit to giving them projects, they might need to get them to do a test of some kind.

OK, this is where my controversial opinion comes in. I can see why they might be useful for the freelancers themselves in some specific circumstances.

But first, let’s look at the whole issue from the agency’s perspective.

1. What’s the agency’s perspective?

Why would an agency want to give a freelancer a test? Well, it’s the same reason that they give tests to potential recruits. They want to assess your skills, experience, and approach to a particular type of writing, and it can be the most reliable way to do this.

People in agencies are used to marking writing tests and they probably have quite a streamlined process. So, if they’re giving out tests for any freelancer who might work on some of their content, it means that that test is a level playing field to help them find the best person for the job if there are several potential options, or to just double check that this person is going to be able to work to the level that they require.

On the other hand, it’s time consuming for the agency. Someone needs to mark them and this can be done very quickly if you’re used to marking those tests and you know exactly what you’re looking for and what standard you are expecting from that person. But that’s not always the case, especially if you’ve never marked the test before or it’s not something that you’ve done recently.

Also, it takes time away from chargeable work for that person.

Another potential con for agencies is that it adds a step before a new freelancer can get started. Also, it may well put people off – experienced freelancers do refuse to do tests – so, do agencies really want to rule out working with excellent freelancers because of this bureaucratic step?

It might not also give them the information that they’re actually looking for to really understand whether that particular freelancer is the right person to do the job. It’s a key point to remember if you’re a freelancer negotiating about whether or not you’re going to do a writing test, and I’ll explore this a bit more later on.

But now, let’s turn to the broader freelance perspective for writing tests.

2. What’s the freelancer’s perspective?

From the freelancer perspective, there are some pretty obvious downsides to doing a writing test before being able to pick up work from an agency client, and these are often the focus of the conversation around writing tests for freelancers.

It takes time away from chargeable work, and there are a few unscrupulous companies out there that might use it as a way of getting work done for free. I kind of think of this a bit like the pharma companies that use the pitch and proposal process to get lots of ideas from a range of different agencies before just getting their incumbent agency to do the delivery.

Not cool guys! Doesn’t matter whether you’re a pharma company or an agency, that kind of practice is not ethical.

But there are reasons that a writing test could be useful to freelancers.

It can be a really good way to demonstrate your expertise and your skills and approach to a new client.

Now, this is particularly useful if you are new to freelancing or new to MedComms in general, because you may not have another way to demonstrate that, either through examples or references.

It can also be useful to give you a chance to actually practice the kind of content that you’re going to be working on.

Again, if you’re new to freelancing or new to MedComms, then I think you are going to benefit from pretty much any opportunity that you can get to hone your skills, even if it may not be in the ideal way of actually having paid work.

It can give you insights into the kind of work that that agency would need you to do, whether it’s what therapy area or drug you might be working on, the type of projects, but also how they approach briefing and collaboration. It can be really useful to get those kind of insights to decide whether you really want to actually work with them or not.

Now, tests might also be paid. It’s definitely something to ask about, and knowing agencies, I would say it’s probably unlikely to be offered unless you ask. But if you do ask, the worst they can say is no, and, maybe, it will be a starting point for you to negotiate something. So – ask the question.

Again, there are other nuances about why a test might be a useful thing for a freelancer to do, and it’s not the same for every situation for every freelancer. So let’s dig a little deeper into some of these different aspects.

3. What’s your career stage?

Your career stage and your level of MedComms and freelancing experience can really make a difference about how useful a test could be to you specifically as the freelancer.

If you’re new to freelancing, and particularly if you’re new to MedComms as well, then they can be particularly useful as a way to really prove yourself.

It could be counterproductive to actually argue against doing a test, especially if you’re still in the early stages of building your client base. Instead, focus on what you can learn from it. It can definitely help you hone your skills, approach and process, and it can help you identify questions or suggestions for the real work that you would be doing with that agency later on.

It can help you understand how much you might need to charge for the real project, because often, once you’ve got that kind of thing agreed, or got the timeline set in stone, it can be tricky to renegotiate things while your project is ongoing. But, if you understand the kind of level of detail you’ll need to be going into, and the way that you need to be working, based on what you have discovered from that test, you might be able to put together a much more accurate, budget or timelines for the project which will mean it’s better for you in the long run.

It could also be a really nice introduction to the therapy area or the drug, getting you up to speed, helping you get your head around it so again you’re going to be much more efficient when you get to the actual project work.

You can also use the test to ask for feedback. If you are doing the test in your own time, then you’re investing in that agency, so they can reciprocate and invest in you a little by giving you some feedback on how you did, especially if it turns out that they are not going to give you any further work. Understanding why that’s the case and what you need to work on will be very valuable for you in that situation in particular.

If you’re more experienced, then tests, well, it’s a bit more of a complicated situation. Some experienced freelancers just have a ‘no writing tests’ policy. If you’ve got years in the industry and a significant previous body of work, that should be enough to demonstrate that you are going to be able to do what they need you to.

If it’s your position to simply say no for those reasons, fair enough. But, I do have some considerations that might be worth thinking about, and potentially discussing with the company instead of just refusing and moving on, especially given the current financial climate where freelancer budgets are much tighter and there seems to be less work around. I think agencies are more careful nowadays than they used to be about the budgets that they have and the freelancers that they’re going to be working with.

4. How well do you know the company?

What could we be thinking about and how can we be approaching these things?

How well you know the agency in question or the people working there is definitely a factor to consider. Are they previous colleagues, maybe from different agencies, or previous freelance client, again, maybe from a different agency rather than this particular one. It’s worth discussing whether a test is necessary if they genuinely know your skills and capability, and probably it won’t be.

For some agencies, doing a test before they hire a freelancer might be a company policy. But talking to them, especially if they are a previous client, or the people working there are previous clients, maybe from another agency, or maybe people that you worked with at another agency – having that conversation may illuminate ways that you can still demonstrate what they need without having to do the test.

Now, whether or not it’s a company policy, it might sometimes be just a total formality, and depending on the size of the opportunity, then it might be worth just writing off a couple of hours, banging out the test, and then picking up a hefty chunk of work. Obviously, you do need to understand the circumstances before you can really weigh up whether it’s a beneficial loss leader, or it’s going to be a total waste of time and you’re unlikely to get enough work to make back that time.

It might be possible to skip it if, for example, an internal person can vouch for your skills. But if they are a totally new client, then you’re as unknown as a total newbie. They can see your CV, but can you really do what they need you to do?

Think about how the opportunity came up. Is it cold business development? Maybe you’ve responded to a LinkedIn post or an advert. They may well have had lots of responses, so they need to find a way to filter them, and this test could be your way to securing a large amount of work if you can demonstrate that you are head and shoulders above the other freelancers.

If it came via a recruiter, then the circumstances are likely to be that a MedComms agency needs someone quickly and nobody they normally work with has time.

I have definitely had experiences in that kind of situation where a recruiter has offered up a freelancer who did not have the right skill set or the right experience for what I needed, but the recruiter pushed them hard. I can imagine there are agencies out there who have had similar experiences and so want to get a test before they sign a contract so that they don’t get stuck, basically.

If you are in any of those circumstances, now is the time to dig into your LinkedIn network, especially if you experienced and have a good network out there.

Do you have any mutual connections between yourself and the people in the agency? Maybe previous colleagues or previous clients who worked there or worked with people who are there now? Maybe people who have moved on from where you worked with them?

MedComms is such a small world that if you do a bit of digging, it’s quite likely you are going to find some kind of connection. And having that social proof, somebody who can say, “Yes, I know that person. I know, their level of work – they’re going to be able to do what you need,” can be so valuable.

Also, just having references from previous clients can provide the same kind of social proof, especially from people you have worked with recently. It’s worth asking clients for references as you finish jobs so that you’ve got something that you can send out to other people, or refer them to the client that you have just worked with.

It’s perfect if it’s actually for the same type of work. Though obviously not if it’s some kind of conflict because that could get a bit tricky.

But in general having that social proof – people that you can go to who would vouch for your skills, your experience, and be able to reassure the agency that needs help fast – that can be a really powerful way to mean that you don’t need to do a test.

5. What kind of work is it for?

I think it’s also important to consider what kind of work the agency will need you to do. Is it something that you have done a bajillion times before? If it is, can you give examples?

For publications, this is often relatively easy because you would be in the acknowledgements and that’s going to be in the public domain.

It can be a lot harder for other types of work due to the confidentiality of the kind of things that we work on, and if that’s the case, it could instead be worth talking about your prior experience, giving verbal examples – with no confidentiality breaches obviously – to explain your approach and the process that you would use for that type of content.

You could have a call to demonstrate your familiarity with that kind of work, in lieu of the time that it would take you to do the test and them to mark it. If that’s something that is going to be able to demonstrate that you know what you’re doing and they will get that reassurance, then that can be a really powerful way of not needing to do the test, in a way that’s beneficial to both sides.

If it’s a kind of project that you haven’t done before, or maybe only once or twice, it could still be useful to have that call to discuss other experiences that you’ve had or related projects that might help, and it could be a good way of gauging whether or not you actually would feel confident doing the work.

If you’re less familiar with the project, and the test is going to be on that kind of content, then it might actually be most useful for you to do the test, because that way you’re going to get a bit of a feel for the kind of thing that you would be doing, and that might actually make you go, “Hmm, yeah, maybe this isn’t for me,” or “I’m going to need to do some up-skilling so that I’m going to be able to give the agency what they need.”

6. What sort of test is it?

Let’s think about the test itself now.

Is it a generic test or a specific test? This is your key question for the agency.

If it’s a generic test then it’s likely to be the same one that they hand out when they’re recruiting or maybe a standard one that they use just with freelancers. It’s going to be the same no matter what project or therapy area the actual freelance work will be.

It might be something like writing an abstract based on a paper. That’s not going to be that helpful if the project they want you to work on is an ad board report, or a slide deck.

Talk to them about what they would be looking for in the test, to see if there’s another way that you can demonstrate that. Potentially having the kind of call that I described earlier about the project process and the way that you would approach it, that could be very useful.

Or maybe it would be better to have references from mutual connections who can vouch for you on that type of project?

The other kind of test is one that is specific to the kind of work you would be doing. That would be more useful to them as the agency, but harder to mark because they’re less likely to have a standard mark scheme, or be familiar with exactly what they’re looking for in the test content.

This kind of test might also be useful to you though because it could help you understand more about the broader work that you would be picking up with them – their processes, their approach and whether you would be a good fit.

Specific tests are more useful than a generic test, obviously, because a generic test might also have been written years ago and not really be all that relevant for the current state of the art, even if it’s in the right therapy area or looking at the right drug.

But a specific test might be so specific that it’s actually an element of the project.

If that is the test, you have a very strong argument to make that it is not, in fact, a test. It’s a trial project and should be treated accordingly. Otherwise, you’re going to be doing actual, proper project work for free, which is not an ethical way to treat freelancers.

I think trial projects are the way forward, but firstly, you should be paid for them, because it’s a project, it’s not a test.

And secondly, a trial project gives both sides a way of seeing if the collaboration will work, and it gives you both an escape hatch if either of you decide that it’s not meant to be.

A trial project should be a short section of a longer piece or one element of a set of projects. It should be representative of the type of work that you would be doing so that you can see if it’s going to suit you and the agency can see if you’ve got the right skill set that they need.

It should also have clear cut-offs, so everyone is clear on when the trial period ends and when the full contract starts and what is involved in each of those circumstances.

There should also be scope to renegotiate before the full contract starts, because a trial project will often show that the process could be tweaked, or the budget isn’t quite right, or the timelines need a bit of massaging. It’s in everyone’s interest to get these things right sooner rather than later.

If an agency is asking you to do a test, especially if it’s free, especially if it looks like it might actually just be a bit of the project, talk to them about having a trial project or short part of the project as a trial before you get started, and using that as a much more effective way of seeing from both sides, whether this is going to work.

Download the PDF summary

Writing tests for freelancers are controversial, but I don’t think that a knee jerk reaction to them either to say yes immediately or to say no and rule out working with that agency – I don’t think either approach is helpful.

Agencies need to make sure that the person they’re hiring to do a freelance contract will be able to do the work, otherwise, it’s going to be an expensive waste of time for them. But freelancers don’t want to waste their time either, especially doing work for free.

If you’re new to freelancing, then you might find tests are a really useful way to demonstrate your skills, especially if you don’t have any other ways of doing this, like examples of your work or references from other clients.

Experienced freelancers can probably find other ways to give agency clients the reassurance that they know what they’re doing. Mutual connections who can vouch for your work, or references from other clients could do the trick. Maybe there are previous examples of your work in the public domain?

If not, a call to discuss your experience and your suggested approach for the work that they need you to do could be more useful to the client than taking a test, especially if it’s a generic test that maybe hasn’t been updated for a while.

But a trial project with clear parameters and the opportunity to renegotiate once it’s completed, is probably the most sensible approach from the agency perspective and for freelancers.

You can download a PDF summary of everything that I’ve talked about here from a link in the video description below.

But I’d really like to know what you think. Please let me know in the comments. Let’s get a conversation going!

And if you’ve got any questions or suggestions of other topics I can explore in future videos, then also add those to the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

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