Shaun Metzger & the Civil Pilgrim story

Shaun graduated from Florida State University in 2009 — at the peak of the Great Recession — with a double major in Philosophy and Creative Writing, or, as he calls them, “the least helpful degrees for job hunting.” Nonetheless, armed with the ability to think critically and communicate clearly, he sat down at his desk, typed “jobs for writers” into Google, and discovered that copywriting was a legitimate full-time profession.

Newly married and without employment, Shaun spent his days applying for copywriting positions and picking up any work he could to pay the bills. This included commission-only tele-sales, substitute teaching, freelance copywriting, after-school day care, and door to door data collection for the US Census. More than a year after graduation, he landed one (and only one) interview for a Junior Copywriter role with a postcard marketing company. He landed the gig and a career was born.

The role at PostcardMania proved the perfect soil to turn a writer into a copywriter. Shaun wrote copy for a variety of media including: web, social, email, direct mail, press releases, articles, speeches, and even ghostwrote a book. He was promoted to Senior Copywriter and eventually spun out to launch an independent copywriting business, which he called Civil Pilgrim.