Interview with Milica Kostic, Teamwork’s Head of Content

Mixing things up a bit, we are starting a series of interviews with valued members of our team and first up is Milica Kostic, our Head of Content.

Milica has been an integral part of Teamwork since joining in 2016 and it is people like her that make our company tick and help us navigate the testing waters of the iGaming industry.

Having been working with freelancers from all over the world, she has some very interesting things to share with our followers.

“If the writer is cooperative, I face no challenges at all.”

What’s it like being Head of Content in iGaming? Our own Milica Kostic spills the beans while answering hot seat questions in a first-time interview for the Teamwork blog.

Milica, you have been with Teamwork since 2016. How has your role in the company evolved over the years?

I started as a junior content writer in the winter of 2016 without previous experience in the iGaming industry. Thankful for this opportunity, I was determined to learn as much as possible about the job. With good results and continuity, I was given more demanding tasks and soon entire projects to run, becoming head of content in 2021.

What are some of the things you like about this job?

What I like most about the job is that you can achieve a lot with the will to learn and improve your skillset. I like working in a smaller team because we usually solve issues very fast. We know each other pretty well and bounce ideas off each other for the optimal result. iGaming is a dynamic niche, with many innovations each year, and I like that – the fact that what I am doing will never become stale and obsolete.

As Teamwork has been a remote-friendly company from the beginning, how are you finding the work-from-home environment? Do you miss working in a physical office?

The work-from-home aspect of working for Teamwork is one of the best overall! I’m sure many home-office workers can agree that we have days when we feel like going out, yearning for office chatter. Working from cafés or coworking spaces can help, and if you want to chat with your coworkers, hop on a call. It really isn’t so hard given how the technology connects us – even while we’re in our PJs, sipping on hot cocoa by our bedroom window on a rainy day in November like this one.

Your job includes a lot of sitting in front of the computer. Do you have any tips to combat the negative effects of such a lifestyle?

The tips that have helped me so far are doing yoga and buying a height-adjustable standing desk. Many people advise frequent breaks and getting up every 20 minutes or so. Still, I found that hard to carry out because I often get immersed in what I am doing without noticing the time passing by. I do think it is good advice, but I only find it doable with an alarm clock going off every 20 minutes as a reminder.

Your role involves working with a plethora of freelancers from all over the world and performing quality control to ensure their articles meet our high standards. What are the biggest challenges you face within this process?

If the writer is responsive, approachable, free from vanity and willing to cooperate, I face no challenges at all. We work together to produce the best possible version of the content required. The challenges arise when the writer is uncommunicative or standoffish. In such cases, I do my best to make them understand our stance. Usually, we come to an agreement – achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.

Teamwork emphasises quality control and fact-checks as we want our clients to get great value for their money. Speaking from experience, what are some tools you can recommend for someone who works as a Content Editor?

Indeed, we are very adamant when it comes to the quality of our texts, so we demand correct information from our writers. In order to avoid potential slips, we turn to all sorts of tools, from AI-detection software to Grammarly Premium. Copyscape helps us find plagiarised content, whereas Hemingway and Yoast’s tools help improve readability.

Working with so many writers with different backgrounds can be both interesting and quite challenging. What are some of the funniest excuses they used for missing deadlines, and can you share some other anecdotes that our readers might find entertaining?

Oftentimes, the excuses for overdue tasks sound too similar to the old “the dog ate my homework” defense strategy. One that stuck to my mind was when one of our writers failed to deliver on time because her mother-in-law broke her arm on vacation in the Canary Islands, so she had to fly out, pick her up, and then take care of her post-operation. She enclosed pictures of her mother-in-law with a giant cast on her arm, smiling in a hospital bed. Takeaway? Always provide proof for the delay, and be careful when vacationing in the Canary Islands!

Do you have any idea how many words of content you have produced and proofread while working at Teamwork?

The Head of Content position in an in-demand content agency can be stressful at times. What do you do to relax and take your mind off work?

Doing yoga, apart from helping with physical activity and my back health, also helps with stress relief. I am also a cinephile, so I watch a lot of movies, and recently, I’ve discovered some great Japanese anime.

Do you have a travel bucket list?

Working in iGaming showed me that no country or city is out of reach. Flexible working hours and remote office allow us to work from basically anywhere. So, my list contains quite a few options, from London and Madrid to Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

You live in Belgrade, one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Where would you take someone visiting from abroad? Are there any gems hidden beyond the usual tourist paths?

I would always ask that person what they would like to see and what their preferences are. If I were free to choose, I would pick alternative places like Silosi on the Danube riverbank. I would also suggest a few great places where to grab excellent coffee, one of them in the bohemian, village-like municipality of Zemun. Over there, we can also get the best homemade ice cream ever. If the visitor is really feeling adventurous, we can try creative ice cream flavours like plum brandy (sljivovica) or ajvar. Yummy!