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Subject:FWD: Good Company Fit From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:techwr-l digest recipients <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 05 Apr 2000 10:41:04 -0700
anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com wrote:
>With all these experienced interviewers, I'm hoping someone has
some good
>advice for what questions to ask that might help indicate if a
company is
>a good fit for a prospective employee.
Some suggestions:
1. (if talking to someone who actually writes): How do you
organize writing assignments for your team?
Probe for answers about reviews and scheduling, and what goes on
at meetings. You'll get an idea of whether the general atmosphere
is authoritarian or communal.
2. Where does the writer sit?
For example: if in marketing, then docs are probably seen as a
frill that customers expect; if in QA, then the writing is
integrated into the development cycle.
3. Is the company pre - IPO?
This question may be irrelevant since the drop in high-tech
stocks this week, but a company headed for an IPO is usually
growing fast, and is probably very chaotic. Probe carefully to
see if it's a creative or nihilistic chaos. Either way, expect
long hours and only moderate pay at best. In some cases,
everything may be sacrificed to realizing the IPO. In others,
being pre-IPO may mean that you have a chance of getting in on a
good thing.
4. How would you describe the way people in the company interact?
For example: one employer told me that the company was organized
as a kibbutz. In other words, it had a very flat corporate
structure, and was big on consensus decisions and everybody
pitching in. All these things appealed deeply to me, so I took
the job.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V37 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189
"And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow,
with smiling bastards lying 'bout you everywhere you go,
Stand tall and put forth all your strength of hand and heart and brain,
And like the 'Mary Ellen Carter' rise again."
- Stan Rogers "The 'Mary Ellen Carter'"
