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That does sound tricky, especially since you'll be relying on your HR
people's perceptions of the candidates' responses to the questions. Most of
the questions you'd want them to ask on your behalf are pretty subjective,
so that makes it even more difficult. I guess you have to have a lot of
faith in your HR department's understanding of technical writing and the
needs of your department!
How many writers are you looking to hire? How many applicants do you expect
to have? Are you really saving time by allowing the HR people to pre-screen
applicants? IMHO, it would seem that you'd save time in the long run by
looking over the resumes first yourself, then give HR a list of the
applicants you're interested in having them talk to, and at that point
provide HR with some somewhat-specific questions to use to further weed out
unqualified people.
Megan E. Rock
Technical Writer
Product Information
megan -dot- rock -at- fanucrobotics -dot- com
All views expressed are entirely my own and are not necessarily shared
by my friends, co-workers, or employer.
-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Ross [mailto:beth -at- vcubed -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 11:30 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Tech Writer screening questions
Just to clarify:
I'm not asking how to interview a tech writer. I do that, along with several
other folks in my company. What my HR department would like is a list of
questions and answers that *they* can use to pre-screen applicants. The idea
being that they "weed out" the "unqualified" ones before taking up my time
to review resumes and interview candidates.
I am having a hard time coming up with questions that won't throw out the
baby with the bath water.
Thanks again! All the comments received so far have been helpful, in one way
or another. Cheers!
--
Elizabeth Ross
Senior Technical Writer, V3 Semiconductor Corp.
beth -at- vcubed -dot- com http://www.vcubed.com
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum.
