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Subject:Re: Job Market In The Next 6 Months From:"Steve Arrants" <stephena -at- compbear -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 25 Sep 2002 13:28:44 -0600
> Dear List,
>
> Any idea if the job market for tech writers will be
> improving in the next 6 months? I keep hearing that a
> recovery is "2 quarters away." I know company
> earnings, especially in technology, have yet to
> rebound.
>
> Any thoughts from those in the field? What's the mood
> at your companies? (Those that have jobs!)
>
> Thanks,
>
> RD (an unemployed tech writer)
R D <jaguarjamus -at- yahoo -dot- com> said:
>
> Dear List,
>
> Any idea if the job market for tech writers will be
> improving in the next 6 months? I keep hearing that a
> recovery is "2 quarters away." I know company
> earnings, especially in technology, have yet to
> rebound.
>
> Any thoughts from those in the field? What's the mood
> at your companies? (Those that have jobs!)
Cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic. Just hired on a three-month
contract
that might go perm if management gets approval for the open reqs. for this
and other postions from "the home office." Home office doesn't see
documentation as "revenue generating" though, so it will be difficult.
In the Bay Area, some openings for those with Biotech experience and/or
advanced degrees in the health sciences. Telecom, software, and services
types of writers? Mostly a dead zone now. Rates are about half of what
they
were a year or two ago, though full-time salaried positions pay about the
same. Recruiters I've spoken with here in California don't expect any
pickup
until last quarter of 2003 at the earliest.
Most of the interviews I've gotten (and this job) since late last year
were
the result of cold calling companies. I haven't seen more than a couple
of
ads a month for technical writers on the job boards or in the local
papers.
Networking, cold calling, and being in the right place at the right time
seem
to be the best bets now.
I've been hearing from a lot of folks I worked with in the dot-com-bombs
who
had the red hot job market of the late '90s as their first experience with
searching for work. They've never experienced even a hint of a slow market
until 2000, and are frightened and angry that companies aren't looking for
them instead of vice versa. I've been through two recessions, so this one
isn't a surprise, 'cept it did affect me more than prior ones.
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