TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: Why they don't ask for candidates by technology skills.
Subject:RE: Why they don't ask for candidates by technology skills. From:"Rock, Megan" <Megan -dot- Rock -at- fanucrobotics -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 19 Feb 2003 11:31:13 -0500
>>When I hire someone, my number one requirement is that the person is a
>>quick study. That skill, however, is very difficult to ascertain in an interview.
>Is it?
>Look at the person's portfolio and the resume. If the resume is full of
>relatively short gigs of 6 months to a year, and the portfolio covers a wide
>range of subjects that aren't related to each other, yet require technical
>understanding, then chances are the person can pick stuff up at a decent
>speed.
>OTOH, if the portfolio has only users guides or help files, then it would be
>taking a chance to throw programmer documentation at them and vice versa.
I don't agree with this asertion. In my relatively short career (not quite six years), I've worked for only one company. I've worked primarily on setup & operations manuals, although I've done a fair bit of online help, organized a couple dozen diagnostic flowcharts, and developed and maintained our department's intranet site, which several other groups access and refer to on a daily basis. I've had to learn new tools and new processes in addition to learning the products I'm documenting.
My portfolio and resume' would not demonstrate to you that I can pick stuff up "at a decent speed" based on your criteria. However, I do catch on to things quickly. I might need you to explain something twice, and I might have some questions down the road, but for the most part, once you explain something to me or show me how it works, I'm pretty capable at explaining it to someone else and showing them how to do it. I think that the ability to teach someone else is evidence that somebody truly understands a concept or product, and that kind of info isn't necessarily obvious when looking at a resume' or portfolio.
Buy or upgrade to RoboHelp X3 today and receive the WebHelp
Merge Module for FREE ($299 value). RoboHelp X3's all-new
features include conditional text, completely re-engineered
printed documentation output, Context-sensitive Help Toolkit,
single-source layouts, and more!
Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
