Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500

Subject: Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500
From: Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:17:23 -0500

If that's all I had to go on for a job that sounded like it was something I wanted, I'd approach it this way. First, 1-2 years experience tells me they are looking for someone just past entry level, and will likely pay accordingly. They've said "IT experience writing training material", not "experience writing IT training material". To me, that's a significant difference. Sounds like they want someone who has an IT background but who also has dabbled in or at least done a little writing for training. They are not looking for an instructional designer, a techwriter specializing in training materials, or a technical trainer. That may indeed be what they /want/, but that's not what they'll get based on that description. Based on that analysis (which may indeed be wrong, we're working with a paucity of information here), if I still wanted the job I'd make the first paragraph of my cover letter something like this: "Please accept my application for the position of IT training materials writer. I am an experienced technical writer with strong procedural knowledge who can customize teaching points for any audience." I would also place that last sentence on my 1-page resume (yes, that's all this requires because we have no info to work with, so we're just trying to get the employer's attention) where an objective might normally go. I might word it differently just to vary the message.

The remainder of the resume page would have a brief highlights of skills section that mentioned my 5 or 6 best IT training related abilities. I'd include 1 or 2 jobs where I wrote training materials, focusing on anything I did that was IT related. I'd have Education, a short Personal Interests line, and the References Available Upon Request line to finish it off.

You don't need much more in this situation because you've got nothing to work with. You either get their attention with your first line, or you don't. If you do, they'll look at your experience and education to see if they support the claims you made in the first sentence. If everything is consistent, you will probably get a call, or it will invoke more information back from the recruiter. It's much better to target what you know for sure or can make reasonably accurate guesses about.
--Beth

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>

OK, check me on this scenario:

You publish the job order and a recruiter copies me on the description, which says 1-2 years IT experience writing training material
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500: From: Mary Arrotti
Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500: From: Ned Bedinger
Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500: From: Ned Bedinger
Re: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500: From: Gene Kim-Eng

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