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Re: Hiring TW without a test

Subject: Re: Hiring TW without a test
From: Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: Jen <jennee -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:42:30 -0700

Your best bet is still to get them to write something original based on your input. Send them some introductory information about your department, your team your process, something, and then ask them some questions that will require a longer answer than just a few sentences. Perhaps ask them to relate any experiences they may have that they think may relate. What you are looking for is not their knowledge, but their ability to put their thoughts into words and their generic ability to generate prose.

Remember, based on what you've said so far, you're not hiring a TW, but someone with reasonably good English composition skills and some other experience or education that you believe will enable you to train that person into a TW.

Gene Kim-Eng


On 3/20/2013 12:31 PM, Jen wrote:

I'll ask if it's possible to get writing samples. I don't know if that
falls under the company's "no written test" policy, but it's worth a
shot... even if it means getting school papers, it's still better than
nothing.

I would be extremely surprised if any of the candidates knew anything about
tech writing basics, style guides or anything like that. There are no tech
writing classes here and the profession is virtually unknown. (I only
applied for this job because a developer friend said it would fit me... and
luckily it did.) I'm hoping we get more resumes from people with
transferable skills, at least!

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Follow-Ups:

References:
Hiring TW without a test: From: Jen
Re: Hiring TW without a test: From: Bill Swallow
RE: Hiring TW without a test: From: Lynne Wright
Re: Hiring TW without a test: From: Jen

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