Re: Writing tests

Subject: Re: Writing tests
From: "Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- STARBASECORP -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 13:58:24 -0800


From Emily Skarzinski...
> I'm fairly new at hiring other writers, and I'm interested in some discussion
on
> having job candidates take writing tests. Do most of you who hire writers use
> tests? If so, do you purchase them or do you make them up? What specific
skills
> do you test for? Is editing included?

I'm not a fan of writing tests. Never took one, never gave one...
and I've been a technical writer/trainer in the software
industry for 12 years.

When interviewing writers, I have a few basic questions that help
me to assess their writing skills...

I ask them what their grammatical "pet peeves" are. If they don't
have any, they're in trouble. But, you can certainly tell a lot
about someones writing skills by the way they discuss grammar.

I ask what their favorite and least favorite manual creation tasks
are (outlining/layout/indexing/writing...). I then try to get them
talking about the reasons for liking/not liking the task.

I look at their samples (making a quick scan for passive voice,
split infinitives, etc.), ask them which one they like best, what
they like best about it, and what they'd change if they had it
to do over again (here's where you hear about challenges in the
production cycle, having to follow a style guide you don't agree
with, etc.).

I then ask how they change their writing style to accomodate
online delivery systems.

No test. No pressure. Just a conversation about writing that
quickly lets me know all I need to know about a person's
writing skills.

Sue Gallagher
StarBase Corp, Irvine CA
sgallagher -at- starbasecorp -dot- com


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