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Subject:RE: Seeking advice on English MA From:"Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 18 Apr 2001 17:00:29 -0400
I don't really believe you,
The last time I advertised for open positions, I got a lot of laid-off
defense industry engineers, a bunch of insurance industry everythings, truck
drivers, ex-marines, and the like. For just those reasons alone I required a
B.A. in English (it was a little more broad than that, but not much). The
B.A. shows some formal training, the ability to succeed in a paper-intensive
environment, and a dedication to the language, to some degree. Did I lock
myself out of some delivery persons who potentially might have written
superb copy? Sure. But, I was playing the numbers . . . and, to my mind, the
numbers said that somebody with the degree was more likely to bring the
skillset I wanted to the table. I really did not want to interview a large
number of candidates who would probably turn out to not have the skills,
mainly because I had to get work done as well as interview potential
employees.
(Tho', certainly having only academic examples might be off-putting for
certain openings, especially senior or intermediate positions.)
As for tools, I had a bunch as "preferred" but tool skills were something I
was (and did) willing to teach (including formal training).
Cheers,
Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jgarison -at- ide -dot- com [SMTP:jgarison -at- ide -dot- com]
> As a hiring manager for 20 years, in a word, no.
>
> I'd care more about your experience and ability to write than whether you
> have a masters degree - or a bachelor's for that matter. And if all you
> had
> to show for writing samples was a lot of academic writing, that might
> disqualify you in my eyes!
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