RE: Why they don't ask for candidates by technology skills.

[Lisa Kemp <lnk -at- ontario -dot- com>]

I agree with Tom.
You can teach your company's style, but you cannot teach core writing
competency. You can teach your tools and products, but you cannot teach
someone the critical thinking and core aptitude for fact finding that they
need for learning the technology and your company's products. If someone has
figured out how to teach the latter, I'd love to know your secret.
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.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Murrell [mailto:trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Subject: Re: Why they don't ask for candidates by technology skills.
I take your point about advertising for the technical, as well as the
writing,
skills you want. Even if a job listing is a wish list, which it is, a
well-developed
list of job requirements should include all of the skills you want from the
person
you will hire.

Still, it is true that it is often difficult to find someone with the full
package
that you need. I know that I opt for solid writing and tools skills along
with some
proven record of being able to learn the technology-specific things to
complete the
package. If a writer can demonstrate both a willingness to learn new things
and an
ability to acquire that knowledge in a reasonable period of time, that will
work for
me.

I know that the last three jobs I got, including this one, I knew next to
nothing
about the technologies involved. I was, however, able to learn them quickly
and turn
out documentation, sometimes on tight deadlines.

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