TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: The odds of finding work through job ads From:"Gary S. Callison" <huey -at- interaccess -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:40:32 -0600 (CST)
JPosada -at- book -dot- com (John Posada) wrote:
> Darren Barefoot [mailto:darren -dot- Barefoot -at- capeclear -dot- com] wrote:
>>> I found my first tw job by spamming the alt.comp.misc Usenet list with
>>> a resume to about 600 email addresses extracted from that group.
>>> http://www.computerbits.com/archive/1997/0600/jobs9706.html
>> Er....as a regular Usenet user and occasional employer of technical
>> writers, can I just point out to the fledgling writers among you that,
>> in a post-dotcom-boom economy, this is not a recommended strategy for
>> success? DB.
> It wasn't recommended then, either. You should have seen some of the emails
> I got...made my ears turn red. :-)
And rightfully so. But the world has changed quite a bit in the few years
since then. See
<http://www.petemoss.com/spamflames/ShifmanIsAMoronSpammer.html> for an
example of what can happen now. Poor Bernie Shifman has so ruined his own
reputation in the IT industry (search for his name on Google. Neil's
page is the first hit) that I bet he's slicing meat in a deli somewhere
now.
> But seriously..what do you think those millions of email harvesting
> spiders are doing every second anyway?
"Other people steal, so I can steal too" isn't the greatest moral defense.
Unsolicited bulk email will be the death of email as a viable
communications medium. Please see page 1 column 1 of last thursday's
Washington Post, or the copy online at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17754-2003Mar12.html>. In
today's business climate, spam is business suicide. Please tell your
legions of shaved-head followers not to follow your example.
As for the original topic, in case I forgot to reply earlier, working
backwards I found my jobs through: a job fair, a referral from a friend
(x2), a headhunter, a temp-to-permanent agency, a recruiter, a
temp agency (x5), nepotism, and a referral from a friend (x2). I've
answered a lot of ads, but never actually gotten a job from one.
--
Huey
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, plus FREE
RoboScreenCapture, WebHelp Merge Module and iMarkupSoftware, for a total
giveaway value of $473! Order here: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Help celebrate TECHWR-L's 10th Anniversary starting this month!
Check out the contests at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/special/contests/
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday TECHWR-L....
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.