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Subject:Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards From:Thomas -dot- Burke -at- bbc -dot- co -dot- uk To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 23 Aug 2004 07:00:59 -0600
>In 12 years of contracting, I never saw a client give a consultant or
>contractor company business cards.
Well, I had been contracting for the last 8 or so years (recently returned
to the land of the 'permies'!) and EACH and everyone of the clients
provided me with business cards.
That is approximately 10 organisations, one of the few similarities
between them was that they are in European locations (maybe that is a big
difference). Some were US based (registered) co.'s, some were small (>10)
enterprises, some were global multi-nationals.
The common factor?
I believe is that when I met their customers (for me an intrinsic role -
finding out who the customer / audience is) they ALL wanted me to present
myself as part of their organisation and (most importantly) they did NOT
want me to present my own business card! (Although, after building up
relationships with some the customers specifically asked for my personal
card and further work arose from that).
So, What am I saying?
Well, the joy of being a Technical Editor/Writer/Author/Communicator /
User Experience Engineer / Information Architect or any other 'title' is
that we (Yes ALL of us) work in a field that is not limited by industry,
location, tools, or even - to a certain extent - language.
Rejoice! A 'good' writer/etc will be able to work across a multitude of
disciplines that normally limit the other worker bees!! A good 'un will be
able to work in medical, legal, IT, Media, Telecomms, Mobile Telecomms,
Engineering, Off-Shore drilling, Banking, Finance, Architecture, Road
Building, etc, etc.
We are a truely flexible profession and as such should embrace eachothers
different experiences and take them onboard - one day we may encounter the
same issue(s). Inherent in this flexibility is the problem of how we
define ourselves, this too should also be flexible to meet what we each
percieve to be our markets' requirements, whether it is 'Documentalist' or
'Fundamentalist' (obviously those working for games manufacturers!). If
it gets you the work go for it.
The only way to survive is to survive, If my title is CIO but the client
wants me to sweep up, then after explaining how ineffective and costly
this would be to them, I would ask "where is the broom?"
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