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Re: Re to temporary/contract work and worried about the future
Subject:Re: Re to temporary/contract work and worried about the future From:cchris -at- toptechwriter -dot- us To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 8 Dec 2004 13:52:06 -0700
Hi Phillip,
I'm not disputing what you've actually experienced, and I can think of
several scenarios where boneheaded downsizing can take place without deep
thought (whacking an entire team of people working on a project,
regardless of experience or salary is one that comes to mind). But as an
alternate viewpoint, if I managed a sizable department of say, 10
technical writers and had to cut two-thirds, I surely wouldn't keep the
least expensive/experienced. No, I'd keep writers who could do the work of
three people! (i.e, the expensive/experienced ones). That being the case,
I'd think that the writers left, having survived layoffs and not wanting
to overextend staffing levels, would only want to hire people who could
also shoulder a similar workload. I may be wrong about that, but it seems
more in line with the survival-of-the-fittest (and overly stressed) lean,
mean, etc. management style in vogue these last few years.
If so, maybe you should be emphasizing the high quality and quantity of
the work you can do more than your skillset.
Best of luck on your job search.
Regards,
Chris
___________________________________________
TopTechWriter.US http://www.toptechwriter.us
Award-winning technical writing and illustration services.
On 12/8/04 2:46 PM, "Phillip St. James" <saint0 -at- verizon -dot- net> wrote:
> Add to that the fact that when the downturn occurred, those in tech pubs who
> were kept on in most firms were often not the most well-paid or most
> experienced. These folks are now the gatekeepers and are not yet in a
> position/disposition to hire folks who probably are more expensive and more
> skilled than themselves. They naturally want to keep their jobs and protect
> their newfound positioning.
>
> You don't have that problem - yet!
>
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