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Subject:Re: Anyone need a job? Very badly? From:William Gaffga <will -dot- gaffga -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:42:43 -0800
About a month ago or so I was contacted for a contract position at a nearby
biotech company (#1 in the world, circa 2006). They were looking for an
"experienced" tech writer, had a fairly extensive list of requirements, and
wanted to pay $25/hour. I could not contain myself and actually laughed
when the recruiter told me this. Now, this ain't someplace like Arkansas
with a low cost-of-living; this is Southern California.
I thanked the recruiter, told him that the wage was for a junior TW (or
someone exceedingly desperate) but that the skills requirement would be a
real impediment to finding a qualified applicant at that rate.
They, I believe, were hoping for someone who wanted the company name on
their resume, and indeed, I would be very happy to have it. Plus, the
commute of 10 minutes is 1/6th of what I do now, but for that rate ... I'd
be in the hole so fast ...
--
William Gaffga
www.wilyguy.net/portfolio/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/willgaffga
H: 805-492-0192
M: 805-405-6602
S: willgaffga
On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 5:50 AM, Dan Goldstein
<DGoldstein -at- riveraintech -dot- com>wrote:
> According to http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes273042.htm, that hourly
> wage is around the 20th percentile or so nationally for tech writers. I
> scrolled down to the "Annual mean wage of technical writers by area, May
> 2010" map and saw that Tampa is in of the lowest-ranking zones. Also,
> the ad says nothing about the required skills and experience. So I'm
> guessing that for an entry-level tech writer in Tampa, that wouldn't be
> a shocking wage.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William Sherman
> Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2012 9:17 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Anyone need a job? Very badly?
>
> ... I guess if you are desperate, it is better than working at
> McDonald's. I would think these contract houses would become a bit
> smarter and realize that the more they help us make, the more they make.
> At this kind of pay, they have to get someone desperate who will quit at
> the first chance of something better or someone with no experience who
> will only make Adecco look bad.
>
>
>
>
>
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