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>We use a writing test for all potential contractors (as well as traditional
>interview methods). Becuase we're a consultancy, and come up against a wide
>variety of documentation tasks, the test has to be as generic as possible.
>We ask the writers to describe how to make a telephone call to someone who
>has never seen a telephone.
An interesting challenge. Are they supposed to describe how calls
are placed in general, or are they supposed to describe how to make
a specific kind of phone call from a specific kind of phone? The
general case gets pretty nasty, what with area codes, dialing "1"
on non-local calls (which is inconsistent across the country, by
the way), the possibility of encountering voicemail, country codes,
time zones, calling cards, cellular, etc., etc., etc.
It was a lot easier in the old days, when all calls went through an
operator. The entire concept of dialing was eliminated (though there
were always phone numbers, the operator made the connection for you),
and you always had help available, whether you wanted it or not.
If you glossed over long-distance dialing, the biggest challenge would
be in the "telephone etiquette" section, that told people how to behave
on the phone. The instrument itself is pretty simple.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon * Writer * robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (408) 321-8771
4271 North First Street, #106 * San Jose * California * 95134-1215
"Writing is like plumbing -- even people who know how to do it will
pay top dollar to keep their hands clean."
