FW: Re: Ye Olde Tar Heel...

[Deborah Holmes <dholmes -at- BOSTONTECHNOLOGY -dot- COM>]

>>>PETER GOLD SAID
>From the employer's side consider: would you hire someone at full pay who
>is not fully trained and with a successful track record in what you need
>the new hire to do pretty quick after coming board? <snip>


>The answer is, overwhelming, yes.  That's why there are jobs called "entry
>level." It may be that an entry level tech writer can't find a job outside of
>the "tech belts." But in 1989, when I retooled and took off into tech
>writing, I hadn't had an internship, I didn't have a degree in English, never
>mind a Masters.  I got a job for $30K, and have worked through the major
>downturn in Massachusetts, for ever-increasing salary.  I'm a little ahead of
>the STC curve and I am not a technical wizzard.

>First of all, don't listen to gloomsters.  You *can* get work as a tech
>writer.  What you need is an entry level job. Interview the company on the
>phone before you go to talk with anybody so you don't waste your energy and
>deplete you self-esteem.  I've talked to more than one hiring manager when I
>was hunting for work, and have been offered jobs that I felt were beyond my
>technical grasp. Lots of managers hire  new, bright, enthusiastic people,
>because they know the newbies will offset their lack of knowledge with the
>energy that mastering a new field brings.

>You can do it!
>Deb