TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Hiring through networking From:Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET> Date:Mon, 24 Feb 1997 09:13:51 -0600
At 04:22 PM 2/21/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I'm an EOE. After 10 years in this industry, I know many excellent tech
>writers. But I'm not limiting myself to hiring people I already know. It's
>easy as a hiring manager to think, "I know *I* can do this job, therefore,
>the safest thing is to hire someone just like me." I think the technical
>term for this style of hiring is "the good old boys' network." Even though
>none of us intend to discriminate, I believe each of us, as employers, has
>to actively resist the natural human tendency to be more comfortable with
>people who look and act like we do.
>
Ah, Jeez, have you ever put your hand a major management dilemma! One of the
most important things to have is diversity, yet it also makes us the most
uncomfortable. For example, we really need analytical types to
counterbalance us, because neither I nor my partner are. Yet we have to work
the hardest at getting and keeping that type, often because we forget that
they won't forgive our foibles as readily as those who are temperamentally
similar to us. The quiet, more intellectual types are often convinced that
they don't want to work with us, and for good reason. And to be truthful, we
have to seek them out because they don't gravitate to us. But
paradoxically, they're the types we usually need the most, because we
already HAVE the other types. It's the roughest thing about managing people:
finding and keeping people who aren't like you.
Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support ForeHelp support
FrameMaker-to-HTML Conversions
HTML Help Consulting and Production
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
