FW: Tech writing interviews (Naive Interviewers)

["Folena, Shannon" <SFolena -at- CKSYS -dot- COM>]

Mona and All:

Mona wrote:

...Just had an interview with people who kept asking, "But where do
> you get all those details if nobody writes it for you?" and "What
> does a technical writer DO besides make it look pretty?"  I spent
> most of the time trying to explain THAT instead of why I was
> fully qualified for their project. I got the feeling that they were
> suspicious that I couldn't possibly have understood, or even
> collected,
> all that technical detail without some engineer pre-writing it for
> me....
>
My response:

I've read the other responses to Mona's email message and have a
different question/opinion.  If I were to have experienced this type of
interview, I would not have wanted to work for these individuals.  They
obviously didn't know what type of professional they needed, so why did
they waste Mona and other technical writer candidates' time?  They
should have researched the answers to their questions and decided on
what types of professionals they needed before even considering
interviewing.

So, I think having a "technical writing description speech" in our back
pockets is good.  But if an interviewer is as unprepared and naive as in
the situation described above, I'd say to not waste your breath.  We can
make better use of our time by finding ways to educate people about our
profession through our local Society for Technical Communication (STC)
chapters, not on an individual basis with unprepared interviewers.

What are some other thoughts about this subject?

Take care,
Shannon

------------------------------------------------------
Shannon Folena
Technical Publication Designer
C&K Systems, Folsom, CA  95630
SFolena -at- CKSys -dot- com
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 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=