Re: Interviewing a technical writer -- LIST OF QUESTIONS

[skwpt <skwpt -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Susan, I pulled the info below into a document from
the TECHWR-L archives and various emails. I apologize
in advance for not being able to cite the authors with
the exception of Stephen MacDonald:

Interviewing Questions FAQ
General Questions
When interviewing candidates more experienced than
you, you might try prefacing your questions with
remarks such as "I'm sure you must have done this many
more times than me, but how would you do..." and so
on. This approach confronts the experience issue head
on, and gives you an opportunity to gauge the
candidate's attitude toward working with a less
experienced writer.

* Have you worked with an outside printer vendor 
  before? 

* In the past, how have you prepared documentation 
  projects for printing by an outside vendor? 

* How do you make a PostScript file for use by an 
  outside printer vendor? 

* Name some of the biggest challenges you?ve had to 
  meet as a technical writer. How did you meet those 
  challenges? 

* Have you set up documentation management systems 
  with any previous employers? 

* How have you managed your own documentation projects

  in the past? 

* How have you prioritized your documentation projects

  in the past? 

* How are you proactive when learning about new 
  technologies you?ve had to document for publication?


* Have you ever been asked to perform tasks that were 
  outside your primary responsibilities before? If so,

  what were you asked to do? How did your efforts make

  a positive difference to your employer? 

* How do you add value to your documentation projects 
  so that the final product exceeds your employer?s 
  expectations? 

* Professionally speaking, what do you consider your 
  greatest strength(s)? 

* Professionally speaking, what do you consider your 
  greatest weakness(es)? 

* Could you give me an example of a time when you were

  able to turn one of your weaknesses into a strength?

  (Or, could you give me an example of a time when you

  overcame a particular obstacle? From this, you could

  pose more questions such as: why did you consider it

  an obstacle?) 

* How do you resolve differences of opinion or 
  personality clashes with a coworker? (Be careful, 
  though, about asking someone about dealing with a 
  difficult manager. You may cause the candidate to 
  wonder why the question was posed - and to think 
  twice about taking the job!) 

* Tell me about a time when your opinion clashed with 
  a coworker?s. How was that situation resolved? (This

  is a good way to discover a little bit about the 
  candidate?s character and how compromising he/she 
  is.) 

* What would you do if your boss gave you a technical 
  writing job and the SME did not respond to your 
  first two emails requesting information. What would 
  you do if the SME continued to be difficult to 
  contact or work with? 

* Do you contribute to publications on your own time? 
  (This type of question will help you determine the 
  candidate?s writing skills.) 

* How do you work/get along with editors? What do you 
  think of the editing process?

* What do you do when you need information and don't 
  know where to find it?

* How would you go about suggesting improvements to a 
  document written by a colleague?

* What technologies related to technical writing are 
  you interested in?

Synergy/Ability to Get Along with Current Employees
When interviewing candidates, always consider whether
he or she will fit in with your current employees. If
possible, take candidates to the area where he or she
will be working, and let each employee have 5 minutes
or so to chat with the candidate. Employees can get
together after the candidate has left and share their
impressions. This employee involvement has less to do
with the candidate?s qualifications than his or her
ability to fit in with the group. You may also want to
have some of your developers meet briefly with each
candidate and give you feedback. 

Testing
Some people view writing tests as unfair, feeling that
few writers finish a new piece of writing start to
finish (writing, editing, and revising) in a single
day, so it is unfair to expect a candidate to do so.
On the other hand, writing tests can give you a sample
of a candidate?s raw material. If you do choose to
give a writing test, make it simple. Have candidates
write a short how-to from a list of suggested topics,
for instance.

* Give tool-specific tests: For example: You are 
  hiring someone to develop online help, and an 
  applicant claims to be a RoboHelp expert. Give the 
  applicant a short RoboHelp assignment, and see how 
  he or she is doing after a set period of time. 

* Give overall writing skills tests: For example: Give

  an applicant 20 minutes to outline the steps of an 
  everyday activity (making a pot of tea or filling a 
  car with fuel) for a reader who is unfamiliar with 
  that activity. In addition, have applicants mark up 
  a badly-written document - it is a quick way to find

  out how experienced they are at turning engineering-
  speak into good copy.

Interns
A common misconception is that you don't have to be as
rigorous in your standards for interns as you are with
full-timers. You do. People often hire interns based
on good writing samples and recommendations, only to
find that they lack basic skills. Tougher standards
can be a good skills assessment for internship
applicants, because they often realize where their
skills need improvement.

* Editing tests: Don't expect interns to be able to 
  edit at your level, but they should be able to 
  recognize major problems (or at least flag those 
  problems as questions that should go back to the 
  writer). They should also be able to proofread with 
  accuracy. Allow them to bring a dictionary to the 
  test, and loan them a copy of the AP style guide. 

* Writing tests: Writing samples that have been looked

  over by editors or teachers are fine, but you don't 
  necessarily know how the material looked before it 
  was "cleaned up." Writing tests can help you 
  discover how "raw" an intern?s material will be (and

  how much teaching and/or cleaning up you may have to

  do). 

* Give intern candidates a simple, non-company 
  specific project to set up. This exercise will show 
  you if the candidate has the requisite 
  organizational skills - or at least the right 
  thought processes - to be helpful. Let them work on 
  the project prior to coming in for an interview, and

  allow them to call or email with questions. 

Hope this helps
Kelly

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