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Subject:Re: Is TW Still Hospitable to Novices? A Dilemma From:GirlWriter -at- aol -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 29 Jan 2001 22:11:41 EST
I am also a hiring manager for a documentation department. In the fall of
last year, I proposed and was approved to start an entry-level technical
writer program. The only "official" criterion it has is that the candidate
have a college degree, of any type. During the interview, we administer a
short writing test -- basically, presenting 4 or 5 convoluted paragraphs
about some obscure topic and asking the candidate to rewrite. That just shows
us writing potential and whether or not the candidate has a basic command of
grammar, punctuation, etc.
That's it in terms of criteria. The only internal rule I imposed is that we
only have one person at entry-level at any given time, as training that
person from the ground up is quite an investment of time on the part of the
senior writer assigned to mentor him or her. As soon as we get the
entry-level writer to the point where he or she is not totally dependent on
the mentor, then we are in the position to hire another entry-level person.
So far, it's working very well. We have thrown together a "training plan" for
the entry-level folk that includes books/articles to read, activities to do,
etc. We also assign the person to do a lot of the "grunt work" for the senior
writers, and we assign the person to write small process-oriented documents.
We ease him or her into the heavy duty "techy" stuff in a somewhat systematic
fashion.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
-Sharon-
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