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Would that it were so! Over the past 17 years, I've been laid off four
times from marcomm jobs, and once from tech comm. Mar Comm is looked at
with even more disdain than tech comm, at least in the U.S. mid-Atlantic.
In general, if you're a wordsmith, you're expendable.
However, I am seeing a trend towards incorporating both in a single
communications position-which makes me a bit of trend setter, since I've
spent about the same amount of time in each niche. Wow, who'duv thunk it?
Those that are considering a move, the methodologies are more similar than
might first appear, however, the mindset tends to be VERY different. You
must know your product, and your audiences, and craft the messages
accordingly. However, to be really successful in marcom, you need to be
more mercenary than is generally true in tech com.
MTC
Connie Giordano
MarCom/TechCom battle veteran
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 4:58 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Job Market: More Openings for Marcom than Tech-Writing?
In the last few weeks, I've moved out of the shrinking dot-com niche I've
been in for the last fourteen months to a semi-holiday of small contracts.
I've got to say that I enjoy the change, working on little pieces of work
that couldn't remotely be described as "revolutionary" or "leading edge" -
just small pieces of work that I can do without lending the company my soul
(and leisure hours), and move on.
But one thing I've noticed in the local (Vancouver, BC) job market: there
seems to be more of a market right now for marcom writing (new releases,
newsletters, product sheets) than for technical writing. By my unofficial
tally, there's about four or five marcom contracts available for every
tech-writing contract.
Has anyone else noticed the same in their area? If so, it might be a good
tip for all the job seekers on the list about how to position themselves in
order to survive their hard times. Marketing budgets may be one of the
first things slashed at companies in difficulties, but I think that, in
general, they survive marginally longer than tech pub budgets.
Any thoughts?
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
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