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Welcome back to the list, Cayenne. I'm also back after an absence, and also
looking for work since being laid off in mid-December.
In answer to your question, I'll tell you what I used to ask people that my
employer, a consulting company, would have me interview for technical
ability if they were being considered for a technical writer position. I'd
ask a few general questions about document management and gathering
information for documenting software, the organization of typical business
documents, and the like. Then, based on which tools the person's resume
indicated s/he had experience in, I'd ask intermediate Word questions, ask
about particulars of HTML (not any particular tool, just HTML), RoboHELP,
and PowerPoint. Those were the tools I knew enough about to quiz on and had
available to check my answers on, and beside that, we mainly put people in
positions using Word and HTML, nothing else.
IME, when I've been asked technical questions in interviews, I get more
general questions about gathering info and organizing documents, and a few
about the tools I'd be using on the job.
Hope that helps.
Justin Cascio, RoboHELP Guru
justin-paul -dot- geo -at- yahoo -dot- com <mailto:justin-paul -dot- geo -at- yahoo -dot- com>
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words;
on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them
unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -- James D. Nicoll
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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