RE: Editing and writing tests for jobs

["Giordano, Connie" <Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM>]

Ben,

How to make PB&J sandwich tests are silly, no argument from me!  But there
are a number of people out there who fake and steal samples, just ask a few
folks on this list who have seen their work turn up in someone else's
portfolio!  It ain't silly when a client cancels a huge contract because
somebody talks a great line and steals samples, but can't live up to reality
of deadlines and competence.  Tests aren't perfect, test-givers aren't
perfect, and test-takers aren't perfect.  Give me a portfolio to review, a
substantive interview, and the results of a writing test like the one I
describe previously (not a standardized test), and my company has a better
shot at making an informed judgment about who can and can't do the job.

again MTC

Connie P. Giordano
Senior Technical Writer
Advisor Technology Services
A Fidelity Investments Company
704-330-2069 (w)
704-330-2350 (f)
704-957-8450 (c)
connie -dot- giordano -at- fmr -dot- com <mailto:connie -dot- giordano -at- fmr -dot- com> 
 
"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to
do it." - Pablo Picasso 



-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Kovitz [mailto:bkovitz -at- nethere -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 12:03 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Editing and writing tests for jobs



Cara O Sullivan wrote:
 
> For those who are looking for work and are experienced tech writers, have
> you encountered many potential employers who use editing or writing tests
to
> screen candidates?
> 
> And if so, what do you think of that tactic?

I think it's silly.  When I was interviewing tech writers, I and the
other interviewers just looked at samples of their work and talked
with them informally for a bit.  We hired some magnificent folks this
way.  I'd look at the work samples first.  They told the whole story,
minus whether the person would be pleasant to work with.  That's what
you'd learn from the interview.

Tech writing is expressing information in a way that's simultaneously
faithful to the content and comprehensible to the audience.  A test
that asks you to spot spelling errors or nonstandard usage in someone
else's text just isn't going to reveal much about that primary skill.

However, I can see a reasonable basis for using tests.  The "look at
their work" approach requires that the interviewer be able to judge
for him or herself whether the writing is any good.  That is, it
requires that the interviewer have some knowledge or at least good
intuition about tech writing.  Not everyone has that.  No need to
bemoan that.  That's why tech writers have jobs.

So tests are a sort of substitute for independent judgement.  Perhaps
it would do some good to make a mechnically interpretable test that
relates to the primary skill of tech writing rather than the usual
proofreading minutiae.  That would take some cleverness, but maybe it
could be done.


Ben Kovitz
Author, Practical Software Requirements: A Manual of Content & Style
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884777597
http://www.manning.com/Kovitz

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