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Subject:Re: Current job market for tech writers From:"Curtis Brautigam" <bunnies -at- cvns -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 27 May 2002 15:05:10 -0400
The fact is, the current job market for technical writers stinks all over. I
was laid off in March of this year. I have sent out over 100 resumes, and I
have only received four interviews, and one of them was not for a technical
writer position. I have not received a call for an interview in over a
month. This is the state of the technical writing job market in
Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., and Central Pennsylvania. There are a lot of
advertised technical writing positions in the D.C. area, but it seems like
over 70% of these positions require a security clearance of some kind of
another. Since I have skills in other areas, I have decided not to put all
my eggs in the technical writing basket. I am also applying for positions in
the state and federal governments, and a lot of them are not technical
writing positions. It is frustrating, and all one can do is hang in there
and keep on sending out those resumes. I have decided that I would sacrifice
salary in favor of job security. I don't want a high paying position only to
see it go away in the next economic downturn. It seems like technical
writing has become a Rodney Dangerfield kind of profession, and technical
writers become the last hired and first fired. The company that I worked for
experienced a drastic slump in sales, and they decided that my position was
expendable, even though I helped maintain their internal Web site and
perform other useful tasks. If I get another job that is not in technical
writing, and that I may like, that is fine with me.
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