TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Andrew Plato wrote:
> Somebody sent me this today, it came off of some board somewhere...
> made me chuckle. This guy is probably working at a car wash these
> days (or he's an STC officer).
OK, I don't have the whole story in context, but I'll read between the
lines and put my own spin on it.
As I recall in '99 there was more than enough arrogance around for
everybody to get a piece.
Andrew quoting somebody else from some board somewhere:
--------------------------------------------------------------
I had a guy come in to interview for a job as a senior
technical writer. This is in about 99. As I recall, the
salary was to be $65-$78k, with incentives
--------------------------------------------------------------
Whoever did get the job is probably working at the car wash
too, and is polishing the cars with his 'incentive' certificates.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The person would be in charge of a small team working up all our
documentation. He had been a T/W consultant at XXXXX, and had
documented one of their big application server products. Had been
there about 4 years I think. Pretty top-flight experience,
--------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously this interviewer knows nothing about documentation and was
helpless at managing his own 'small' doc staff, so he had the right
instincts to bring in a skilled consultant with big-project experience.
Too bad he screwed up by treating the consultant like a regular job
applicant.
I experienced the same thing in the dot-com era. Desperate and
muddle-headed clients, who couldn't manage to keep their FT staff
from fleeing, would post frantic requests for 'consultants.' But
when an actual consultant showed up, the client treated them as
job applicants instead of businessmen/women. There's the arrogance.
--------------------------------------------------------------
but he really had no technical credentials or
qualifications outside of the writing experience.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Well, duh-h... you advertised for technical writing consultants -
Who did you think would show up?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Turned out that he had also refused to fill out an application or
sumbit references or speak to the HR department.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The interviewer seems confused about the difference between a
consultant
and an employee.
The consultant reacted exactly the right way. When a consultant arrives
for a sales call it is *extremely* unprofessional to channel them
through the HR process like a regular job applicant.
Andrew, when you make a sales call to a prospective client, do you fill
out job applications?
It's a pain to try to conduct a sales call and evaluate the project,
while meanwhile all they care about is your high school's ZIP code and
the name of your boss on that summer job.
--------------------------------------------------------------
We did not hire him.
--------------------------------------------------------------
He wasn't there to be hired. He was there to qualify a prospect. The
prospect didn't qualify.
I'd say the interviewer very quickly provided the consultant with all
the information he needed to get the hell out of there. In '99 I
imagine the consultant drove straight to another more promising sales
call with a serious client.
Mike O.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
