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Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?
Subject:Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests? From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:59:07 -0800
This was the problem with the one "test" I ever had to take.
I suspect that any of us who actually work in documentation
could come up with a reasonable exercise to test an applicant's
skills in some aspect or another of the work *and* have the
necessary perspective to consider the results of that test in the
proper perspective in evaluating the applicant overall. The
scary situation is when you know that not only has the test
been created by someone who knows nothing about writing,
it's also going to be evaluated by one.
> I don't know if that is cynicism on your part, but it's reality for me.
> I've never, in 12 years, been interviewed by a tech pubs manager for a
> job. I was always interviewed by peer team members, a manager who was
> an engineer, or by the marketing department. I'm far more frequently
> asked questions about my technical knowledge of an industry or product.
> I'm often asked to explain ATM encapsulation, or SONET transport, or IP
> addressing; no one ever asks me if I can format a document in
> Framemaker.
>
> None of my interviewers seemed to know the first thing about what a
> technical writer does or what the job requires. Heck, you can tell that
> just by reading job descriptions--after the first few it's obvious the
> HR departments are all cribbing the same job descriptions from one
> another.
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