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Subject:Re: Did I overreact? From:John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:Lou Quillio <public -at- quillio -dot- com>, Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com> Date:Wed, 31 May 2006 13:28:45 -0700 (PDT)
> Yes, I've had positive experiences with recruiters, same as
> everybody. It's just that we're in a period of distorted fees.
> That distortion is maintained via secrecy, false complexity,
> non-compete agreements and role inflation.
Actually, its the fault of technical writers.
Recruiters will attempt to keep as much as they can. No problem. I
don't have a problems with that approach.
However, an agency knows that if they make enough calls offering
$24/hr, they'll find someone who will take it. If, OTOH, after 50
calls, all they got was "No, my skill deserves $45", sooner or later
they'd realize that that is where they need to offer the position.
WE, the tech writing field, made $24 (or lower) an acceptable number
to try for. The problem is that every time Money magazine (I HATED to
see that article) or whoever, publishes articles that our profession
is the 13 th best or whatever, anyone between jobs with a copy of
Word will take any position at any rate (pays the bills) until they
can find a job in their field.
We, the professional writers do nothing to prevent the field from
being watered down ("I need a Functional Spec...can someone send me
one?") and do nothing to make would-be-writers prove that they
actually know how to construct a document.
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
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