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Re: Finding a job without experience/finding experience without ajob
Subject:Re: Finding a job without experience/finding experience without ajob From:"Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:15:22 -0500
Another interesting place to get some non-paid experience is your local
hospital. Many hospitals have a community-outreach program and are
interesting in volunteer writers. This gives you experience and something to
show in a portfolio. I did this for a few years before even going back to
school. It was actually one of the reasons I became interested in pursuing
my STC degree.
From: Richard Lewis <tech44writer -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: Cyndi Kessler <ckessler -at- gmail -dot- com>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Finding a job without experience/finding experience without
ajob
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:22:52 -0800 (PST)
>Cyndi:
>
> You are doing the right thing in volunteering at STC. I suggest in
doing such that your volunteer work be as extroverted an activity as
possible. While one may gain some exposure by, for example, working on
the chapter newsletter, he/she will probably gain alot more networking
wise by, for example, volunteering to be the official greeter. Typically,
this is the person charged with getting to meetings early and walking up
to each person who arrives to welcome them. This person also trys to get
people to mix socially by, for example, walking up to seated tables of
people and jumping into their conversation (doing such tends to cause
others to move around more).
>
> STC meetings can tend to be a gathering of introverts. In such
situations, an extrovert who is able to make the meeting a more of a
pleasant event by taking the lead in "icebreaking" will truely stand out
to the positive.
>
> Richard Lewis
>
>
>
>Cyndi Kessler <ckessler -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>I'm a new technical communicator; I have a B.A. in journalism and a
>post-baccalaureate degree in Technical Communications. I am finding
>it very difficult to find work as someone new to the industry due to
>my lack of on the job experience. I have tried Monster, Dice,
>craigslist.org, my university's job bank, Career Builder, Indeed,
>which aggregates these sites and others, as well as the STC national
>job bank, and the listings for the Phoenix chapter. I'm also starting
>to volunteer for my local STC chapter in the hopes that I will make
>some contacts.
>
>I assumed that I would start out by working on contract jobs in order
>to build up some experience, but that has been unsuccessful, mostly
>because I'm not sure where to find them. I haven't been able to find
>any agencies in the Phoenix or Tucson areas that specialize in
>technical communications.
>
>My question is: How does one find jobs without experience, or gain
>experience without a job? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you,
>Cyndi
>
>
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