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I have to wonder what this writing test is measuring. If it's whether
the prospective tech writer can manage a simple expository paragraph or
not, surely there are more efficient ways to do this than waiting until
the interview. Personally, I wouldn't want to have a candidate on my
interview list who hadn't already demonstrated that capability.
If it's whether the person can do the real job, it would make much more
sense to give the candidate an opportunity to write or demonstrate
something germane to the work in the interview. If the candidate should
be an SME, give him or her a piece of a real live project to tackle. If
writing competently for the job requires gaining some additional
knowledge, provide the essential background info within the assignment
or provide access to the necessary resources.
It might be necessary to scale the assignment a bit or make allowances
for what the candidate cannot reasonably be expected to know. But it
stands a much better chance of being useful than the exercise Jim
encountered.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Brad Whittington
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 11:28 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Writing Test
My first thought was, "Documenting what?" A set of documents for bio-med
hardware would differ greatly from a set of documents for a groupware
application. Then I thought of the word count restriction.
I guess it's not good form to question the usefulness of a project in a
job interview, but if a client (or boss) gave me such an assignment, I
would definitely want to have a discussion about it.
-----
Brad Whittington
brad -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com
> From: "James Barrow" <vrfour -at- verizon -dot- net>
>
> It's a good thing we recently discussed writing tests as part of an
> interview, because I had one today. I don't want to tell you what my
> concerns were about this test because I don't want to influence you.
> So take a look at what I was given and let me know what you would have
said.
> I'll tell you how I answered in my next post. Here's the test:
>
> "In one paragraph (100 words or less) describe what should be included
> in a good documentation package, and explain why it would be good."
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