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>Karin,
I've reviewed at least 200 resumes for technical communicators in the past 10
years (I manage two technical documentation projects in two countries), and
most applicants list software (and sometimes hardware) experience. It lends
credibility. I rarely interview anyone who doesn't have software experience
(the more the better-- it shows that you can learn new systems), and I never
interview anyone who can't supply a work sample (or who has a sloppy resume).
Many companies use Interleaf, FrameMaker, etc. We use Interleaf; if I see
Interleaf on a resume I interview the person. Chances are I won't have
to spend as much time training her/him.
My experience is that there are MANY MANY people out hunting for tech writer
jobs, and many of them have a lot of experience. The more skills you can
list on your resume, the more likely you will be called for an interview.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like more info/opinions (I'm full of
them some days!)
> I've noticed that many of the posters in misc.jobs.resumes include the
> software and tools they use or are familiar with. Granted, most of the
> posters are programmers, but some are tech. communicators and even their
> resumes are similar, e.g., "I am an expert in Word, FrameMaker, and these
> 1500 ;) Windows applications: ... {bulleted list follows}". Is this
> common practice in the resumes of tech. communicators?
> My current resume does *not* list:
> 1. Tools (WordPerfect, PageMaker, HiJaak,...)
> 2. Software I'm familiar with (Windows, dBase,...)
> 3. Programming languages of the software I've documented (Alpha-4,
> Clipper, MicroStation...)
> 4. Operating systems
> I purposely exclude #1 because it seems too limiting; someone who wants
> an MS-Word or FrameMaker pro could throw me out on that basis and I'd never
> make it to the interview stage where I could possibly charm them into giving
> me the job. #2 may have the same problem and keeps changing anyway. #3, to
> me, is irrelevant because when I document a program I'm acting as a user and
> don't much care whether the interface was written in Clipper or FORTRAN.
> #4 is usually self-evident (I do list the hardware in my resume: PC, VAX,
> IBM).
> Should our resumes include software information and all the accompanying
> acronyms? Mine currently emphasizes the *kinds* of things I've written,
> e.g., a user manual for Company B, a video script for Company D, rather
> than the tools I used to do the job.
> Thanks in advance for your advice!
> Karin C. Warren
> warrenk -at- jacobs -dot- csos -dot- orst -dot- edu
