Help -- staffing issues

[Paula Reynolds <PAULAR -at- HISPEED -dot- MHS -dot- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM>]

Folks,

Where to begin?  From the beginning, I suppose.  I'm a technical writer
for a manufacturing firm.  I don't have a background in either tech
writing or engineering, but here I am.  I was hired and was "trained"
(yep, it should be in quotes) by an older gentleman who'd been doing this
for 15 years.  Now, he's a nice man, but he didn't have much experience
in training another person in *technical writing*.  For example, we have
no style book.  Every manual looks similar, but different, since we have
no procedures or work instructions anywhere.  So my training was pretty
haphazard.

After 7 months, the gentleman had some health problems and went into the
hospital.  For the past 9 months, I've been on my own, muddling through
as best I can.  My advantage is that I'm a pretty quick worker, so I've
met all the deadlines for the past 9 months.

However, we're starting into a major crunch time.  I've been
quasi-promoted, so now I'm responsible for both technical writing and any
and all documentation issues in my department (which is evolving into the
company, it seems).  We're developing several new products that need new
documentation; we're developing all sorts of projects than need my input;
and my boss has given me the orders:  Find help.

I feel at a disadvantage in a couple areas.  First, I'm not sure how to
handle this situation.  The other technical writer could *theoretically*
return to work at any time, so we're not hiring someone.  What we want is
someone to come in and learn the way we do things (maybe 4-6 weeks of
training) and then be available to do work on an as-needed basis.  Does
this seem feasible?

Second, I'd like guidelines on *how* to hire a writer.  How do I evaluate
from their resumes/samples?  I've never taken a writing/editing test, so
I wouldn't know where to begin in designing one (and I also don't have
the time).

Any suggestions to follow, resources to check,  or war stories to comfort
me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Paula Reynolds
Hi-Speed Checkweigher
paular -at- hispeed -dot- mhs -dot- compuserve -dot- com