TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Letters and E-mail From:"Derrel Fincher, Dowell" <dvfincher -at- SLB -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 4 Nov 1994 09:01:02 -0600
Sally Marquigny writes:
>Besides, emails
>seem so disposable; a hard copy might at least make it into your personnel
>file, but how many would take the time to print out an email letter to file
>it?
Send me an E-mail. Please! As one of the numerous things that I do, I
interview engineering students at Purdue. I would much rather they send me
an E-mail response rather than a paper letter. My office is flooded with
paper from the various projects that I work on, and more arrives every day.
Sorting and filing it consumes a lot of my time for the stuff that I want to
keep. If I want to find something, I have to remember where I put it as some
pieces of paper deal with two or three projects. Then, if I want to send it
to you, I have to find the copy machine, copy it, remember your address,
find an envelope, find a stamp.... It goes on and on. With the E-mail
responses that I'll get next week after my trip, I'll file them in a folder
called "Purdue, Fall 94, student replies". And that folder is buried four
levels deep in my mail structure. But, if I want you to know what that
student sent me, ZAP!, I forward it to you. All I have to know is your
E-mail address. If that student calls me, as the aggressive ones do, I can
do a quick search on the name and find the letter. If the student asks a
question in the letter, I can fire off an E-mail answer in a couple of
minutes. None of this finding a copy machine, copying it, etc. For the
really good candidates, I will keep them apprised via E-mail of what I am
doing with their resumes. My goal is to build a rapport with the good
candidates so that they want to come to work with for us if we have a job
available. I also want them to tell their friends that we take an interest
in them.
I love finding good people for the company, and any that don't fit here
where I work I forward their info to our other companies (mostly just to the
ones in the US). As a result, I still handle lots of paper when recruiting
as resumes are paper; I hate every minute of it. I would prefer that
everything be electronic.
