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Subject:Re. Finding a new job From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Wed, 29 Nov 1995 13:21:40 LCL
Anne Casey reported that she had lost her job during a
restructuring, and asked for leads. I responded privately
to Anne, then realized that the tips might help a few
others in similar situations. For what they're worth:
Contact your local university:
- University presses often have freelance work (though more
often editorial than writing).
- Professors often need help writing grant applications,
journal papers, course notes, overhead presentations, etc.
- Students often need assistance with the writing of their
thesis (but to avoid getting the student in trouble, always
get approval from the supervisor and make it clear that
you're not writing the thesis, but rather
reviewing/editing/etc.)
- Offer a writing course (either freelance or ask the
university if you can do it under their aegis).
Other possibilities:
- Check back with your employer immediately (particularly
your in-house clients): at some point, they'll discover
that someone still needs to do the writing, and you can
often freelance the work before anyone else even knows it's
available. (You'll have first grab at it because they know
you and the quality of your work!)
- Check with all of your employer's rivals. It's unethical
(and illegal often) to spill the beans on the top-secret
details of your ex's work, but your skills should transfer
well among jobs in the same sector.
- Knock on a few doors. I've gotten two of my three jobs by
demonstrating to someone that they had a need (writing and
editing) that they hadn't yet recognized; also, many jobs
can be had in this manner because you save the human
resources department the task of running an ad and
conducting interviews.
Finally, don't forget networking. Friends and colleagues
often have contacts who have contacts who have contacts who
have jobs...
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.
