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Nina wrote an excellent summary of how to work with agencies, what they can
do for you, etc.
I would like to take exception to one point. She wrote, "The biggest
problem I've had is with recruiters trying to get me to accept jobs that
pay well below the minimum I need to pay my bills or that involve my doing
unskilled,
unprofessional work (such as pure desktop publishing or even
administrative-assitant work)."
Excuse me, but pure desktop publishing and administrative-assistant work
are both skilled, professional occupations. They may not rate the same wage
as technical writing, but they qualify as careers! "Skill" describes a
spectrum, not an exclusive echelon. Ditto "professional." Different
agencies will handle these different skill sets and expect different levels
of professionalism. If your skills bridge occupations, you will need to
register with not only many agencies but different kinds of agencies in
order to get work.
Carolyn Haley
DocuMania
dcma -at- ct1 -dot- nai -dot- net
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