Re: Tech writing interviews (Naive Interviewers)

[Bob Johnson <bob -dot- johnson -at- CELERITYSOLUTIONS -dot- COM>]

Mona wrote:

...Just had an interview with people who kept asking, "But where do
> you get all those details if nobody writes it for you?" and "What
> does a technical writer DO besides make it look pretty?"  I spent
> most of the time trying to explain THAT instead of why I was
> fully qualified for their project. I got the feeling that they were
> suspicious that I couldn't possibly have understood, or even
> collected,
> all that technical detail without some engineer pre-writing it for
> me....
>
  I've been following this thread, and wonder about everyone's
interpretations of the question.  The trends seem to be either that the
interviewer is:

        A.  either stupid or ignorant; choose that which you think best
suits your situation

or
        B.  a dishonest "dog" (quoth George Mena) trying to deceive the
writer into revealing the solution to a problem.

I wonder if there is another interpretation of the question, though.
Given the frequency of list members decrying exaggerators, poseurs,
liars, and outright frauds, I'm sure employers have come across the same
problems.  Is it possible that the interviewer was exercisinga little
judicious stupidity to see if the candidate REALLY knew what the job
entailed?  To ensure that they knew the difference between a _technical
writer_ and a word processing specialist or desk-top publishing
specialist?

I'm not saying that in all cases the interviewers aren't deceitful,
ignorant, or whatever negative attribute you care to assign.  But it's
unwise to discount the other possibility.  Otherwise, you might find
yourself talking down to the interviewer, with all the attendant
dangers.

Bob Johnson
Documentation Specialist
Celerity Solutions
Dedham, MA

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