Re: ANON: My replacement

["Moore, Tracey" <TMoore -at- PARKERVISION -dot- COM>]

You could suggest a recruiter instead of a headhunter. The difference?
With a recruiter, you get to try before you buy (usually six month to
perm contract). Hourly, it costs just a little more than a contractor,
and the company gets the assurance that if it doesn't work out, the
recruiter will bring in another person until they get the right fit.

If they don't want to spend the money, another suggestion could be to
contact the employment chairperson at your STC chapter and to advertise
for the position on the STC web site and Online Career Center (occ.com).
They stand a better chance of getting someone "good" if they go through
STC or the internet instead of the local paper. At least the respondents
will either be affiliated with STC or up to speed technology-wise enough
to know how to job hunt on the web. :)

I sympathize with your situation. I recently left a job and during my
final week they announced that the receptionist was taking over the
corporate web site (at least they're sending her to classes--not so easy
with tech writing duties), and the following week they enlisted the help
of the mail person to write training manuals.

What I did was write up the requirements they're looking for in a tech
writer, and gave them a list of resources. Here they are:

Recruiters (these are national, you may have others in your area):
System One
Ajilon
Modis

Online:
www.monsterboard.com
www.occ.com
www.stc-va.org

Give them your best advice, and then forget about it. It's their
problem, not yours. If you're feeling bold, be very honest about why
you're leaving. Maybe it will help management, but don't hold your
breath. Remember the Peter principle (every person is promoted to their
own level of incompetence). Good luck with your new job, forget about
the old one.

-----Original Message-----
From: Anonymous [mailto:anonfwd -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM]
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 1999 8:07 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: ANON: My replacement


Message forwarded on request. Please
reply on list.

****************************

I need some quick advice, and a search of the archives didn't turn up
exactly what I needed, so here goes.

For a few years, I have been working as a tech writer in a medium-sized
software company.  We have two tech writers.  Just recently one of our
tech
writers took another position, and I was told that we were going to try
one
of our administrative assistants as a replacement, someone "who was
interested in writing," although of course the person in question has no
actual writing experience or an actual college degree.  I would be in
charge of training this person, etc., etc.  The reason I don't sound
more
irked about this situation is because *I* am leaving the company too,
for a
more lucrative job at another, more structured software firm.

This announcement caused some excitement, but the main thing I am
worried
about is my replacement.  My boss has almost no doc experience and,
although a nice person, doesn't really understand writers or writing.
He
asked where I would suggest finding a replacement and I suggested using
a
headhunter to bring in a "real" tech writer, especially since there is
someone with no experience to train and none of the managers have doc
experience.  He turned this down flat, saying that the last tech writer
they'd gotten through headhunters didn't work out at all.  While this is
pretty absurd on the face of it, my manager has a lot of clout here, and
I
think it may turn out into one of these situations where they try to
hobble
by with a freelance guy (works parttime remotely, does an okay job, not
very conscientious) and the admin assistant.  It's not easy finding tech
people of any kind lately, and our company tends to be a bit frugal on
the
salary front for non-programmers.

I think the head of our department will be talking to me about why I'm
leaving.  I'd like to make some suggestions about how and why to get
someone *good* to replace me--but I'm under the gun getting things done,
so
I don't have much time or energy to think about it.  I know this may
sound
dumb and elementary, but can you guys come up with any good ways to find
tech writers, or reasons why going through a headhunter is actually not
such a bad idea?  In other words, what would *you* say?

Hopefully yours.


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