RE: New TECHWR-L Poll Question

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Jane Carnall <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com> wrote:
> Judging by results so far, at least 2/3rds of us *do* write outside our
> regular job.
> 
> Follow-up question: if you do, do you tell your employers that you do? (I
> mention it on my CV as one of my "hobbies", but go into as little detail as
> possible, after an interview years ago in which the interviewer concluded
> that I wouldn't be sufficiently dedicated to my day job, so to speak.)

My current employer is aware of some of my outside writing activities, but I
can't imagine a situation in which I would tell a prospective employer anything
that didn't directly relate to the job being discussed. The more information
you routinely give out, the greater the chance that you will give a potential
employer what they are looking for to reject you. My objective in a job hunt is
to be included in. Frankly, I want to be the one to tell them whether their
position is acceptable to me. The more information you give out, the more
chance there is that someone will find something objectionable about you.

Jane, your inclusion of "hobby" information is, to my way of looking at it,
exactly the kind of information you don't give a prospective employer. It's
none of their business, and it doesn't relate to any possible technical writing job.

=====
Tom Murrell
Lead Technical Writer
Alliance Data Systems
Columbus, Ohio
mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/
Page Last Updated 07/15/01

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