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Subject:RE: Best and Worst Agency Stories From:"Cekis, Margaret" <Margaret -at- mediaocean -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 5 Nov 2001 12:42:59 -0500
Gwyneth Runnings [mailto:gwyneth -at- look -dot- ca] asked for our "Best and Worst
Agency Stories". She is "shopping myself around to the agencies", and
"thought I would solicit your experiences on this subject".
_________________
An agency through which I had a 6-week contract was among the first in the
Atlanta area to store resume information in a database. One of the items on
my resume was that I had written "Help Desk Procedures". This agency had a
cadre of agent-assistants whose job was to search through the resume
database and make screening calls to find out who was available before
turning the appropriate candidates and resumes over to the experienced
agents. I don't know how many hundreds of calls I received from Lisa or
Jimmy or whomever from this agency wanting to tell me about their new "help
desk position". Obviously this was a key word they searched on, and pulled
my name. I gave up on telling them to change my listing, because I was a
technical writer, not a help desk tech support person.
Other agencies have been very good and very helpful, even when they did not
have an appropriate position for me. Reps that had gotten to know me after
interviews, or talking to me at job fairs, etc., would contact me when they
moved to another agency to keep in touch.
Look for agencies that handle technical writers regularly, rather than those
that say, "We get calls for that once or twice a year or so." Spherion and
Pro-Edit are two I know that are national. Atlanta also has The Write
People and Writers of Atlanta, which concentrate on our field. But don't
ignore other possibilities. Network at STC, go to technical job fairs, and
check both the Sunday Job section in your newspaper and the online job
boards. I like ComputerJobs.com, because once you set your preferences, and
save the link in your browser, when you use the link, you go right to the
current job list for the loacation and category you have specified. Many
other job boards require that you go through the whole choice thing each
time you go there.
I have a powerpoint presentations I did for a local STC conference that I
can send you if you want more information on getting calls for contract
jobs. Send me a request off list.
Margaret Cekis
Margaret -at- mediaocean -dot- com
Atlanta GA
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