RE: What is our art?

["Andrew Dugas" <dugas -at- intalio -dot- com>]

In support of "Tools" in recruiting, etc.

Employers and recruiters need something quantifiable when screening
candidates, especially now that layoffs have blown the resume floodgates
wide open.

Expertise in tools may say little about the writer's writing skills, but
they can speak volumes about their experience, type and depth of experience,
versatility (as evidence by number and diversity of tools), and professional
drive.

Consider the two listings and what you presume about the writer:

* 3 yrs experience, Frame, Acrobat, WebWorks, Photoshop, HTML, some Java.

* 6 yrs experience, Frame, Word, MSProject, some RoboHelp.

If you were hiring, which listing is more attractive? Why?

Assuming they are being truthful, what might you conclude about the two
writers?

One has more experience, but the other has a wider skill set. Why hasn't the
more experienced writer picked up more than a handful of tools in six years?
The one with less experience seems to learn faster and have no problem
learning new tools, a trait that might extend to learning the
products/technologies to be documented.

Of course, work history may add a twist. We might see that the less
experienced writer picked all those skills by jobhopping. We might see that
the more experienced has had only one employer but played a more managerial
role (as suggested by MSProject), and thus suffered in the actual
skills-acquisition area.

The better fit depends on the position available.

Andy

PS: Questions like what you do or have done on a daily basis are important
but resist being boiled down into a list that's easy to evaluate. They are
better left for the next level of screening.


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