RE: How to kill morale

[Stephen McDermott <Stephen -dot- McDermott -at- PREMERA -dot- com>]

They have those special "early intervention" classes out here in Washington,
too.  It is more industry specific and was not really a morale downer as
much as a wake up call.  Everyone in my class was in aerospace, and the gist
of the "special" speech is that we would probably have to move out of the
industry we were in.  

Prophetic class.  9/11 was two weeks away and by that time, I had made the
mind shift away from aerospace and had moved on into another industry.  

Just think of the class as they were speaking to the people that can't learn
as quickly as a tech writer.  A recent thread spoke of having experience and
knowledge in an industry before being able to competently write in it.  I
disagree.  A tech writer learns quickly enough (by reading source info,
interviews, etc.) that they effectively become as knowledgeable as the SMEs
that have been around for years.

Don't be afraid to look in another industry.  It may be your best (and only)
hope for a position that meets your physical (paycheck) and emotional
(psyche) needs.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Jody LaFerriere [mailto:jody -at- bigdumptruck -dot- com]
I was "downsized" on January 11th, and have been dutifully searching for 
a new job. They are very rare here in Massachusetts (the subject of 
another thread).

Yesterday I had to attend some sort of session at the Department of 
Employment and Training (i.e. the unemployment office). There were about 
10 of us in the room, and nobody knew why we were "selected."  We found 
out at the start of the session. Apparently when we first filed a claim 
and they took all our information, either our job title or our industry 
was flagged as being on a downward trend.
<snip>

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