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Re: Why are companies now requiring techical writer candidates to be SMEs?
Subject:Re: Why are companies now requiring techical writer candidates to be SMEs? From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 20 Apr 2003 07:19:19 -0400
Chuck,
I wouldn't get my knickers in a twist over this "trend." In many circumstances there is a legal requirement that a company post a job opening publicly even though they already know who is going to get the job--namely the contractor or H1B visa holder who has been doing the job for the last year.
When that happens, the trick is to write the requirements for the job in such a way that nobody else could possibly be qualified.
I suspect that's what you're seeing. Just skip listings like that, as they are not meant to generate résumé traffic in the first place.
Dick
"Chuck Martin" <twriter -at- sonic -dot- net> wrote:
>
>I am seeing what appears to be a current trend, at least here in Silicon
>Valley, and it bothers me on a number of levels, not the least of which
>because it shuts the door on many opportunities. While I haven't done
>extensive, rigorous research on this, it is still my ever-stronger
>impression.
>
>It seems that many job postings for technical writers are listing as job
>requirements (not desired skills) that the candidate be an SME in that
>company's particular application. Or at least an SME in the specific field
>in which that company's application competes. For example:
>http://www.craigslist.org/sfo/pen/wri/10449773.html.
>
>For those who don't want to follow the link, the first sentence of the ad
>reads they want an " individual with demonstrated experience in creating
>documentation for voice self-service applications and visual configuration
>software," and in the job requirements, a "Mandatory" bullet item is " Voice
>self-service application documentation (1 year)."
>
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