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Tamara Reyes-Muralles reports: <<... by the end of the meeting, I was
confused and unable to pinpoint where her experience really was. She said
she was a communication generalist, specializing in media and corporate
relationships.>>
Though it seems odd to say that you're a generalist with an area of
specialization, and I was all set to consider this a red flag, it occured to
me that this is _exactly_ how I'd describe myself. I'm primarily an editor,
and that's what I'm strongest at, but I do pretty darn good work in
translation, documentation, and marketing, among other things. So don't let
the description itself fool you.
What bothers me is that someone billing themselves as a communications
expert couldn't make you understand what she does and where her strengths
lie. Maybe you were just running low on caffeine or she was having a bad
interview day, but more likely she wasn't able to do what she says she does
best: communicate.
<<I started to doubt her technical writing experience when she told me that
she felt technical writing meant different things (who you talked to orwhere
you worked). To her it meant building manuals. She could not define
technical communication, and it really appeared she lacked technical writing
knowledge.>>
If she was deliberately being evasive, then you're right to be suspicious.
But let's be clear on one thing: "technical writing" emphatically _does_
mean different things to different people. To most members of techwr-l, it
means computer (software) documentation; to me, it also means science
writing, medical writing, technology transfer, instructional design,
interface design, usability engineering, and information design (among
others). So someone who makes this kind of statement and can then explain
the differences between the many different genres of technical writing is
indeed someone who knows the field.
From what little you've said, it sounds like your questions during the
interview were insufficiently specific, and as a result, you didn't answers
that would help you make a decision. If you believe that this woman may have
been telling you the truth as she sees it, call her back for an interview
(perhaps over the phone for maximum convenience). Explain _your_ definition
of technical writing (i.e., specifically and in detail describe the job
you're hoping to hire her for), then ask her to explain what challenges
she'd expect to face in that situation, and how she'd handle those
challenges. Ask for specific examples of how she's handled these problems in
the past. And so on. In short, ask questions whose answers relate
specifically to your work--and only your work--and whose answers reveal
clearly whether she understands your work.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
(try ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca if you get no response)
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett
