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Personal contacts are the only way I have found to do it. As another poster
mentioned, HR will push for agencies; it offloads a lot of their work.
Ideally, the personal contacts will be people that know how to bend the
rules a bit to get around the preferred vendor lists. In my situation, this
isn't as bad as it sounds; I tend to pick up smaller projects that the
agencies aren't particularly interested in anyway (they like to put a warm
body in a seat for the long term). Every so often I get kicked out in an
independent contractor purge, but sometimes I get brought back when agencies
can't fill the need.
I will put in a plug for STC here; I have gotten a lot of great
opportunities because of people I met at local meetings. Other professional
organizations probably offer similar opportunities.
Good luck. It can be done, but it's not as easy as calling HR.
Regards,
Barb
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+caslon=alltel -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+caslon=alltel -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
James Barrow
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 9:08 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Obtaining contracts
As a contractor, I have obtained several jobs with well known companies.
All of these jobs were obtained through sites like Dice and, subsequently,
through a recruiter.
As an aside, most of the ads on Dice do not state who the client company is.
The only downside to this being that when I negotiate my contract, I know
that the recruiter is getting a cut of the money that the client company is
offering.
Before I landed a job with a large company, I contacted them directly.
They're IT Hiring Manager acted as if I had peeked behind the curtain to
look at the great Oz. She insisted that I go through a recruiter.
How do tech writers find and submit themselves to companies/contracts
directly?
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