RE: Evaluating Candidates Using Tests, Logic Questions, and Similar

["Malcolm Mclean" <mclean -at- syndesis -dot- com>]

If you picked up just *anything* I wrote back then I'd be in the same
position. However, if you asked me about something I brought with me to
present as a sample of my writing, I'd have refreshed my memory on it
beforehand and, I believe, could talk credibly about domain concepts
that it contained.

(I did also say "...we listen to reasonable explanations - e.g., I wrote
that 8 years ago, and have forgotten a lot of the background".) [ note
the UK - logical - punctuation (;=) ]

I'd be interested in hearing other methods that list members use to
determine if the candidate actually had a significant role in the
production of their samples.

Btw, John, having mostly lurked for several years, and having read your
many posts during that time, I would certainly not expect to be a better
"man"/tech writer/doc manager than you are, so I will take your comment
as indicating a possible serious flaw in my process. If I am ever again
in the position to hire a writer I'll reconsider how much weight I put
on this aspect of the interview.

Did you have any specific thoughts on the idea of letting the candidate
have the opportunity for a candid talk to a senior writer without the
manager in the room? I've wondered a couple of times if candidates
really believe that the writer will not tell me what they talked about.
I wonder if *I* would believe it (;=). Writers I've hired have said that
they liked the idea.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Posada [mailto:jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com] 
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 1:35 PM
To: Malcolm Mclean; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Evaluating Candidates Using Tests, Logic Questions, and
Similar

> 3. Senior writer leaves. Manager now "interrogates" the 
> candidate about the writing samples - determines how much 
> the candidate knows about what they said they wrote - can 
> the candidate explain concepts/principles related to the 
> domain etc.

Some of my samples go back 15 years. When I first got into the
business, it was for a telcom company. It is unreasonable for you
expect me to remember something technical that I wrote about 15 years
ago and never wrote about again, or 13 years ago when I documented
some home-grown UNIX tools. You should know that much of what we
write about is through listening for a while, getting a tenuous grasp
on the subject, then running back to our PC to write about it before
the fact leaves our brain. I'm lucky if I can remember 10 minutes,
let alone 10 years...but while I remembered it, it was brilliant.

You can honstly say that if I pick up one of your samples from over
10 years ago, you can explain the technology behind a command line
you wrote about once? Well, you're a beter man than I am. 

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never
actually known what the question is."
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