Re: Advice for someone re-entering the work force

[beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>]

It seems like a ploy by the husband's attorney to minimize his client's
responsibility for this poor lady. By exaggerating her prospects, he's
hoping he can convince a judge that she's not going to suffer without her
ex-husband's support.

IMO, there's no way this woman can step into a tech writing job. She would
probably find herself in over her head if she tried, and she deserves better
than that kind of anxiety after supporting this apparently ungrateful man
for two decades.

Bee

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 6:40 PM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:

> I can't speak on the Denver job market, but as a technical
> publications manager I would consider someone with a
> 20-year absence from the workplace who has not done
> anything on the side to maintain current knowledge and
> skills in the profession to be unemployable.  In order to
> become qualified for a "good-paying technical writing job"
> in any company I manage writing for, this person is going
> to need a couple of years of formal reeducation and about
> five years of experience starting over again from entry level.
>
> Feel free to pass this assessment and my email address
> on to any divorce attorney or judge who might be interested
> in discussing it further.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mary Headley" <mkheadley80503 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:02 AM
> Subject: Advice for someone re-entering the work force
>
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > A friend who I used to work when we were both technical writers has asked
> for
> > advice about re-entering the work force after 20 years . My friend hasn't
> had
> > paid employment since 1987, when she quit working to raise her children,
> > although she has done a variety of volunteer work for churches, schools,
> and
> > several social service agencies. She has done no writing since then other
> than
> > the occasional letter. She has not kept her computer skills up-to-date,
> > although she knows the basics of using Word. She is in her mid-50s and
> has a
> > master's in communications.
> >
> > Because of a pending divorce, she has been told by her husband's attorney
> that
> > she could easily find a good-paying technical writing job in the Denver
> area,
> > although she may have to start at a lower level than she was in 1987. The
> > expectation from her soon-to-be ex (who is look to avoid paying any kind
> of
> > spousal support, even though he's rich) is that it would be both easy and
> > profitable for her to find a technical writing job again.
> >
> > Does anyone have any feel for how easy it might be for someone in this
> > situation to find a technical writing job in today's market? If so, what
> range
> > of salary might she expect? What kind of positions or companies would it
> make
> > sense for her to target? My friend has gray hair and uses a hearing aid.
> How
> > much "ageism" is she likely to encounter in this field? Would it perhaps
> make
> > more sense for her to try to parlay her volunteer work for social service
> > agencies into work in that area?
> >
> > I'm thinking she should take some classes in MS Office (Word, Office,
> > PowerPoint) at a minimum. Are there other classes you think are critical?
> (She
> > doesn't have a lot of time or money to spend on more education.)
> >
> > Any thoughts or perspective you can share would be much appreciated, as
> I'm
> > pretty biased in this situation.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mary
>
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