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Subject:Re: Re[2]: Who's the author? From:Glen Accardo <glen -at- SOFTINT -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 15 Feb 1995 09:57:52 -0600
rebecca -at- contax -dot- com writes:
> Jeez, why don't you just administer a test to the prospective writer
> <grin>? In the ten years that I've been a writer, every interviewer has
> been satisfied with reading my resume, looking at my portfolio, and
> calling my references.
Kelly Burhenne writes:
> How, on God's green earth, are you supposed to remember _everything_
> about _every_ manual you've ever written. Give me a break! When
> writing a manual, I become a semi-expert of the subject matter. Six
> months later--gone. If you don't use it, you lose it. Is it really a
> hiring practice to ask about the specific subject matter as opposed to
> looking at the actual writing style? And if so, why? I can see this if
If you brought in everything you've ever written, you ain't helping me!
But if you bring in a few representative samples (your best work), I
expect you to know about it. After all, YOU picked it. YOU brought it
in. YOU say it's YOUR work.
Even if I like the style, content, whatever, I gotta know what YOU did
on that manual. The only way for me to find out this information is
to ask. If you wrote it, you should know about it. If you forget a
piddly detail, you're human. If you know every piddly detail, you
are above average, and I like that. Asking a lot of detailed questions
with the expectation that you won't know all of them is a way to
evaluated people. What good does it do me if I only ask questions that
everyone gets right?
I cover the entire writing process from research to writing, editing,
graphics, layout, indexing, reproduction, inventory, distribution, and
anything else I can think of at the time. If you show little knowledge
of the product you say you documented, I doubt you wrote it, especially
if you can't tell me much about your sources of information or if you
say that you started from a draft. If you can describe in detail how
the manual was indexed, or some specific part of the production of
the manual, this allows me to determine some of your likes/dislikes/
proficiencies. Don't I need to know these things before I hire you?
------------
glen accardo glen -at- softint -dot- com
Software Interfaces, Inc. (713) 492-0707 x122
Houston, TX 77084
