Re: A contracting season?

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

>Dave Brinegar mentions (twice) the "Spring contract techwriter's season"
>
>Is this a real phenomenon?  If so, why?  Does it exist across the board
>or just in some geographical areas or some industries?  What constitutes
>"spring"--February to June?
I've heard of it here in Cleveland, too, though I fortunately haven't
experienced the downside of it. Last year this time, I was turning
away work at least once a week.

In the last three years of business, however, I have not been short of
work, even in the slow times.

As far as why: I think there's several factors. One is when company
fiscal years occur. After the new budget comes out (typically October
or January), people get going on new projects. About 2-3 months later,
they need technical writers.

This part is my possibly flawed observation: Some of it has to do with
vacations and holidays. The longest gap of no holidays and no
vacations for companies are from January 1 to May 31. Consequently,
more work is getting done by more people and there is more need for
technical writers. Even if someone knows they need a technical writer
in November-December, they don't have time or energy to go through the
hiring process, because the months are already shortened up by
holidays.

YMMV,

Barb

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html