Techloy’s Post

Hi! Does anyone know of someone in technical writing in either the medical field of information technology field that would be open to being interviewed? I have an informational interview assignment for my capstone course and would love to interview someone to learn more about their career, how they reached it, and any advice they have for aspiring technical writers. #technicalwriting #medicalwriting #informationalinterview #interview #documentation

One of the challenges I've found in a 20+ year career as a technical writer: explaining what I do to interviewers. Unlike project management, technical writers aren't typically heavily staffed. Many teams, and smaller organizations, only have a single writer. That means I am often interviewed by people who have no idea what technical writers really do or what we can offer. Sure, everyone knows we write documentation. But how? Why? When? What else do we do? That's where I find interviewers often don't know what to ask. It's important as a technical writer to guide interviews, crafting your answers to questions to reinforce the importance of documentation and - more importantly - the benefits of hiring an experienced tech writer versus just letting the developers document their own code in, like, Notepad or something. I view every interview as a chance to learn more about a new opportunity, but also to evangelize on the role of technical writers at large. I look for an opening to talk about topics such as single-sourcing, DITA and context-sensitive help as part of the conversation. Topics which, often, the interviewers have no experience. Bringing forward these ideas also shows that I have deep knowledge of my field and how to best create and distribute content. Even if I don't get the role, or determine it's not a good fit, maybe someone learned a little bit more about what technical writers can offer and how to best leverage modern tech writing tools for better communication and efficiency. Which will help them identify the right candidate for their needs.

Best job search day in quite a while. A little after 5pm, I get an email regarding a writing job I applied for back on May 31st, telling me they'd like to move forward in the application process. I'm writing a brief sample piece for them to show I can do the job. Yay! I write them back to indicate I'm still interested, and at about 5:30pm I log on to LinkedIn to double check some details on my original application. Just after I log in, I discover a message from another company interested in talking with me about a potential proofreading position! Double Yay! After ages of sending off resumes and filling out applications and often getting no responses, getting two indicators of interest in one day feels like a definite victory. Wish me luck!

An interview-based approach is one of the best ways to create technical content. Our technical writing team brings broad software, marketing, and writing expertise, but of course no one knows your product better than your team. While we do get deep into the clients’ products, we can’t do so on day one. At the same time, your team is busy and can’t spend 30+ hours creating a piece of technical content. So how can we create leverage for your team, so that we get the right insights to make your articles and landing pages align with your company way of thinking and stand out to the readers, while keeping their time investment to a minimum? The solution is an interview-based approach where we interview a subject matter expert from your team for a short amount of time, for example 30 minutes, record and transcribe the call, and then use it as a key piece of input for outlining and drafting a technical content piece. The advantages are: 1. Low time investment from your team members. 2. High level of alignment of resulting content with your in-house point of view and knowledge. 3. Unique information and point of view in the content piece - which is exactly what makes articles stand out for the readers. In the chart, “meet with client” covers the interview step, and usually Client Review steps at the outline and draft stages involve the person who was being interviewed.

Hey, this is my class! If you're struggling to find work and are wondering if your resume needs a competitive edge, this workshop is for you! ~~~~~ Ready to 🤸♀️ LEAP into a new job? 📆 Save Leap Day 2024 (February 29th) for this 3-hour workshop tailored specifically for technical writers navigating a super competitive job market. 🎯 What You'll Learn: - What technical writing managers seek in applicants and their materials. - How to balance human-centered design and machine-readability for maximum impact. - How to write compelling accomplishment statements that demonstrate your value.

🛑 Dear hiring managers, don't make the content writers' hiring process so complicated.....🙏🏻 Here's why: A friend recently endured a grueling interview process for a content writer role that included: 🔸 A Zoom interview followed by a week's wait. 🔸 An in-office visit filled with: ↪️Form-filling ↪️An IQ test ↪️Multiple-choice questions ↪️An interview with the boss ↪️A practical test requiring writing for a webpage, a blog, and social media - all in one go. Is this extensive process really necessary? Such a complex approach can be overwhelming and might not accurately assess a writer's true capabilities. I suggest: ✅ Streamlining steps to focus directly on essential writing skills. ✅ Reducing the number of hoops to jump through to identify true talent more efficiently. 👉 What’s your take? Have you faced similar hiring challenges? How can we improve this process? Share your thoughts!

Does your productivity suck? Here’s the ninth of 13 tips on how you can improve your writing productivity: Break big jobs into SMALLER pieces. Never let yourself become overwhelmed by the size of any writing job. Instead, turn it into a series of much tinier jobs. Writing a big report, for example can include: ✅ figuring out possible interview subjects ✅ conducting those interviews ✅ doing a mindmap ✅ deciding on a lede (beginning) ✅ writing a rough draft ✅ letting it incubate ✅ editing/rewriting Writing is a MULTI-STEP process. Don’t freak yourself out by biting off too much at once. ✍️ Do you remember to break your big projects into smaller ones? ♻️ Please share if this was helpful

Just received a rejection email from a no-reply address. After applying for a Senior Technical Writer role, the company responded saying "they don’t feel they have an exact match and won't be moving forward in the interview process". But what does "exact match" even mean? If companies are looking for the "perfect" candidate, they will never find them. Perfection is something to strive for but never attain. The best companies can do is find someone as close to their needs as possible and allow for growth. As someone with over 20 years of experience, I know what it takes to hit the ground running and adapt as needed. It's important for companies to remember that the "perfect" candidate doesn't exist and hiring someone who can grow with the company is just as important. What are your thoughts on this? #jobsearch #jobhunt #careeradvice

“To write is human, to edit is divine” - Stephen King Editing is an important step in making your writing clear and professional. It can spell the difference between a successful report, and a confusing one that fails to convey your message. Here are three ways my editing services can help you: 1. Remove Errors: I will review your documents to fix typos, grammar mistakes, and punctuation errors turning your draft into a clear, professional document. 2. Improve Clarity: I will make your writing easier to understand by identifying technical terms and confusing phrases and suggesting ways to simplify them so that all readers will get the desired message. 3. Ensure Consistency: I will check your documents for consistency in style and tone across headings and terms to make you look sharper and with complete grasp of the report. As someone who has had years of experience editing corporate communications, I can tell you that this is an often overlooked step – with my help, it doesn’t have to be. ________________________________________________________________________ I'm Tracy, a Certified Career Strategy Coach, Certified Interview Prep Coach, and Professional Resume Writer who has successfully turned mid-level professionals to executives into top candidates that landed their dream jobs. If you're ready to take the next step to land your promotion, DM me today to get started. #valiantresumes #editing #businesscommunication #writingservices #professionalwriting #careercoaching #topcandidates #communicationexpert