In his talk, he applied lessons from the book 'What Colour is Your Parachute' (which he highly recommended) to the technical writing profession.
Andrew began by pointing out that people often neglect career management until they get laid off and need to find a new job. Just as a heart attack can force a person to examine their lifestyle, getting laid off will lead a person to examine their career. Andrew broke career management and job hunting down into four steps.
Step 1: Self Assessment
This step can be summed up in the phrase 'Know thyself'. Start by looking inside yourself as a person. Ask yourself what are your core values, your philosophies, your personality type. The answer to these questions will help you look at yourself as a worker. What are your skills and your preferred work environment?
Finally, what kind of technical communicator are you? What drew you to the profession and what about it do you find rewarding? If you know the answers to these questions, then you'll know the type of job you want. (See Andrew's 'Career Corner' column in this issue of the newsletter for a more in depth look at 'Self Assessment'.)
Step 2: Networking
Now that you have identified the job you want, tell everybody; your family, your friends, friends of friends, associates, STC members and others. The more people who know what you want, the better are your chances that someone will be able to help you.
Step 3: Preparing Your Documentation
To apply for the position you want you will need to prepare a cover letter, résumé and portfolio. Of these the cover letter is the most important. Technical writers should be aware that it is a marketing document and not a piece of technical writing; you are selling yourself! For that reason the document should be sent to a specific person (not 'To whom it may concern') and should make it's point succinctly. The content should be well structured and the layout and presentation should be simple.
If the letter concerns a specific position, then it should emphasize your 'fit' for the job. Finally, the letter should contain details about when you will contact the company to follow up.
The résumé is also a marketing document and needs to be clear and concise (no longer than 2 pages). Good résumés usually contain a profile which consists of 3 or 4 powerful sentences describing your strengths and your passion for the profession. The résumé may contain an objective (if so it should be as specific as possible) and it should contain a list of your skills.
The most important section of the résumé concerns your work experience, and this section should be organized into 'PARs'. Each PAR consists of a Problem you encountered in a previous job, the Action you took to resolve it, and the successful Result. Your résumé should conclude with details about your education, interests and affiliations which are applicable to the job. You should customize the résumé for each position to which you apply.
Technical communicators have the extra task of maintaining a third set of documents... a portfolio. Andrew also recommended having a 'microportfolio', which consists of excerpts from larger documents, showcasing different skills and techniques you have used.
Step 4: The Interview
The final step in the process is both the hardest and the most important. All the previous steps were designed to get you an interview... but the interview is what gets you the job. Andrew suggested you approach the interview as two professionals getting together to solve a problem rather than as a test to be passed. Before the interview, you should research the company and the position. Prepare some good questions that will demonstrate your knowledge of the company and the industry. They will also be asking you questions, most of which will fall into four categories; 'Who are you?', 'Why are you here?', 'What can you do for us?' and 'How much will you cost us?'.
You should prepare answers for each of these questions, including having a salary range ready when they ask what your expectations are. (You can use the STC Annual survey as a guide here.) In addition, be ready for the usual tough questions which often come up: 'Tell me about yourself', 'Why do you want this job?', 'What is your greatest weakness?' (Tell how you overcame it), 'Tell me about a time you failed?' (Tell them what you learned and how you applied the knowledge next time) and 'Where do you expect to be in five years?'.
The interview is about marketing yourself as the type of person the company want to hire. Company's like problem solvers, constant learners, team players, leaders and innovators, and flexible adaptive workers; you need to prove to them that you are all of these things. During the interview you should try to match your interviewers tone and pace. Keep your answers short and concise (don't talk longer than 30 seconds) and maintain eye contact. Most importantly relax and be yourself. Finally, always end by asking for the job and making a case why you deserve it. Don't forget to e-mail them your thanks afterwards.
According
to Andrew, those who follow these steps have a 75% success rate in finding
work. In comparison, the success rate for those who rely on newspaper
ads and job websites is only 3%. Proving his point, Andrew's recent job
search was so focussed he sent out only 4 résumés (all for
positions listed in the STC Job Bank) and had only two interviews before
he landed the job he wanted. For more information on career management,
be sure to read Andrew's regular 'Career Corner' column in this newsletter.
His website contains an archive of his columns as well as the Powerpoint
he used for his presentation:
http://www.compuquick-consulting.com