STC Central Illinois Chapter e-Newsletter - 6/6/01
* June Meeting
* Chapter Elections
* New Meeting Day for Upcoming Year
* Ten Suggestions for Finding Employment on the Web
* A Reprise: The Benefits of Volunteering************************************************************************
JUNE MEETING
************************************************************************
Time to wrap up our 2000/2001 STC year. We'll:* Learn how the STC annual conference changed the lives of our scholarship winners
(just kidding...well, maybe not!)* Elect new officers to lead our chapter in the 2001/2002 year
(if you want to vote, you must be present)* Start planning for the 2001/2002 year
Date: Thursday, June 14, 2001 Time: 11:30 a.m. Place: NCS Learn (formerly NovaNET Learning), 125 West Church, Champaign Refreshments: Most definitely will be served, which is why your RSVP is so important.
Please RSVP to Nancee Moster at nmoster@metasolv.com or 217/762-9568, by noon, Tuesday, June 12.****************************************************************************
CHAPTER ELECTIONS
****************************************************************************
In accordance with our chapter bylaws, your current chapter leadership is nominating the following slate of officers to lead our chapter in the 2001/2002 year:President: Nancee Moster
Vice President: Nancy Komlanc
Secretary: Steven Peter
Treasurer: Peggy CurridBut this slate does not preclude any member from nominating any other member -- or even himself/herself! If you know someone who's interested in running for chapter office, or if you're interested in becoming an officer of the Central Illinois Chapter, please contact Nancee Moster at nmoster@metasolv.com. (The Volunteering link at http://www.prairienet.org/cil_stc/ provides detailed information about officer responsibilities.)
Elections will be held at our June 14th meeting. Voters *MUST* be present.
We also have several committee positions open. If you're interesting in becoming more active in the chapter but are not yet ready to take on a board position, we encourage you to check out the committee volunteer possibilities explained on the Volunteering link at http://www.prairienet.org/ciil_stc/) and then contact Nancee.
****************************************************************************
NEW MEETING DAY FOR UPCOMING YEAR
****************************************************************************
Central Illinois STC chapter meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of the month during the 2001/2002 calendar year (September through June). So get a head start -- mark your calendars now!********************************************************************************************
TEN SUGGESTIONS FOR FINDING EMPLOYMENT ON THE WEB
********************************************************************************************
by Judi BrodyPresident's Note: Some of you may remember Judi - she attended JoAnn Hackos's Single Sourcing workshop in Champaign as well as our January chapter meeting the next day. When a friend of mine found herself out of work, I pointed her to Judi because Judi used to contract with a recruiting company to search the Internet for resumes. This was Judi's email response to my friend's plea for help. (And it was Judi who suggested I pass these suggestions on to chapter members.)
#1 Make sure you are 100% happy with your resume before posting. Most sites let you paste in your resume. Once you post it to 15 sites, you don't want to go through the process of editing each one if you later decide something is not the way you want it. Not to mention that if you have a typo anywhere in it, you're really screwed!
#2 Always check to see what the resume looks like after posting it. You can usually choose to "review" it or "edit" it to see how it looks to employers. Formatting symbols like bullets often get replaced with odd symbols, so you might want to put dashes in your original doc instead. Sometimes sites have confusing fields you have to fill out, and when you see how your information gets presented, you may decide to edit it.
#3 Plaster your resume everywhere. It doesn't cost anything to post resumes. The recruiters and hiring companies pay dearly (hundreds or thousands of dollars per month) for the privilege of viewing resumes. Some companies can only afford one large job bank, so if you only post on Headhunter.net and they use Monster.com, they'll never find you.
#4 (Applies to anyone wanting to relocate): Recruiters and hiring companies may avoid you if they think they have to relocate you. If you have a mailing address for the new location, use it. When companies do a search, they will often look at your current address before deciding whether or not to look at you further. They will call or email you, so it doesn't matter what the mailing address is in regards to their actually contacting you. Most sites have a little "career objectives" section. You could put something in there about how you are in the process of relocating to a different city and want to work there.
#5 Don't post your references on any of the sites. Headhunters like to use this info as a method for finding more potential employees. Also, your references probably won't like being plastered all over the Internet. When you're actually dealing with a company/recruiter, they'll ask for references.
#6 Regardless of whether you want to remain confidential, it's not a bad idea to get a free Hotmail or Yahoo email address to use just for job postings. That way email doesn't go through your company mail server when recruiters/companies reply, and the junk mail that occasionally results from people having your email address doesn't clutter your "real" mailbox. Do I need to mention that you check it at least daily?
#7 People have told me that they didn't want to post their resumes because they thought their boss might find out. There are ways to deal with this problem. If you want your postings to remain confidential, there is usually an option on each job bank to have your name and even contact info omitted. For example, on Headhunter.net you can set it up so that the person who wants to inquire about you sends an email to an automatically assigned headhunter.net email address and it gets forwarded to you. If it turns out to be your boss, just reply via your Hotmail mailbox and say you're not interested. Of course, don't use your name as part of the email address if you really want to remain confidential to anyone searching the job banks. And remember to remove your name from the resume after pasting it in.
#8 Most job banks allow full-text searches of your resume. Be sure to put in the right buzzwords. I've seen resumes by people smart enough to add a section at the bottom called "Keywords," where they put in things like "content development, information designer, Winhelp, HTML,
FrameMaker," and so on. See suggestion #9 when determining keywords.
#9 Never underestimate the ignorance of the person searching for resumes. I had one recruiter who asked if I knew "Windows" because the client asked for "Windows Help Developers." He was actually one of the recruiters who got me an interview and a job offer. Be patient with these clueless people - they may represent a great job and are just doing searches on resumes based on how the client worded a job request.
#10 Don't let the site limit you. If you are willing to take a contract or perm position and the site only lets you choose one of these options, post your resume a second time and select whichever you didn't choose the first time. As far as I know, all sites let you post more than once. Also, if you want to select more than one job classification and the site only lets you choose one, same solution. You can even post different resumes. For example, a resume written to emphasize your training skills and another to emphasize your technical writing skills.
Sites I've used:
http://www.headhunter.net
http://www.monster.com
http://www.net-temps.com (don't let the name fool you, it's a great job site)
http://www.hotjobs.com
http://www.careerzone.com
http://www.jobsonline.com
http://www.accenture.com/ (formerly called Arthur Anderson Consulting)
http://www.dice.com
http://www.justtechwriterjobs.com/jtwrj.nsf
http://www.informationweek.com/career3/
http://searchtechjobs.com/
http://www.jobbankusa.com/
http://www.computerjobs.com
http://www.flipdog.com
http://www.engineeringjobs.com/There are tons more, and some may be local to your area. Be proactive - use the major search engines and look for more jobs and job sites. I also used the Web to locate software companies in my area and sent resumes to the ones I liked best. This got me one interview and a job offer (their site didn't list any available positions for tech writers.) Also, watch the listserv
lists for job postings (teacher-l, framemaker, winhelp-l)
Well, now that I've written the book I always wanted to write, I'm done.
OK, one last comment - it used to be that the general rule was to keep resumes very short because they were hardcopy. Now recruiters generally agree that longer is a good thing. It's all online so they don't care if it is more than one "page."
Stick a fork in me.
*****************************************************************************
THE BENEFITS OF VOLUNTEERING
*****************************************************************************
Why Be a Chapter Volunteer?
by Chris Benz, the tallest STC board member EVER (Chris is about 6 foot 6)As we begin to wrap up another STC program year, it's time for chapters and members alike to reflect on our achievements during the past year, and start thinking about what we want to accomplish in the coming year.
While STC's Region 4 professional chapters range widely in size from about 30 members to over 700, and student chapters range from 15 to 35 members, most chapters would cease to exist were it not for the efforts of a relatively small number of volunteers. These small teams of "worker bees" deliver the bulk of each chapter's offerings-newsletters, monthly membership and special interest group (SIG) meetings, competitions, Web sites, e-mailings, workshops, and so on.
While those who volunteer are generally glad to do it (to see why, keep reading), a small group of volunteers means that your chapter can't offer as much as it could with a larger volunteer base.
Volunteering for your chapter can take many forms. You can serve in a relatively demanding leadership role such as newsletter editor or program coordinator, or one that requires less time but still allows you to be in the center of activity, such as secretary. You can serve in a long-term support role, such as a writer for the newsletter or a Web assistant, or you can fill a short-term role, such as a coordinator for a chapter workshop or a competition judge. You can also identify a need and propose a role to address it; chapter leaders are generally open to anything that improves their fellow members' professional lives or the community at large.
While time is short for most if not all of us, volunteering for your chapter is richly rewarding. Here are some of the benefits:
* You will gain influence over what the chapter offers, making sure that these offerings meet your professional needs. Plus, the more volunteers your chapter has, the more it can offer, and the higher quality (and possibly lower cost) those offerings can be.
* You will establish contacts with other technical communication professionals who can give you advice and help when you need it. Looking for new ideas for improving online help or your Web site? Wondering how to position yourself for that promotion? Having trouble extracting information from programmers? Someone in your chapter has the answer-or at least knows how to help you find the answer.
* You will be able to try new things and establish new skills without fear of reprisal for faltering. Volunteers are a very forgiving group because we've all been there, and you certainly won't lose your paying job!
* You will demonstrate to your employer and to future employers that you take your profession seriously. How do you suppose that will look at your next review or interview?
* And finally, this from a recent Washington, DC, chapter e-mailing: "A ten-year study of 2,700 people by the University of Michigan Survey Research Center found that those who volunteer on a regular basis dramatically increase their life expectancy. Remember, the greatest benefits of STC belong to those who participate. The long life part is just a bonus." Well said!
If you think you can find the time to enhance your career, your chapter, and your life, volunteer!