November 2001
The Central Illinois Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) invites you to attend the January 2002 meeting.
| Program: | "Finding Work in a Tough Economy" |
|---|---|
| Featured Panelists: | Marty Atwater, Peter Bowerman, Laura LaCombe, Debra Schweiger (so far) |
| Date: | Tuesday, January 8, 2002 |
| Time: | 11:30 am |
| Place: | NCS Learn, 125 West Church Street, Suite 300, Champaign, Illinois, 61820 |
| Cost: | FREE!!!!! |
| Lunch: | Will most definitely be served (which is why your RSVP is so important) |
| RSVP: | By noon on Thursday, January 3rd, to themoster7399@yahoo.com or 217/762-9568 |
Marty Atwater is a recently unemployed, yet enthusiastic advocate for educational technology, a facilitator for people who wish to discover the possibilities of technology in their teaching, a designer of leading edge instructional strategies, a developer of cost-effective processes for software development, and a leader in making computer-based education a reality.
Peter Bowerman is the author of the award-winning triple-book-club selection The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less. On Saturday, January 12, 2002, Bowerman will deliver one of his nationally popular all-day seminars in Champaign. Visit his web site www.wellfedwriter.com/
Laura LaCombe recently left captivity behind to try her hand at technical communications consulting. In her spare (?) time, she plays with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and teaches violin and orchestra.
During the day, Debra Schweiger makes her living as a multi-tasking technical writer, editor, and support analyst at Gcom, Inc. At night, she turns into a budding author. Debra is now working on a research project and a book titled The Power of One: Heroes Forging America's Civic Reawakening from Sea to Shining Sea. It gives her a chance to express her idealistic side, travel, and meet some very interesting and wonderful people. Debra is so into this, she has a second book (spin-off) already in mind. Debra has also learned a great deal about the publishing industry and how it's changing dramatically for first-time authors and those who want to keep costs to a bare minimum.
A round of applause please for this intrepid group of technical communicators who participated in our Technical Communication as a Profession panel at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign on November 8th:
Lena Choe just started (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving) as the Resources Manager for the Web Technology Group for the Division of Academic Outreach under the UIUC Office of Continuing Education.
Lisa Denlinger just graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Scientific Communication from Ohio State University. She designed her major curriculum and incorporated courses from four subject areas: English, Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Computer Information Science. During Lisa's third and fourth years of college, she worked as a freelancer to gain professional writing experience. Lisa is currently looking for a job in the Champaign/Urbana area.
The topic of the November 6th meeting of the Central Illinois Chapter was How to Negotiate a Better Salary, and the speaker was Karen Steele, Manager of Documentation for MetaSolv Software, Inc.
Chapter president Nancee Moster opened the meeting by introducing new members Lisa Denlinger and Lena Choe. She also reminded the attendees of the Technical Communication as a Profession panel presentation to the UIUC English Department on November 8th and the next chapter meeting on January 8th.
After the 31 members/guests exchanged four business cards, President Moster introduced Karen Steele who discussed the various aspects of the gentle art of negotiation, including the three kinds of negotiating styles (Win/Win, Win/Lose, and Lose/Lose). Karen stressed that it is important to do your homework and employ “double think.”
It is also important to tell the truth, respect confidences, honor your commitments, and be clear, open, and firm.
During the negotiation process, you should be cognizant of both your and the negotiator’s body language and nonverbal messages such as facial expressions, voice inflections, and eye movement. Be able to move beyond positions by asking questions that probe specific needs/interests, create a supportive climate, and find mutual ground can be valuable.
When preparing for the negotiation, know your “best alternative to a negotiated agreement” (BATNA) and whether you can afford to walk away from a deal.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Final negotiations should include a consensus on a benchmark job and a proficiency/performance level, the job level, and a salary range, and result in a "win."
In conclusion, Karen said to remember that negotiation is an art, the art is in the deal, and that you should by all means have fun!***
Check the Central Illinois Chapter website in early January for a copy of Karen's PowerPoint presentation: www.prairienet.org/cil_stc/Ask any financial planner the key to successful personal investing and what advice are you likely to get? Well, in addition to "regular investing," chances are you'll hear "diversified portfolio." And the logic is sound: diversify and you diffuse the risk. Not a bad strategy for your work "portfolio" as well. If technical writing opportunities slump, what other arrows do you have in your quiver?
Marketing writing may be another potentially lucrative avenue to pursue. Now, no arena of writing is completely immune from the slowing economy. All businesses have been affected. Yet, most of my colleagues are steady (especially the hi-tech-oriented ones) and several of my clients are swamped, which bodes well for me.
Downsized corporations that have shed or slimmed down their marketing or communications departments still need to get the work done, and historically, they've outsourced many jobs to commercial freelancers. First stop: the "MarCom" (marketing communications) or corporate communications departments, the in-house creative "agencies" for corporations.
So, what's the scoop on marketing writing? Compared to technical writing, it's good news: higher wages (average $60-80+/hour) and shorter timeframes (average 1-2 week projects). Project types: marketing brochures, ad or direct mail campaigns, newsletters, sales sheets, web content and much more. And not surprisingly, if you're at home with technology, the opportunities are rich.
What sort of experience do you need? Certainly, adopting a "marketing mindset" takes some adjustment from straight TW, but less than you might imagine. Two keys are, 1) writing with a features/benefits orientation, which to my mind means leading with benefits and supporting with features, and 2) determining the audience and what speaks to them, and writing to reach that audience. And your client will supply with all this data.
While no one writing direction is the antidote to a quiet phone, marketing writing can nicely expand your marketplace offering. Check it out.
Hello, Well it's been an incredible last few months. Since the middle of September, more than 400,000 United States employees have been layed off. I am sure all of us know at least one person who has lost a job, and, unfortunately for some, it has become a personal experience. Having been on both sides of the table, I understand how hard it is for both the employee and employer.
Given our current economic conditions, it is proving very difficult for a lot of technical communicators to find new positions as either contractors or full-time employees. It is important now, more than ever, that we look closely at the core skills that we have and can offer our future employers. Almost all of you that I have talked to are technical communicators who develop online help and hardcopy documentation. You are writers, editors, and managers. Many of you understand the intricacies of the tools of the trade like Adobe FrameMaker and RoboHelp from eHelp. You understand the products, so well that you can troubleshoot the problems faster than the product support teams.
These are hard skills. But take a look at the soft skills you have to offer. You have been trained not as masters of the tools of the day, but as information developers. You have the skills necessary to work with human factors engineers and market analysts to conduct ethnographic studies, focus groups, and contextual inquiries. You can write a user and task analysis document and then work with your lead development engineers to define the vision of your next generation product. Once the vision is defined, you are able to create use cases that define how your customers want to work. These use cases are then easily transposed into a lo-fidelity prototype of your next generation product or service.
My message is simple. Look beyond what you are doing today. The highly skilled writers of today are transitioning into the content providers of tomorrow. Whether you are looking for a new position or are looking at more efficient ways to work within your current position, consider how you can transition your soft skills back into the application lifecycle. You may find yourself in higher demand than you think.