Technical Writing Interview and Negotiation
December 17, 2004 by John Hewitt
Technical Writing Job Interview
My face-to-face interview with the company was similar to my phone interview. So similar, in fact that more than once I found myself answering the same questions I had answered over the phone. They did throw a couple curve balls at me, however. The strangest question I was asked was, “If we called your references, what would they say about you?” I was unprepared for this one, and I ended up talking more about my references than about what they would say about me.
My basic statement, however, was one that I have used before. “Once I take on a project, I am very committed to it. I will fight for a project, often to the consternation of those around me.” This isn’t the most positive thing I can say about myself, but I don’t like to walk into an interview and give people a false impression either. I discussed how I handle situations. I told them I’ve camped in people’s cubicles to make them give me the information I need and I’ve gone to managers when I felt people weren’t cooperating. I told them that if they are looking for someone who is always tactful and compliant, I may not be right for their project.
Apparently they weren’t too scared off by my answers. They gave me two “take-home” tests (I could have done them there) to prove I knew what I was doing. The first was a general test of FrameMaker skills, and the second was an editing test. I found both tests to be pretty easy and I emailed the tests back the next morning. Less than an hour after I sent them the tests, I got a call telling me I was hired.
Technical Writing Contract Negotiation
I had already agreed on a rate for this job ($25 an hour) and so I was surprised when my recruiter called and said she wasn’t able to get me that rate. Just as I was about to panic, she revealed that they were actually going to pay me $30 an hour. Why did they raise it? I haven’t a clue. They had me at $25.
There were some contract negotiations, however. Most of the contract was fine except for clause 14:
Failure of the employee to report for work at the date, time and location above specified shall constitute a breach of this contract and the employee shall be SUBJECT TO LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE SUM OF $5,000.00, payable to ____.
The clause is not as unreasonable as it seems at first. Once a consulting company commits to a contract, they assume a financial responsibility for that person showing up to work but there was no way I would agree to the contract unless the clause itself referred to a specific date and time when I was to show up. I “discussed” this with them over a series of phone calls that went all the way to the president of the consulting company and I finally got my way.
After that was settled, I signed the contract, a non-disclosure form, a criminal background check release, and direct deposit forms. Because the consulting firm is in Dallas, All of this had to be done long distance. There’s a good chance I will never meet my recruiter or account manager in person. This did create a problem at one point, when one of my faxed contract pages went missing and I had to go through my papers and fax the page again.
Related links
- How a Technical Writing Phone Interview Works (0.707)
- The Technical Writing FAQ (0.539)
- A Career in Technical Writing: Two dates to the prom (0.539)
- A Career in Technical Writing: The fax about outsourcing (0.539)
- I See Dead Projects (0.539)
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well i have been looking into various sites but none has described the initial rounds the technical writer have to face.. ??what kind of questions are asked if(wriiten test) is there and how tough is english test..that is little complaint though i would like to mention this is nice…!!
and if you could put light into what i asked thEN that would b great
@ Ramneek,
I’ll put that in a future posting.
Going by my experience as technical writer, I think that the interview process of technical writing is quite interesting. I have been on either side of interview board and it needs some homework for candidate who is looking for a tech writer position. Apart from te most basic questions such as:
What you want to quit present job, what are your strengths and weeknesses, why and how you got into technical writing, there are many smart questions that are generaly asked to technical writers. For example:
Why do you feel that you can be a good technical writer?
What challenges you most in a documentation project and why?
How far can DDLC can be flexible, can you give an example?
What role is more challenging – documentation team member, or documentation team lead; and why?
Besides, there can be questions on Guidelines, ISO Standards and conventions.
Technically, there can be questions like shortcut to create an index file in MS Word, or how to convert FrameMaker document to Word document.
The most important point to take care during technical writing interview is the clarity and precisness of answers because communication is most critically noted for aspiring cadidates.
Thanks
Vinish
Vinishs last blog post..Facts to make Indians feel PROUD
HI
I attended the interview. I cleared 2 written rounds. But could not clear the technical round. they asked me how do you go about the project . although i told them the process of ddlc, i think they were not convinced. can you please mail me or tell me how to tackle tricky questions like this?
Vidya
@ vidya
One thing to understand is that no single answer is going to satisfy every interviewer. Sometimes the company you are working for is looking for something specific, and if you meet it you get the job or are at least the top candidate. Sometimes you have to be able to gauge a company’s needs and tailor your answer to what they seem to need or want.
I have 8+ years in Technical Writing. When I was looking for job change, I attended several written tests and interviews. In written tests, they used to ask questions in grammar such as conversion of active to passive and vice versa, simplify the sentences, punctuate, etc. In technical-side, write procedure to withdraw amount from ATM, provide overview for a given architecture diagram(depends on domain of company). Also, many companies look for creative writing and ask to writer essay(in 500 words) on:
* Explain an incident which changed your life and how it affected your life
* Describe your career as Technical Writer
* Technology as boon and course
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In Technical Interview rounds, questions were mainly on Technical Writing tools & life-cycle, work estimation, future ambitions or career path, etc. If companies are looking for certain domain knowledge(telecom, networking, healthcare,…..), they ask basic questions related to domain. Technical Writing tools questions is mostly on single sourcing(use of Conditional Text), information stored in various pages of Framemaker templates(Body, Master, Reference).