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What eventually ended up happening is this. The tech writing program at my school (Umass Amherst) was made up of a very tightknit group of people including the two professors who send out regular emails about jobs. A girl who went through the program a few years before me contacted the professor saying that she was leaving her tech editing job. She gave my resume to her current boss and eventually I came in for an interview. I have yet to meet this girl who did this for me!
Networking is very important. Recruiters and managers have a much easier time contacting a referal than say, going blindly into the applicant pool. In this case, my boss knew all about my training so it was really just a matter of making sure my personality would fit. I was also extremely fortunate to do some work for my dad's company, which is in a somewhat similar field.
This is not to say that the job boards are dead ends either. A rather funny story has me and my girlfriend competing for the same job. We both graduated with similar degrees hers in Journalism/Economics/Tech Writing, and me with English/ Tech writing. To make a long story short, my girlfriend got the job. While this caused some minor introspection on my part (why her, not me??), I knew that it was going to be a competitive field.
It is really important to have a detailed but concise resume and a cover letter that is also brief but grabs the attention of a recruiter. If you are selected for an interview, then you have cleared a very important step. This means that the recruiter or manager has looked at your resume and thinks that you are qualified for the job. The point of the interview is both to confirm who you say you are on paper, but more importantly to make sure that you will get along with the rest of the team. To this end, you just have to be yourself in an interview and know that you are qualified for the job (they wouldn't waste their time talking to you otherwise) and be ready for some hardball questions that are usually along the lines of: where do you see yourself in X amount of years, how do you think you can help this company and how can this company help you. Gather as much as you can about the company before the interview and write yourself answers to these questions so that you can answer them with ease. That will show confidence.
Anyway, good luck. I hope all this helps. Oh, also, do some investigative research on companies. Like, say you have an engineering degree. Look at the websites of high tech places in your area and visit the career page on their website. In your cover letter, you can be like, "I was looking at your website and I saw this position..." That will show them that you have strong interest in the company because you sought them out.
Cheers,
Jesse
The Champ (240k miles)
posted by 151.203.35...
, Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:01:19, Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:26:43, Tue, 22 Nov 2005 07:31:54, Mon, 21 Nov 2005 20:05:45
, Tue, 22 Nov 2005 03:29:47
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