Technical Writer

Having a good resume obviously helps your chances of getting a better job, but what do people look for in the resume, and is it any different for a technical writer, for whom a resume, really, is just another form of writing?

There are hundreds of books and web sites and courses that tell you how to write a resume. I am not going to do that.

However, I have employed a number of staff in my time, and I thought it might be interesting to show one person’s view from the other side. What I, as a potential employer, look for in the resume, and what conclusions I make about the person who wrote it.

Other people may—and probably will—do it differently. This is how I do it.

[Note: Yes, I have deliberately left the acute accents off the é’s on résumé. It is, technically, a typo, but getting them to display properly on everyone’s browser is a pain, so I have left it as resume. Just don’t do it on a resume you send to me though. I treat them as typos.]

First, and most important, is to get a copy of the writer’s original resume.

Most technical writers come through an agency. The agencies often rewrite the resumes to suit their own standards (or maybe to suit what they think the customer wants, I’m never sure which). It is often quite hard to get a copy of the original. We had to train our agencies to do it.

Once I get the original resume, here’s what I look for:

• The writing, obviously—basics like spelling, grammar and use of words. Any errors here denote sloppy editing.
• Does the applicant write well?
• Is it easy to read. If I have to re-read something three times before I understand it, this tells me the applicant can’t write, or is poor at revision.
• The applicant’s work history is obviously important. If the agency got it right, the work history should reflect pretty much what I have asked for.
• What does their resume look like? While I don’t expect technical writers to be graphic artists I do expect them to understand how important it is to produce tidy, readable material. The document should also look professional. Pale blue paper with gold angels in the background gives just as bad an impression as a resume where the infomation is squeezed into the top half of a single page. (To be fair, these two examples wouldn’t get past the agency, but you get the idea.).
• Have they used consistent styles? A document that has one blue, 18 point Times Roman heading and the next—same level—heading red, 16 point Verdana is going to tell me that if this writer can’t even manage to make their resume consistent they are not going to care about the finish of documents they produce. Someone I can’t affor to use on my team.
• Have they used styles? If I get the resume as a Word document I will also check whether the applicant manually formatted each line or used styles. Manual formatting is not something I like to see. It doubles, and more, the time required to update documents.

These are the basics. Then I start looking at some of the more nebulous aspects. The gut-feel, if you like. These are very personal, and each person has their own list of gut-feel items.

• Is their writing style compatible with the project/company? This is not always evident in a resume because it is, after all, a sales document, but you can usually get a feel for the type of writer the applicant is. A more formal style of writing might be suitable for a larger company, while a less formal style is more suited to my own contracting business.
• What are their interests? This one is personal. I am the only interviewer I know who does this, but I always like to see writing listed as an interest for a technical writer. I believe that someone who is passionate enough about writing to list it as an interest is probably going to be a better writer, and more likely to care about the end result, than someone who doesn’t. Of all the people we have employed to date, this has turned out to be the case.

Remember, the ultimate aim of the resume is to sell yourself. Even if you hate sales, it’s what you have to do to get a new job. The technical writer has two sales tools.

“But,” you say, “I hate sales. I’m a lousy salesperson.”

Most of us are, but unfortunately we still have to do it. It’s the way life works, and refusing to partake of the sales process is your loss, no-one else’s. No matter how good a technical writer you are, if you can’t prove to me that you are good, you won’t even get an interview.

There are two parts to the selling process—the foot in the door (the resume) and closing the sale (the interview).

Technical writers have two tools for the foot in the door process. One is their work history, the other is the resume itself. Produce a decent resume that showcases your writing skills, and you’re half-way to the interview already.

Last Modified : September 30th, 2006
Filed under : Tech Writer
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