http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Interviewing A listing of the most recently indexed works about Interviewing in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Interviewing http://tc.eserver.org/35730.html http://tc.eserver.org/35730.html Don’t be misled by the word interview. It’s not about sitting down and passively answering questions. A successful media interaction requires preparation, and it requires the spokesperson to take charge. I don’t mean dominating or monopolising the conversation, but taking responsibility for the success of the exchange — for both the journalist and the spokesperson. Here are a few suggestions you can make to help your spokesperson prepare to take charge. http://tc.eserver.org/35630.html http://tc.eserver.org/35630.html Jane R. in Texas asks for some tips on interviewing tech writers, especially when using assessment tests. Her company is about to hire their first full-time writer and they have not done this before. I’ve worked on both sides on the fence in the past, (i.e. interviewed and been interviewed) and picked up a few tings in the process. Hopefully, these will be of some help. http://tc.eserver.org/35526.html http://tc.eserver.org/35526.html I have been remiss at writing new content for this blog, and whilst this topic isn’t one that I said I’d post about (those posts are coming, I promise), it’s something I was discussing yesterday and so is at the forefront of my mind. Like many people I still use pen and paper when taking notes, and regardless of the type of meeting I stick with three basic categories. http://tc.eserver.org/35140.html http://tc.eserver.org/35140.html Studies have shown the importance of employment interview preparation in boosting the confidence and performance of students and jobseekers when they interview. This article reviews several techniques for preparing students for mock job interviews and, hence, actual job interviews. http://tc.eserver.org/34846.html http://tc.eserver.org/34846.html Today's organizations are challenged with attracting, developing, and retaining high-quality employees; thus, many firms seek to improve their recruitment and selection processes. One approach involves using realistic job previews (RJPs) to communicate a balanced view of the organization. The authors explored the effects of organizational culture (hierarchy, market, clan, and adhocracy), recruitment strategy (RJP vs. traditional), and personality (horizontal and vertical individualism—collectivism) on attraction to Web-based organizational profiles using a sample of 234 undergraduate students in a mixed two-factor experimental design. Results indicate that the clan culture is viewed as the most attractive. Traditional versus RJP recruitment produced higher levels of organizational attraction. Finally, predicted relationships between the personality framework of horizontal and vertical individualism—collectivism and organizational attraction were supported. http://tc.eserver.org/34808.html http://tc.eserver.org/34808.html Neil Perlin, a renowned trainer, consulter, and developer, talks about how to implement single sourcing. He includes a discussion of tools, pitfalls to avoid, and practical steps to take. http://tc.eserver.org/34687.html http://tc.eserver.org/34687.html At times, though, a writer is a bit overwhelmed at the start-of-work meeting. He becomes passive and takes in everything the client lays out without asking for more. That can result in some information that’s very important to the writer being missed. http://tc.eserver.org/34670.html http://tc.eserver.org/34670.html Most people change jobs more than they change mates. But no matter how many times you do it, looking for a new position can be tricky. http://tc.eserver.org/34326.html http://tc.eserver.org/34326.html In this article, I will outline an approach to gleaning insights from primary qualitative research data. This article is not a how-to for creating the design tools that are often the outputs of primary qualitative user research—such as personas, mental models, or user scenarios. Instead, it identifies an approach to generating overarching insights, regardless of the design tool you want to create. http://tc.eserver.org/34303.html http://tc.eserver.org/34303.html Whether you are a web designer or a copy writer, if you’re going to freelance, you need to learn how to look your best on a job application. Having worked on both sides of job applications, I’ve seen enough to recognize what gets a person through to the interview and what gets their applications tossed. http://tc.eserver.org/34224.html http://tc.eserver.org/34224.html What is it that certain people say or do during a job interview that makes them stand out? Why do some people struggle to find work, while others land a job in no time? http://tc.eserver.org/34021.html http://tc.eserver.org/34021.html A technical writer will periodically need to interview Subject Matter Experts (SME) to gather information about a technical document. More often that not, and especially within the context of software development, most SMEs are engineers and software developers. But they can also be mechanical, electrical and other types of engineers, hardware installers, network engineers, testers, site foremen, call center engineers, field technicians, sales or marketing people, local dealers, etc. One cardinal rule of interviewing an SME is to do your homework well, in advance. http://tc.eserver.org/33889.html http://tc.eserver.org/33889.html Social networking once meant going to a social function such as a cocktail party, conference, or business luncheon. Today, much social networking is achieved through Web sites such as MySpace, FaceBook, or LinkedIn. Many individuals use these sites to meet new friends, make connections, and upload personal infor- mation. On social networking Web sites (SNWs) that focus more on business connections, such as LinkedIn, individuals upload job qualifi- cations and application information. These SNWs are now being used as reference checks by human resource (HR) personnel. For this reason, SNW users, particularly university students and other soon-to-be job applicants, should ask the following questions: Am I loading information that I want the world to see? Is this really a picture that shows me in the best light? What impression would another person have of me if he or she went through my site? Although SNWs are a great way to be connected with friends, family, and friends-to-be, they can present problems when potential employers begin to search through them for information concerning job applicants. Many potential employees would be mortified to learn that employers could potentially read the personal information posted on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other SNWs. Searches on SNWs allow employers to look into what is done 'after hours,' socially or privately, by the applicant. A résumé may be just a snapshot of a job applicant, while other personal information may be found online. Many job applicants have learned the hard way that what they post may come back to haunt them (Rodriquez, 2006). Human Resources and SNWs Many companies that recruit on college campuses look up applicants on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other SNWs. What they find on these sites presents a dilemma for the recruiters. Students post comments that they may think are private but can be read by many. These posts can be provocative comments on any subject from drinking to recreational drugs to sexual exploits. Although they may seem innocent enough to the students who have posted them, college recruiters or graduate admission officers may look at these postings as immature and unprofessional. Recruiters are warning universities' career resource centers that they are looking at SNWs and that it would be best to work with students about how they are presenting themselves on these sites. The lifestyle the students are presenting online may not be what corporate recruiters or graduate school admission officers want in potential applicants. http://tc.eserver.org/33879.html http://tc.eserver.org/33879.html Within hours of Tweeting “Who do I have to schmooze to get a job in this joint?” Chelsea Winkel received three direct messages, a much better (and as it would turn out, more substantial) turnout than anything else she’d tried so far. The key to making Twitter work for you is being proactive. http://tc.eserver.org/33874.html http://tc.eserver.org/33874.html I think one of the hardest things in technical writing, especially for new hires, is to be assigned to document a product or feature that you know nothing about. http://tc.eserver.org/33848.html http://tc.eserver.org/33848.html After you have narrowed the pool of applicants down to those with the skills, experience, and knowledge to do the job, ask each candidate one question: What do you do in your spare time? http://tc.eserver.org/33702.html http://tc.eserver.org/33702.html For the past few years, the buzz phrase in interviewing has been behavioral interviews. In behavioral interviews, the interviewer asks the candidate what has been done in the past in order to extrapolate what will be done into the future: past performance indicates future performance. I’m suggesting that the behavioral interview could be more than a discussion about behavior—it could be a demonstration of behavior. Test driving candidates places a demand on the candidate to exercise his or her current ability while under scrutiny. Thus, rather than hearing stories about behavior, test drives allow you to observe behavior. http://tc.eserver.org/33593.html http://tc.eserver.org/33593.html You’ve conducted your user interviews, but now you need to make sense of all that information you’ve gathered. These best practice tips will help you analyse the results. http://tc.eserver.org/33527.html http://tc.eserver.org/33527.html This article is the last of three in a series. It’s based on my presentation at the STC Career Day and describes the six basic principles to follow for both job interviewing and informational interviewing. http://tc.eserver.org/33528.html http://tc.eserver.org/33528.html This article is the second of three in a series. It’s describes the six basic principles to follow for both job interviewing and informational interviewing. http://tc.eserver.org/33529.html http://tc.eserver.org/33529.html This article is based on a presentation I gave at the STC Career Day, held at Seneca@York, September 22, 2003. It describes the six basic principles to follow for job interviews and informational interviewing, including asking and answering the right questions, of the right people, at the right time. http://tc.eserver.org/33488.html http://tc.eserver.org/33488.html What can the User Experience field learn from the world of museums? Peter Samis and Tana Johnson of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Interactive Technologies Team can help answer the question. The issues that they grapple with (and solve through inventive design) are firmly grounded in the goal of providing exceptional and inspiring museum experiences. http://tc.eserver.org/33494.html http://tc.eserver.org/33494.html As user experience designers, a key component to nearly all the techniques we use in our practice is the one-on-one interview. It’s the basis of requirements gathering, usability testing, and task analysis. In order to remove our personal biases, expectations and opinions from the questions asked, I practice a kind of questioning technique called the nondirected interview. http://tc.eserver.org/32493.html http://tc.eserver.org/32493.html Surprisingly, my first experience as an interviewer was as uneasy as my first job interview. I then realized that being on the other side of the table is not as easy as it is made out to be, especially if conducting an interview is unfamiliar territory. Later on, as I matured into this role, I created a style of my own and soon found it to be an interesting and inspiring proposition, though challenging. http://tc.eserver.org/32289.html http://tc.eserver.org/32289.html The present research examines how hiring committees strategically use language abstraction to collectively account for their decision to hire a job applicant over the others. In addition, the authors investigate how work interdependence between single members of hiring committees and applicants and common affiliation to the same work organization affect the language used to write individual reports on job candidates. Results of the first study show that selected applicants were described with positive terms at a higher level of abstraction and negative terms at a lower level of abstraction. The second study supports the selection linguistic bias in individually written reports and demonstrates that members of hiring committees describe interdependent applicants and those belonging to their group with negative terms at a lower level of abstraction than other applicants. The implications of the findings for the wider personnel selection context are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/32177.html http://tc.eserver.org/32177.html This presentation will provide techniques technical communicators can use to sell themselves to prospective employers who don't understand what technical communicators can do for them. http://tc.eserver.org/32224.html http://tc.eserver.org/32224.html The technical communications profession involves a unique mix of technical and communication skills, which is not easy to find. Most managers have had the experience of interviewing and subsequently hiring a candidate who later turns out not to be the right person for the job. This situation begs the question of how to identify which candidate is a good fit for a given position. The answer is that there are five key activities that make the difference between a successful hiring decision and a not-so-successful one. We have all been on both sides of the interview, and this article will attempt to make you, the interviewer, more successful. http://tc.eserver.org/32225.html http://tc.eserver.org/32225.html Whether you're a manager or not, consider the following check list the next time an interview is about to commence. As an interviewee, these actions might give you a competitive edge. As an interviewer, they might help set your standards on how you rate potential candidates. http://tc.eserver.org/32018.html http://tc.eserver.org/32018.html For most job candidates, the interview experience is "an emotionally challenging endeavor". To succeed in interviews, candidates must understand the emotional labor needed to "manage their feelings" as they "create a publicly observable facial and bodily display". This is particularly true when recruiters use open-ended interviews that are not constrained to a narrow set of questions. My work in conducting research interviews illustrates several aspects of emotional labor in the interview context. Although I will talk from the perspective of the interviewer, my discussion of my own emotional labor is instructive for people entering an open-ended interview as either interviewer or interviewee because the challenges of emotional labor within the open-ended interview context apply to either interview role. Additionally, although I will draw on examples of datagathering interviews within a research context, this discussion of emotional labor applies to any interview setting--research, job interview, and so on--because the difficulties one encounters are similar across various open-ended interview situations. http://tc.eserver.org/32017.html http://tc.eserver.org/32017.html One of the most challenging modules in my business communication course is the job search. Why? Because it seems that everyone has a strong opinion and a list of "do's and dont's" or "best and worst" for job seekers. In my class, students who would normally be text-messaging, doing homework for another class, or puzzled by the "you-perspective" become excited when we start discussing job search topics—the wrong and right style for the résumé and cover letter, appropriate interview attire, legal and illegal interview questions. By the end of the module, we have discussed so many different views and exceptions to the rules that some students roll their eyes and ask, "So, what are we supposed to do, Dr. Muir?" And then we have another round at it! For those reasons, I refused to teach any aspect of the job search for several semesters. Instead I would send students to my university's Career Services office (because they actually handle recruitment and placement and have their own set of guidelines), or I would invite guest speakers from industry to talk with students on a variety of topics relevant to the job search. (Note: It is particularly rewarding and empowering when the guest speaker agrees with you on just about everything you try to teach students.) http://tc.eserver.org/31966.html http://tc.eserver.org/31966.html When interviewing with a technical writing manager or with others who are familiar with the role of technical writers, the interview process can be a natural and productive information exchange. In such cases, interviewers can often readily define needs, assess a candidate's experience and qualifications, peruse a portfolio with their needs in mind, and initiate questions in the interview that are relevant to the position and candidate. But, what happens when interviewers are less familiar--or unfamiliar--with the role of technical writers or the technical writing position they seek to fill? http://tc.eserver.org/31938.html http://tc.eserver.org/31938.html Outside of the formal SME interview, a writer's relationship with engineers and experts is built on trust, respect, and a little bit of bribery. http://tc.eserver.org/31936.html http://tc.eserver.org/31936.html A basic introduction to user interviews, a great way to build research on your users and help improve the usability of your site. http://tc.eserver.org/31927.html http://tc.eserver.org/31927.html Landing the best jobs, like snagging the best fish, takes hard work and patience. http://tc.eserver.org/31930.html http://tc.eserver.org/31930.html The process leading up to your first faculty job is almost guaranteed to be a nerve-racking ordeal. Many applicants don't know how to make a good first impression. It is common--and reasonable--to question whether you have the right set of skills and credentials for a particular faculty job. Whether at a large research-intensive university on the West Coast or a small teaching college in New England, the recruitment process is much the same all across the country. http://tc.eserver.org/31922.html http://tc.eserver.org/31922.html Scientists and engineers sometimes reveal how scary the job search feels to them when they talk to recruiters. Often this comes couched in complaints about "how the job market works." It's true that the job search does take us out of our comfort zones. But not all of that fear is justified. http://tc.eserver.org/31928.html http://tc.eserver.org/31928.html While it is true that employers far prefer electronic submittals to paper CV's, if you rely exclusively on the 'net for your job search, it will tank. Here's the trap: It feels like you are really accomplishing something by filling out online job applications, with very little risk. But you are just scattering seeds, few of which are likely to grow. While there is the possibility that someone will look at that package you've attached and call you for an interview, a great deal of your time is wasted. http://tc.eserver.org/31931.html http://tc.eserver.org/31931.html Take pity on me and my colleagues. As a faculty member who serves on faculty search committees and a frequent reader of job applications, I dread reading teaching statements. I have even considered asking search committees to stop asking for these essays (in which applicants discuss their teaching philosophies and their anticipated approaches to teaching) because they are so often insipid and painful to read. I've never actually made that suggestion, though, and for now, at my institution (and many others), teaching statements remain a required part of an application for a faculty position. So for every permanent-faculty search I'm involved in, I end up reading as many as several hundred insipid teaching statements. Have mercy. http://tc.eserver.org/31900.html http://tc.eserver.org/31900.html Once you receive a job offer, you must decide if you want the job. Fortunately, most organizations will give you a few days to accept or reject an offer. There are many issues to consider when assessing a job offer. Will the organization be a good place to work? Will the job be interesting? Are there opportunities for advancement? Is the salary fair? Does the employer offer good benefits? Now is the time to ask the potential employer about these issues—and to do some checking on your own. http://tc.eserver.org/31873.html http://tc.eserver.org/31873.html Interviewing is an artful skill that is at the core of a wide variety of research methods in user-centered design, including stakeholder interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing, and focus groups. Consequently, a researcher’s skill in conducting interviews has a direct impact on the quality and accuracy of research findings and subsequent decisions about design. Skilled interviewers can conduct interviews that uncover the most important elements of a participant’s perspective on a task or a product in a manner that does not introduce interviewer bias. Companies hire user researchers and user-centered designers because they possess this very ability. http://tc.eserver.org/31854.html http://tc.eserver.org/31854.html When I joined the company, they were making the transition from being an online servicing group, where people could access their accounts and check their balances, to one where they could start a relationship with their customers, through selling anything from checking accounts to brokerage accounts to services on those accounts. http://tc.eserver.org/31774.html http://tc.eserver.org/31774.html Send a thank-you note for every interview. It can be an email, a handwritten note on good-quality (neutral color) stationery, or a standard business letter. http://tc.eserver.org/31772.html http://tc.eserver.org/31772.html In an interview, you want to find out about the position and the environment, give job-related information about yourself, and leave a good impression, all while being relaxed. That’s a tall order for anyone, so we hope our advice and anecdotes will help you survive—or even thrive—in an interview. http://tc.eserver.org/31773.html http://tc.eserver.org/31773.html Give yourself a hand. Your presentation starts with your handshake. Make it firm, business-like, and brief. Your hand should be thumb up with fingers straight. The interviewer isn’t going to kiss your hand or lead you into a waltz. http://tc.eserver.org/31705.html http://tc.eserver.org/31705.html If you have a group of stressed out and overworked technical writers and need to add to your staff, hiring the right technical writer can be a challenge. The author provides some tips on the hiring and interview process and what you might look for in exceptional technical writing candidates that will best fill the needs of your group of technical writers. http://tc.eserver.org/31709.html http://tc.eserver.org/31709.html Frequently, technical communicators who have been promoted into management find themselves facing the need to interview candidates for open positions. While successful interviewing is key to finding the right match for open positions in the department, all too often interviewing skills are not a part of any management training programs that the interviewer may have completed - if management training was ever part of the technical communicator's career development program at all. This article unveils the secrets to successful interviewing and hiring. http://tc.eserver.org/31711.html http://tc.eserver.org/31711.html When you finally get the approval to hire a contract technical writer you'll want to go about it the right way in order to avoid problems and ensure success. This article provides insight on what you need to do before you start looking for a contract technical writing professional and how to go about finding one suitable for your project. http://tc.eserver.org/31731.html http://tc.eserver.org/31731.html As an interviewee, these actions might give you a competitive edge. As an interviewer, they might help set your standards on how you rate potential candidates. http://tc.eserver.org/31639.html http://tc.eserver.org/31639.html Some advice from one podcaster to others on how to do interviews. http://tc.eserver.org/31525.html http://tc.eserver.org/31525.html As with many things on the Web, job-hunting on the Internet has brought new meaning to the phrase "level playing field." Currently, there are literally thousands of "jobs boards," or Web sites tracking new job openings, in cyberspace these days, which together represent a potential career jumpstart that is far ahead of the traditional newspaper advertisements http://tc.eserver.org/31496.html http://tc.eserver.org/31496.html How you treat and respond to reporters, editors and analysts can greatly affect how your company is perceived in its marketplace. The relationship between “you” and “them” is so important it has its own name (media relations), its own experts (PR pros and firms that specialize in media relations) and its own set of rules. Below are 12 laws of media relations. Follow them, and you’re well on your way to gaining for your company the positive visibility you desire. Break them at your own peril. http://tc.eserver.org/31388.html http://tc.eserver.org/31388.html Like many of you, each of us has played on both sides of the fence: We've worked as editors in the position of hiring freelance writers, and as writers on constant prowl for new markets and ways to make editors happy. Even if you've not strayed between camps, we're all communication professionals-so why does mutual disappointment or even frustration characterize the editor/writer relationship so often? http://tc.eserver.org/31382.html http://tc.eserver.org/31382.html Hear the one about the job candidate who brushed her hair during an interview? Or the man who sniffed his armpits on the way into the interview room? They may sound like jokes but these are two of the top 10 gaffes to feature in an annual survey of the most outrageous interview mistakes by candidates compiled by online job site CareerBuilder.com. http://tc.eserver.org/31381.html http://tc.eserver.org/31381.html The interview is where jobs are generally won and lost and the job interview techniques you employ will determine your success or lack thereof. During the interview process, the hiring manager gets to meet you face to face and decide whether or not you are someone they want to look at everyday should they hire you. http://tc.eserver.org/31383.html http://tc.eserver.org/31383.html Many companies use phone interviews as an initial employment screening technique for a variety of reasons. Because they're generally brief, phone interviews save companies time. They also serve as a more realistic screening alternative for cases in which companies are considering out-of-town (or out-of-state and foreign) candidates. So the chances are pretty good that, at some point in your job hunt, you'll be asked to participate in a 20- to 30-minute phone interview with either one person or several people on the other end of the line. http://tc.eserver.org/31291.html http://tc.eserver.org/31291.html A troupe of disco dancers in gold bodysuits was about to hit the stage. Several of our corporate leaders—dressed as famous pop stars from the 1970s—milled around nervously in the wings. And I remember thinking, “What the heck have we got ourselves into?” I was part of the employee communication team for a government-owned financial institution: Farm Credit Canada (FCC). We were about to open our 2005 corporate office conference before a crowd of 500 people, many of them accountants. A campy musical opening could be seen as a risky choice. But here's what brought me peace of mind: I knew that behind the glitz, we had built our conference on a solid foundation of business thinking. http://tc.eserver.org/31260.html http://tc.eserver.org/31260.html Although some communicators have a background in journalism, interviewing may not be the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of business communication. Of course, many of us interview managers and employees for our company's newsletter articles, annual reports, promotional materials, white papers, advertorials, speeches and more. But the need for good interview techniques goes a lot further even than that. http://tc.eserver.org/31250.html http://tc.eserver.org/31250.html Interviewing brings up some thorny issues. In this edition of "Working Words," we want to follow up on the basics covered in our last column and give you some opinions that may be helpful. To supplement our own experience, we've brought in some heavy guns—several seasoned business writers and a newspaper reporter, all of whom handle tough subjects. http://tc.eserver.org/31123.html http://tc.eserver.org/31123.html Here are a few brief, practical tips for preparing for your first interview. http://tc.eserver.org/31076.html http://tc.eserver.org/31076.html A no-nonsense approach to finding a great tech writer, even when you don't know what to look for. http://tc.eserver.org/30851.html http://tc.eserver.org/30851.html Creating policies and procedures for selecting and interviewing job candidates is usually the responsibility of a company's human resources department, often with the guidance and approval of its legal affairs office. Such requirements are designed in accordance with U.S. federal and state laws related to civil rights, gender and ethnic rights, age discrimination, disabilities, and family leave, among others. These laws govern the conduct for companies during the recruitment process (Andrews and Baird, 2005), and though federal laws affect companies with US$50,000 or more in federal contracts and more than 15 employees, most U.S. companies tend to comply because of the threat of litigation. In speaking with Jim Olson, a retired auto industry executive, it became clear that compliance with employment laws regarding recruitment practices are largely influenced by corporate culture. http://tc.eserver.org/30517.html http://tc.eserver.org/30517.html A successful STC Employment Information Committee provides many rewards for job seekers, employers, and committee members. The Society’s Employment Information Manager and members from the Employment Information Committees of the Silicon Valley Chapter and the Lone Star Chapter discuss techniques for operating a successful employment information chapters. http://tc.eserver.org/30373.html http://tc.eserver.org/30373.html Economic concerns require hiring writers (contract, freelance, and permanent) quickly and surely. Employers can make better use of the resume and interview processes to hire the right writer. In this workshop, managers will analyze resume and participate in a mock-interview process. Further, they will learn how to assess job candidates using four screening tools developed by the presenters in a three-step process designed to provide a means of consistently making the most appropriate selections for job openings. http://tc.eserver.org/30116.html http://tc.eserver.org/30116.html While technical writers may interview subject matter experts on a daily basis to gather information for a project, very few training courses address how to conduct these interviews. Singer's article provides suggestions. http://tc.eserver.org/30068.html http://tc.eserver.org/30068.html Covers the basics of good interviewing technique: making sure the show is not about you but about your guest; listening to the answers you get; sticking to a script; and, above all, preparation, preparation, preparation. http://tc.eserver.org/30048.html http://tc.eserver.org/30048.html A major impediment in global user interface development is that there is inadequate empirical evidence for the effects of culture in the usability engineering methods used for developing these global user interfaces. This paper presents a controlled study investigating the effects of culture on the effectiveness of structured interviews in international usability evaluation. The experiment consisted of a usability evaluation of a website with two independent groups of Indian participants. Each group had a different interviewer; one belonging to the Indian culture and the other to the Anglo-American culture. The results show that participants found more usability problems and made more suggestions to an interviewer who was a member of the same (Indian) culture than to the foreign (Anglo-American) interviewer. The results of the study empirically establish that culture significantly affects the efficacy of structured interviews during international user testing. The implications of this work for usability engineering are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/29927.html http://tc.eserver.org/29927.html A simple, semi-structured, one-on-one interview can provide a very rich source of insights. Interviews work very well for gaining insights from both internal and external stakeholders, as well as from actual users of a system under consideration. Though, in this column, I'll focus on stakeholder interviews rather than user interviews. http://tc.eserver.org/29896.html http://tc.eserver.org/29896.html All of us have suffered the consequences of expensive, unasked questions both in our professional lives and our personal lives. As technical communicators, we need to ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. Add to that the natural reticence of some technical communicators, and it's no wonder that we walk away from SME interviews or department meetings wishing we'd remembered to ask X, Y, or Z. This paper offers information as to why questions are so important, who needs to improve discovery skills, what process you should use to develop your questions, what types of questions are useful, how to strategize your questions, how to ask good questions, how to handle people answering the questions you ask them, and how to answer questions that are asked of you. http://tc.eserver.org/29579.html http://tc.eserver.org/29579.html There are four parts to any interview: Opening (small talk), information giving, information taking, and conclusion. Before you go into an interview, know your: job strengths (writing, media contacts); managerial strengths (organized); personal strengths (energetic); weaknesses. http://tc.eserver.org/29580.html http://tc.eserver.org/29580.html When you sit down with the hiring manager, that's the point where you see if this is really what you want and they see if you are what they want. If you prepare yourself ahead of time, you'll do well. You can find a wealth of information on the Internet about interviewing. The following is a checklist of items to consider in preparing yourself, during the interview and follow up after the interview. http://tc.eserver.org/29549.html http://tc.eserver.org/29549.html What is a behavioral interview? Behavioral based interviewing is interviewing based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you will behave in the future i.e. past performance predicts future performance. http://tc.eserver.org/28929.html http://tc.eserver.org/28929.html In part one, Michael shared how to navigate company politics to set up great stakeholder interviews. Here he covers his five tips for navigating company politics, avoiding client bias, and eliciting the information you need to inform your design. http://tc.eserver.org/28928.html http://tc.eserver.org/28928.html Gathering business requirements from stakeholders is critical to good design, but setting up quality interviews can be tough. Tossing out the org chart may be the best way to figure out who really wields influence over a company's website. http://tc.eserver.org/28862.html http://tc.eserver.org/28862.html Remember when interviewing meant dressing up, grabbing your best samples, and heading over to meet your potential employer face to face? Today the industry trend is to conduct most first interviews over the telephone. With the emergence of telecommuting and a global workforce, I don't see the trend toward telephone interviews going away any time soon. http://tc.eserver.org/28595.html http://tc.eserver.org/28595.html Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion wrote about 'Telling Questions' prospective design employers may ask the job applicant. Some of the questions are obvious -- others not so. So, we teamed up with Anne-Marie to find out if YOU can correctly answer these Questions for Designers. http://tc.eserver.org/27870.html http://tc.eserver.org/27870.html The author discusses how managers can best prepare for an interview to ensure that the perfect candidate for the job is selected. The article also includes charts that can be used to assess a candidateï¿ï¿ï¿s performance in key areas such as tool skill level, knowledge of online help, and analytical ability. http://tc.eserver.org/27783.html http://tc.eserver.org/27783.html Perhaps one of the bigger challenges faced by white paper writers is coming up with good content. The default course of action is to do a Google search. While this approach can yield valuable information, the best pearls reside inside someone else's head. http://tc.eserver.org/27786.html http://tc.eserver.org/27786.html The best interviewing is conversational and nothing else. It's not over complimentary, gushing or just about impressing your interviewee with your knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/26913.html http://tc.eserver.org/26913.html Before you worry about interviewing, consider this: good interviewing does not make a good candidate out of a bad one. The higher the quality of the people coming in to your interviewing process, the higher the quality of those that will come out of it. Do not rely on HR or some other person to decide who enters the process. The more energy you, as a hiring manager, invest in recruiting, the better your results will be. http://tc.eserver.org/26921.html http://tc.eserver.org/26921.html Looking for jobs is tough. I remember when I looked for my first industry job about ten years ago, how frustrating a process it was. I had everything to prove, and every desire to prove it, but few opportunities to do so. And worse, by the time I graduated in May of 94', all of my friends were gone: they moved away in response to job offers. Many of them had jobs lined up before the spring semester even started. Meanwhile I struggled to find good interviews, and maintain the work needed to graduate on time. I think most people, especially students, underestimate how much energy job searching requires, and there really isn’t that much honest guidance on how to be smart in going about it. This essay is an attempt to offer some good advice - the kind I wish I had back in 94'. If you find it useful, please pass it on to other job seekers you know, or if you’re in school, to professors and other students. If you have other suggestions to add, please let me know. http://tc.eserver.org/26655.html http://tc.eserver.org/26655.html A semi-structured or structured interview that is conducted over a phone or Internet audio line. Phone interviews can supplement other HCI methods and allow HCI specialists to follow users over an extended time. http://tc.eserver.org/26600.html http://tc.eserver.org/26600.html If you are a newly-appointed documentation manager hiring your first technical writer, you are probably wondering what you have gotten yourself into. Do you know how to attract quality applicants, assess candidates’ qualifications, effectively interview , compare candidates, ensure a good fit, make an offer, negotiate compensation, and measure success? Where should you start? Hiring employees can be difficult whether adding one employee or staffing a full team from scratch. http://tc.eserver.org/26532.html http://tc.eserver.org/26532.html A discussion of challenges and solutions for hiring professional and technical communication specialists at teaching-focused universities. http://tc.eserver.org/26376.html http://tc.eserver.org/26376.html A visual designer discusses why Swatch, watercolors and cooking can inspire the design of color. Louise Sandhaus draws out how Beatrice Santiccioli came to be the Queen of Color. http://tc.eserver.org/26399.html http://tc.eserver.org/26399.html As technical communicators, we need to ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. http://tc.eserver.org/26384.html http://tc.eserver.org/26384.html Experience with Wolfgang Weingart during his last year before retiring from the HGK Basel, Switzerland. http://tc.eserver.org/26174.html http://tc.eserver.org/26174.html Running a translation business is not easy. As small as the industry may be, we as business owners face a full set of business challenges: personnel management, sales and marketing, client relations, and the list goes on. Everyday, we go into work hoping to improve the business, to make it more successful. Sometimes we wonder, what is the killer factor? What makes some companies more successful than others? http://tc.eserver.org/25674.html http://tc.eserver.org/25674.html Effective interviewing begins with knowing where interviewing fits within the process of finding a job. http://tc.eserver.org/24986.html http://tc.eserver.org/24986.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/24985.html http://tc.eserver.org/24985.html When I originally spoke to the recruiter on the phone, she gave me a brief description of the job and asked for my rate. We negotiated the rate for a few minutes and came up with an acceptable number ($25 an hour) and she sent me an e-mail with the full job description and a short agreement asking me to confirm her representation and my rate. I sent back my confirmation and that was it for a while. http://tc.eserver.org/24411.html http://tc.eserver.org/24411.html Job-descriptions.org is a free resource for job descriptions and job details. Our website currently contains over 13,000 job descriptions. These jobs are divided into categories, then divisions, then groups and finally the job descriptions themselves. http://tc.eserver.org/24378.html http://tc.eserver.org/24378.html Making a hiring decision can be one of the most important decisions made by a manager. You have a technical job to fill that requires high level skills. You also have a group dynamic and corporate culture to consider. The interview process is a set of tools and techniques for gaining information about a potential hire and making an informed decision. This workshop provides a supportive forum for learning from each other’s hiring and job hunting experiences. We also have a wealth of resources to draw upon throughout the interview process. A bibliography will be available for all participants. http://tc.eserver.org/24298.html http://tc.eserver.org/24298.html In a team interview, several members of the publications team, as well as the hiring manager, interview each candidate. Each team member interviews the candidate individually, looking for a specific type of information. The interviewing team meets afterward to share information about the candidate. Although it takes more time, having each interviewer concentrate on one or two aspects of the candidate allows interview team, as a whole, to learn more about a candidate. This process, in turn, helps the manager to make better hiring decisions. http://tc.eserver.org/24080.html http://tc.eserver.org/24080.html Watch your nonverbal communication and vaccinate against 'um' disease by submitting to videotaped coaching before media contact. http://tc.eserver.org/23935.html http://tc.eserver.org/23935.html The acronym GD stands for Group Discussion and has now become as interview in professional and academic circles. The basic aim of the Group Discussion is to evaluate the effectiveness of the candidate in a group activity. This effectiveness is judged through the leadership qualities and the communication skills displayed. http://tc.eserver.org/23894.html http://tc.eserver.org/23894.html An O'Reilly interview with Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfeld about their book, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, their work, and the field of information architecture. http://tc.eserver.org/23792.html http://tc.eserver.org/23792.html Information gathering can be one of the most timeconsuming and potentially frustrating experiences when writing policies and procedures. Policy and procedure writers sometimes start from scratch and must investigate and research policies and procedures before the first word is ever written. Although there are many obstacles to obtaining accurate and timely information, there are also many avenues the policy and procedure writer can take to gather, utilize, and maintain information. http://tc.eserver.org/23748.html http://tc.eserver.org/23748.html To conduct a successful interview, you must create a comfortable atmosphere, provide an honest review of the job requirements, and probe into the candidate’s qualifications and experience. By asking appropriate, focused questions and engaging the candidate in both detailed and general dialog, you should be able to gather enough information about the candidate to either eliminate him/her or move forward with the hiring process. http://tc.eserver.org/23751.html http://tc.eserver.org/23751.html Good interviewing skills are critical to your professional success. Taking inventory of your own strengths and weaknesses is essential to preparing for any job interview process. The following strategies will help you navigate the job interview with success: do your homework on the company; when asked about a skill you do not possess, answer by drawing attention to a related competency; engage in active listening; exhibit calm and poise; try to meet the rest of the team; and be skeptical of the information furnished by the interviewer. These skills will keep you well prepared for job transitions. http://tc.eserver.org/23645.html http://tc.eserver.org/23645.html The technical writers at a software company learn about the software by gathering information and running the software themselves. http://tc.eserver.org/23590.html http://tc.eserver.org/23590.html Technical communicators should use job search Web sites and other Internet resources (i.e., listservs and email networking) as part of their overall job search strategy. In using job search Web sites, technical communicators should choose carefully from four main categories of such sites: general job search sites, field-specific sites, professional organization sites, and specific employer sites. Each of these categories requires specific consideration. Job seekers should take into account the specific characteristics and purposes of the site and its users. To get the most effective results, technical communicators should also take special care when choosing keywords for job searches. http://tc.eserver.org/23526.html http://tc.eserver.org/23526.html Demonstrate your skills. Make your information relevant. Provide justifications to accept you with no obvious reasons to reject. Present your best work. Show enthusiasm and interest. http://tc.eserver.org/23386.html http://tc.eserver.org/23386.html To invite users to provide knowledge that informs your readers, you can try different approaches. In a small company, meeting with users is more informal: you can stop by and casually ask a few questions, rather than hold a more extended interview. When you’re speaking with an expert, tailor your conversation to that person. To establish rapport with a reluctant or skeptical source, try asking a specific question about a certain computer function. Or ask a general question on a broad function. Once the expert is talking, then you can pose more specific questions. http://tc.eserver.org/23093.html http://tc.eserver.org/23093.html Describes ways that technical communicators looking for work can identify and pursue job leads before the openings are publicized. http://tc.eserver.org/22833.html http://tc.eserver.org/22833.html Job fairs can be powerful tools in the search for employment after graduation. There are a lot of opportunities for entry level computer related jobs at these fairs, but coming prepared is the key. You serve as your cover letter, so be at your best. http://tc.eserver.org/22628.html http://tc.eserver.org/22628.html Informational interviewing, a.k.a. networking, is a very effective way to learn and make contacts, in not just technical writing, but any field you are considering as a career option. http://tc.eserver.org/22612.html http://tc.eserver.org/22612.html Whether you sell widgets or wisdom, bicycles or bytes, a technical communicator makes sure that your best thinking is reflected on paper and online. Hiring a technical communicator is the same as hiring any qualified professional. This online guide offers some suggestions to help you find and select the best technical communicator for your job. http://tc.eserver.org/22573.html http://tc.eserver.org/22573.html Offers ten suggestions for job seekers who wish to improve their interview skills. http://tc.eserver.org/22469.html http://tc.eserver.org/22469.html Many people look for jobs today by logging on to the Internet; after all, there are well over 100,000 companies on the Web today, and many of these companies post job listings on the Internet. Many other organizations that don't have Web sites use online services to publicize their job openings. This is particularly true in computer-related fields, but, increasingly, companies in other fields are using the Internet to find potential employees. http://tc.eserver.org/21404.html http://tc.eserver.org/21404.html Technical writing jobs can be hard to get if you have little or no experience. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting hired. http://tc.eserver.org/21403.html http://tc.eserver.org/21403.html Hiring a technical writer can be tricky, even if you happen to be one. Where can you find a technical writer? What characteristics should you look for? How can you tell a good writer from a bad one? http://tc.eserver.org/21134.html http://tc.eserver.org/21134.html I'm now going to tell you the #1, surefire way to land a job with a great salary and benefits whenever you're ready to start working. http://tc.eserver.org/20977.html http://tc.eserver.org/20977.html A common misconception is that Human Resources departments exist to help job-seekers find their place within a company. In fact, the role of HR departments is to act as the gatekeeper. Savvy job-seekers know how to get around, over, and bypass the gates of HR, to connect with the decision-makers who can really help you.  http://tc.eserver.org/20833.html http://tc.eserver.org/20833.html You need to hire someone to design your Web site. What should you look for before signing on the dotted line? http://tc.eserver.org/20794.html http://tc.eserver.org/20794.html Expect anyone you're interviewing to try to control the interview, says writer/trainer Thomas Hunter. Anticipate special difficulties if that person outranks you. You must make on-the-spot judgments during every interview, but Hunter suggests steps to take beforehand, alternative approaches to consider during interviews and techniques to use after unsatisfactory ones. http://tc.eserver.org/20749.html http://tc.eserver.org/20749.html If you have ever considered accepting an overseas contract, you may have already looked into the issues of visas, work permits, inoculations, and compensation. But to really thrive in an overseas job, you must learn as much as possible about the host culture so that you are prepared for the cultural rules and expectations; if possible, learn the language. This workshop raises a number of cultural issues and uses value-assessment exercises to help you determine whether an overseas job is realistic for you. http://tc.eserver.org/20730.html http://tc.eserver.org/20730.html There is a shortage of experienced technical communicators in many places. This often forces Tech Pubs managers to hire and train entry-level (or change-of-career) candidates who have no portfolio, related work experience, or references in the field. http://tc.eserver.org/20697.html http://tc.eserver.org/20697.html What skills to look for, and what questions to ask when hiring a technical writer. http://tc.eserver.org/20141.html http://tc.eserver.org/20141.html Molisani explains how technical communicators can use their portfolios to take charge of an interview. http://tc.eserver.org/20142.html http://tc.eserver.org/20142.html Describes successful interviewing techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/20089.html http://tc.eserver.org/20089.html An effective interview process better enables fhe selection of thoroughly qualified technical writers. This process is repeatable and ensures comparing “apples to apples. ” The seven steps are 1) advertise the job, 2) receive and review the resumes, 3) receive and review the writing samples, 4) set up the interuiezu, 5) hold the pre-intetiao strategy meeting, 6) hold the interoiew, 7)and hold the post-interview debriefing. http://tc.eserver.org/19922.html http://tc.eserver.org/19922.html Hiring managers need to understand academic programs in technical communication in order to evaluate potential new hires, especially for entry-level positions in challenging, high-tech, international environments. Changes in the profession, in the workplace, and in higher education have led to the proliferation of academic programs. These may offer advantages over non-academic training, in terms of cost, comprehensiveness, content, and control. Academic programs are also different among themselves, based on credentials, institutions, instructors, and program homes. By developing reasonable, informed expectations for what academic programs teach, managers who hire program graduates can experience the payoffs of lower-risk, more cost-effective long-term hires. http://tc.eserver.org/19885.html http://tc.eserver.org/19885.html You can take the subjective guesswork out of hiring by carefully analyzing a job’s tasks and creating a structured interview. With a consistent interviewing style and the use of good evaluation tools, you will be able to find the best candidate for the job. This progression topic will provide you with some tools to use for job analysis, interview development, and candidate selection. http://tc.eserver.org/19265.html http://tc.eserver.org/19265.html Interviewing subject matter experts (SMEs) is one of the most common and useful methods for obtaining the information needed to create quality documents. Successful SME interviews require careful research and preparation in advance. During the interview, good listening skills, critical analysis, and the ability to maintain control of the range and depth of the interview with appropriate tact are crucial to successful outcomes. After the interview, give prompt attention to notes and any required follow-through. When working with hostile SMEs or those with poor communication skills, emphasize the strengths of the relationship and develop strategies to work around any weaknesses. http://tc.eserver.org/18938.html http://tc.eserver.org/18938.html An interview is a funny situation. It's like a friendly conversation between strangers, but unlike the kind you may have on the bus. When chatting on the bus, people try very hard to agree with each other and to quickly communicate interesting information. Each person wants to be liked and adjusts the way they speak and what they say so as not to offend. This type of exchange is perfectly fine for maintaining civil society -- deeper exchanges can always happen as an acquaintance deepens -- but shallow banter isn't appropriate for an interview. You need to find out what someone is experiencing, what they're thinking, or what their real opinions are. http://tc.eserver.org/18943.html http://tc.eserver.org/18943.html As user experience designers, a key component to nearly all the techniques we use in our practice is the one-on-one interview. It's the basis of requirements gathering, usability testing, and task analysis. In order to remove our personal biases, expectations and opinions from the questions asked, I practice a kind of questioning technique called the nondirected interview. The questions asked are at the heart of any interview. Following are a loose set of guidelines to help you frame questions in a way that elicits honest and accurate responses. http://tc.eserver.org/18515.html http://tc.eserver.org/18515.html People often turn down the chance to be interviewed because they're nervous, or afraid they'll say the wrong thing. Instead, think of the interview as a golden opportunity for you to convey your message. If perceptions about you, your school, or youth in general have been wrong in the past, this is your chance to set the record straight. http://tc.eserver.org/18516.html http://tc.eserver.org/18516.html Remember that when you speak to a reporter, you're potentially speaking to an audience of hundreds or thousands of people. Try not to appear negative or confrontational. A hostile attitude will make it difficult for viewers to take your point seriously.