Memorandum

To: From: Date: Subject:

Dr. Ron Smith James Thigpen 27 November 2011 Informal Report on Professional Writing

PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to inform the reader of the essence of working as a professional writer in the workplace. This shall be done specifically by identifying the skills and talents required for such an employment and introduce sources for opportunities and information associated with the field. This report is not all-inclusive but intends to introduce useful information and sources to an audience already familiar with the technical writing field.

BACKGROUND
In a world overrun with technologythat is, a world where nearly anyone on nearly any continent can communicate with those across the world by means of the internetcareers such as technical writing can be outsourced to cheaper companies to accomplish any number of jobs from developing brochures to writing proposals. The aspiring technical writerthat is one who aspires to the positionmust be prepared to handle these changes, as the field is constantly growing.

Ron Smith

1 December 2011

SUMMARY
The technical writing student who plans to enter the career as an asset to a company must develop along with required skills for the job a set of valuable talents outside of creating wellwritten documents; in general, depending on the targeted employment, these talents vary, but there is a shared set of talents beneficial to many professional/technical writing employments that can give a student seeking a professional writing career the upper-hand over outsourced labor. In addition to this required skill-set and talent-set, the job-seeking technical writer should be aware of sources of opportunities within the field. These opportunities begin before employment with careful research and knowing where to look for jobs and, once the job is found, knowing how to best accomplish any tasks at hand by consulting various sources within the field.

DISCUSSION
With global communication becoming easier as technology progresses, the student desiring the career of a technical writer must attain a valuable skill-set and talent-set to be worth more to a company than cheaper outsourced labor. Hailey, Cox, and Loader quote Hackos and Hackos in the article Relationship between Innovation and Professional Communication in the Creative Economy to prove the vulnerability of a skill-only based look at professional/technical writing: Because of the new communications technology, technical writers no longer need to be in close proximity to developers or end-users. In fact, unless direct physical contact is essential or heavy equipment or products are involved, jobs can be performed anywhere as long as workers have sufficient skills. (134)

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1 December 2011

In regards to the problem of offshore outsourcing, Hailey, et al. explore the necessary skills for numerous jobs, including a couple technical writing jobs, the professional copywriter and the documentation specialist.

Required Skill/Knowledge-Sets
While the required skill-set for a writer entering the technical field varies among specific jobs at specific companies, a set of general skills to be acquired should be the goal of any writer desiring employment in the professional or technical field. Hailey, et al. give lists of required skills and knowledge for professional copywriters (including technical copywriters) and documentation specialists; these two professions encompass the jobs of the professional/technical writing field and will stand in this report as fit examples for the field.

Skill/Knowledge-Set for Professional Copywriters

The skill/knowledge-set required for professional copywriters, as listed by Hailey, et al. is as follows (133): Understanding of language and rhetoric Knowledge of topic Ability to research

This list of skills follows the usual necessities for those entering the writing field, and students of English-language and writing learn these while in school. Hailey, et al. purport that this set of skills/knowledge is attained in any country where English is a widely-spoken language, and because of this, jobs in the technical/professional writing fields are vulnerable to offshore outsourcing (131).

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1 December 2011

Skill/Knowledge-Set for Documentation Specialists

In addition to the list given for the skill/knowledge-set for Copywriters, Hailey, et al. provide a short list of assumed skills documentation specialists should have (132): Extensive subject knowledge Vocabulary of mechanics and writing Knowledge of publication techniques, media, and product testing

While this skill/knowledge-set is a bit more advanced than that required of copywriters, a person looking into a job such as technical writing expects to need such specific knowledge to accomplish his or her task effectively. As noted before, Hailey, et al. show that even such specialization of skills and knowledge is being accomplished in offshore English-speaking countries. Therefore, it follows that something extra is required of those seeking the job of a technical/professional writer.

Beyond Skill/Knowledge-Sets: Talents

Hailey, et al. suggest that the domestic writer must exhibit more than skill and knowledge; he or she must demonstrate talent, defined by the researchers through Buckinghams Now, Discover Your Strengths as naturally occurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior (129). Therefore, to keep from being vulnerable to outsourcing, the aspiring technical writer must develop certain talents to make himself or herself exceptional. Hailey, et al. glean their suggested talents from a list compiled by Gallups interviewing of 2.2 million employees and their employers. The copywriters talent-set, as suggested by Hailey, et. al, for the professional copywriter to be exceptional can be found in Table 1 (133). The documentation specialists

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1 December 2011

talent-set, as suggested by Hailey, et. al for the documentation specialist to be exceptional can be found in Table 2 (132). The names of the talents have been shortened for effective formatting. TABLE 1: Talent-set for the Professional Copywriter Adaptability Learner Devotion Connectedness y Empath Input n Communicatio

TABLE 2: Talent-Set for the Documentation Specialist Adaptability Learner Focused Connectedness y Empath Input n Communicatio Analytical

Merging of the Talent-Sets

These talent-sets share in six individual talents (Fig. 1). Because of this sharing, these individual talents can be practiced, making them habitual so as to prepare the aspiring technical/professional writer to be best suited for effective and valuable work. If these six can be acquired, the chances of getting and keeping a job in the technical/professional writing field are much greater. Explanations of these talents can be found on page 130 of Hailey, et al. and the Appendix of this document. Figure 1: The Intersection of Talents between Copywriter and Documentation

Copywriter

Documentation Specialist

Ron Smith Further Skills

1 December 2011

Further marketableand becoming very much necessaryskills include the ability to use many components of the Microsoft Office system and the understanding of technical languages such as HTML/XML and the terminology associated with those technical languages. These skills include proficiency with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and other programs. According to a job listing found on GraduateJobs.com, the applicant must be familiar with MS Office and Sharepoint; other job listings suggest a knowledge/familiarity with technical languages.

Sources for Opportunities in the Professional Writing Field

An aspiring technical writer should be prepared for finding a job by being knowledgeable about sources for job-listings and help for improving in required skills and talents. Four equally important sources are especially helpful in getting an idea of opportunities in the field: Graduatejobs.com (membership required) A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Communication World

Each of these sources gives helpful information in specific ways so as to best help the researcher in finding opportunities in the field but should not be the end of a job-seekers search for opportunities.

GraduateJobs.com
GraduateJobs.com offers itself to subscribers as the best single source for employment vacancies nationwide in the liberal arts and the humanities. A subscription to the site gives job-

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seekers job listings submitted from companies across the United States. In finding a job, the site usefully offers search options and allows the user to narrow the search results as needed.

A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer

Found at weekinthelife.net, A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer follows five technical writers at National Instruments (NI) through their usual workweek. The website is designed to give you insight into the daily life of several technical writers at National Instruments. This site benefits the reader with information of a personal tone that may be more applicable to a jobseeker or aspiring technical writer, especially students.

The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

According to the website associated with The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication strives to meet the diverse communication needs of industry, management, government, and academia. For over thirty years, the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication has served as a major professional and scholarly Journal for practitioners and teachers of most functional forms of communication. Our purpose is to publish a thoroughly solid journal that performs as the needed bridge between academia and the world of practitioners. This journal provides information for job seekers in that job seekers can find information on current goings-on of the technical writing field and learn ways of improvement in preparation for acquiring a job.

Communication World
According to its corresponding website, this journal offers its readers the ability to Learn about best practices and get insights from today's brightest thought leaders (Publications). To

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1 December 2011

students and others aspiring to the profession of technical communication the journal offer[s] a variety of resources and opportunities for students who plan on entering the communication profession insights from leaders in the profession valuable contacts, and practical training to get your career started (Students).

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

The field of technical writing is quickly growing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on its Technical Writers page, Employment of technical writers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations as the need to explain a growing number of electronic and scientific products increases. Additionally, the BLS reiterates the required skills in saying that [j]ob prospects are expected to be good for those with solid writing and communications skills and a technical background. As noted, acquiring these skills alone does not adequately equip the aspiring technical writer; he or she must build on the six shared talents illustrated in Figure 1 and explained in Appendix 1; also be prepared by knowing sources of valuable information within the field such as the Journal for Technical Writing and Communication. Those desiring a job in the technical writing field should extensively research the opportunities and information found in the presented sources. Along with making habit of the six shared talents, the desirer should learn more skills and talents by keeping up-to-speed with the growing technical communications community by reading from the supplied sources, as well as other similar sources. Christopher Steven, in an autobibiliographic kind of way, asserts the same need for learning more skills and talentswhat he calls creativityin the future of the communication industry (14). According to Steven, Creative Strategists inhabit the future of technical communications; they follow the path that Steven suggestsin such a way the aspiring technical writer can be much more prepared when the time comes for job-hunting.

Ron Smith

1 December 2011

Appendix: Definitions of Talents

1. Love for learningThey often entertain themselves attacking steep learning curves. 2. EmpathyThey work effectively with other professionals. 3. ConnectednessThey like to work in groups. 4. AnalysisThey enjoy manipulating ideas or information for better understanding. 5. Desire to communicateThey love writing. 6. InputThey are attracted to mining information. 7. FocusThey push until they get the job done, and they do a good job. 8. AdaptabilityWhen necessary, they must often change directions without hesitation.

Ron Smith

10 Works Cited

1 December 2011

A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer. Weekinthelife.net. A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer, 2008. National Instruments Corporation. Web. 27 November 2011. Current Jobs in Writing, Editing, & Communication. GraduateJobs.com. GraduateJobs, n.d. Web. 29 November 2011. Hailey, David, Matthew Cox, and Emily Loader. Relationship between Innovation and Professional Communication in the Creative Economy. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 40.2 (2010): 125-41. Web. 27 November 2011. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Baywood.com. Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. Web. 29 November 2011. <http://www.baywood.com/journals/PreviewJournals.asp?id=0047-2816> Publications. IABC.com/cw. International Association of Business Communicators. Web. 29 November 2011. Steven, Christopher. A Tale of Two Communicators. Communication World 28.3 (2011): 1314. Web. 27 November 2011. Students. Students.IABC.com. International Association of Business Communicators. Web. 29 November 2011. Technical Writers. BLS.gov. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 29 November 2011. <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos319.htm>