Janet Underwood

   

How to Get Your First Technical Writing Job

Getting a technical writing job when you have little or no experience is a challenge. Fortunately, there are things you can to improve your chances of getting that first job that will start you on a rewarding career as a technical writer.

First Things First…

Employers want to know that you can do the job before they hire you, and to prove that, you have to have a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of samples of your writing that you can show potential employers. If you haven’t worked as a technical writer, this may seem like an impossible task, but it may be easier than you think. Here are some ideas for building your portfolio:

1.      Look at the work that you’re currently doing. Many people are writing documents that qualify as technical writing and don’t know it. Have you written a procedures guide for your position? Have you written instructional documents as a part of your current job? If so, those could qualify as good writing samples for your portfolio. Did you work with a team to develop training for other employees? While you can’t take credit for doing all of the work, you still can include it in your portfolio, pointing out the work that you were responsible for doing on the project. If you plan to use writing that you did as an employee, be sure to ask the company for permission to include it in your portfolio and be careful not to divulge any proprietary information in your samples.

2.      If you can’t find any writing that you’ve done that you can include in your portfolio, create some. More than a few technical writers have gotten their start by rewriting existing documents, such as user manuals for commercial software or products. Sometimes, their first jobs were with the companies that had published the original documents they rewrote. They sent their work to the companies, telling them that they had rewritten the originals because they thought they could be improved. The companies agreed and hired them, either as freelancers or as full-time employees.

Another way to create writing samples is to volunteer to write documentation for an organization, such as your church or the school your children attend. Contact the appropriate people at the organization and tell them that you’re trying to build a portfolio of writing samples so you can get a job as a technical writer. Offer to write a short procedures’ guide or a tutorial for using a software program that the organization uses. Be sure to be very specific about what you can provide. You don’t want the people to think that you’ll write everything they might need for free. Volunteering to write 50 pages of instructional material in a week or two would be a reasonable offer. When you’re finished, give a copy of the guide to the organization. If they are pleased, ask them if you can use them as a reference in addition to using the work as a sample of your writing. Most will be happy to do this for you. Plus, you may have the pleasant surprise of being hired by the organization to write more!

By the way, volunteering your services is a little-known secret for the success of many technical writers. Do you have a cause you feel strongly about? Become a volunteer for it and then, when the opportunity presents itself, offer to take on a writing project for the group. In addition to doing good things for the causes you care about and getting some samples for your portfolio, it brings attention to your skills. Many successful business people and their spouses are volunteers for the causes they believe in. If you do an exemplary job for the group, one of these business people or a spouse may notice, and perhaps approach you to apply for a job with their company that never hits that job boards.

3.      Rewrite your resume, emphasizing any writing tasks you’ve done on the job or as a volunteer. Perhaps your official title was Customer Service Representative, but one of the things you did in that position was write quick-reference cards for users. Make sure that stands out when you’re describing your job duties. Many employers know that people often write technical documents even if their job title doesn’t reflect this, so if you want a writing job, make sure they know that you considered these tasks to be an important part of your job. Oh yes, and be sure that your resume doesn’t have any grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors. It’s difficult to convince employers that you are a serious writer if you don’t take all of your writing seriously. And that includes using the software correctly. Many companies ask you to send them a Microsoft Word copy of your resume. If you say in your resume that you’re an expert in using Microsoft Word, but your resume is filled with formatting errors, employers will notice.

Network, network, network

Just as in real estate, there are three things that are most important for success (“location, location, location”), there are three keys to success in finding a job – network, network, network. 

1.      Tell your friends, family, and people in the volunteer organizations you belong to about your goals. Get the word out about what you want to do. This isn’t the time to be shy. Call people you’ve worked with who now are working for other companies and invite them to go for lunch with you. As you’re catching up on what’s been going on in their lives and sharing stories about past experiences you’ve shared, mention that you’re trying to find a technical writing job. Even if none of the people you tell knows of any technical writing jobs at the moment, if they hear of one, they’ll probably remember to mention you.

2.      Join the Society for Technical Communication (STC). This is the professional organization for technical communicators. Joining is expensive and doesn’t guarantee you a job, but it has many benefits. Most chapters hold monthly meetings that include learning experiences, such as workshops and presentations. Joining also gives you a chance to network with people who are working in the field already, plus STC has a wonderful jobs board where you’ll find many jobs that aren’t listed anywhere else. Finally, being a member of STC impresses employers and lets them know you’re serious about your technical writing career.

3.      Keep a pleasant, upbeat attitude when you’re networking. No one wants to hear you moan and groan about how desperately you need a job and how unfair it is that you can’t even get an interview. Stay positive and put on a happy face even when you’re feeling down. People like to be around happy people. Draw others who may help you to you like a magnet with your sunny, optimistic disposition.

Continue to Build Your Skills

As you network, especially when you’re networking with working technical writers in STC, you’ll probably learn that you need more education in some areas. In addition to better preparing you for a job, taking courses impresses employers with your sincerity about working in this field.

1.      Take online courses that will improve your skills. Online courses are a great way to gain more knowledge and fill in the “gaps” in your resume. You can take them from the comfort of your home, at your own convenience. Many are priced quite reasonably as well. A caveat though: In the past few years, many organizations and people with no real working knowledge of technical writing have begun offering technical writing courses. Some of them are very expensive. There are some who define technical writing as writing resumes or treat technical writing as though it were just like business writing. It isn’t. A technical writing course shouldn’t waste your time and money teaching you how to write emails or resumes. It should teach you the skills you need to write real technical documents, such as user manuals, procedures guides, technical training courses, etc.

2.      Learn how to use the software technical writers use. The foundation software skill you should learn is Microsoft Word. It’s true that Microsoft Word isn’t the preferred software technical writers use to create documentation, but it is the most used. You may think you already know how to use Microsoft Word, but unless you know how to use paragraph styles, create templates, insert section breaks into your documents, automatically generate tables of contents and indexes, use auto-numbered features such as captions and link them to cross-references that will automatically update themselves if you have to move, add, or delete the item they’re referencing, you need to learn more. Unfortunately, many Microsoft Word classes, even the intermediate and advanced courses, focus on skills that people in less-demanding jobs need to know. If possible, take a Microsoft Word class that’s specifically designed for technical and business writers.

3.      If you can’t afford or can’t find training for the software that technical writers use, don’t give up! You can download trial versions of most software so you can become familiar with it. You generally only have a trial period of 30 days or so before the application becomes inactive, so be sure to download the trial versions at a time when you’ll be able to work with it. Click here for recommended software to learn and links to the pages where you can download trial versions.

 

Apply for Jobs

The Internet has made applying for jobs much easier. There are numerous Web sites that list jobs for technical writers. My favorite is Indeed (www.indeed.com) because it consolidates job listings from several other job boards. I like it so much, as a matter of fact, that I’ve incorporated their technical writing listings into my website. Click Jobs in the navigation bar to view all of Indeed’s technical writing job listing throughout the U.S. Click here for a list of other online job boards you might like to review. Also, don’t forget to check Craigs List (www.cragslist.com) for technical writing jobs in your area. It’s surprising how many companies use this as a resource to find technical writers.

In addition, check your local newspaper’s classified ads. Again, you can often do this online. Search for your local newspaper’s Web site and see if they list their classified ads there.

Consider Contract Work

Contract employees are temporary employees. They’re usually hired to work on specific projects for a specific period of time. I think that working as a contract employee is one of the best ways for an inexperienced technical writer to enter the field, but it may not be the right route for you. Please read my article called “The Pros and Cons of Working as a Contract Technical Writer” to learn how to get a job this way.

I can’t guarantee that doing these things will land your first technical writing job, but if you implement these ideas, I can guarantee that your chances of being hired will be greatly increased! Good luck!