atw: Accreditation...and then what?

Hi Michelle,

I think the artifact that you propose is a great idea. Something tangible
and not overly ambitious. At the same time I know there is going to be a lot
of grief in getting it ratified. Good luck - I really hope you succeed!

I'd like to add one suggestion about how that artifact might be used.

If the publication is just a passive approach where we invite employers and
recruiters to use it, I suspect it will have very little influence. A more
active approach might be to "certify" recruiters by asking them to
acknowledge that they have read it and agree to apply the criteria. Those
who agree can be added to a list on relevant web sites.

This is a way of finding a more equitable negotiating position. It would
also be a positive move to invite recruiters to participate, provided that
we assert throughout the process "this is what we choose to say about
ourselves, not what you choose to say about us".

Some background...

In the early 90s I foolishly agreed to work on an ASTC NSW project for
generic performance reviews of tech writers (quite similar to the issue of
accreditation). I picked up work that had failed about five years earlier -
for good reasons. I could not even get a sensible response from some of the
big employers of the day. It seems no two companies even speak the same
language in the area of TW assessment.

I did conclude that there are three distinct areas of evaluation:

1. Information creation and organisation. These are skills that can be
applied regardless of tools, media and technology. I think they are really
at the core of what makes a tech communicator, but unfortunately the hardest
to quantify.

2. Technical skills. These are skills that enable the creation, management
and publishing of information. Loosely you could think of this as expertise
with tools, although I'd prefer to be more generic (i.e. "program macros",
"create templates", "integrate online help", "create perspective
illustrations", "design a database"). Once you've done it with one tool,
it's not a big leap to do it with a similar tool, although recruiters just
don't get this at all. I suspect we would have to "name names" in respect of
tools to get recruiter buy-in, which is really a pity.

Example: I have good skills with an ERP product called Pronto, to the extent
that the Pronto company was interested in hearing about my solution for
merging custom online help with the built-in generic help. But that counts
for zip when a recruiter wants to see "SAP" in the resume (SAP is a
competitive ERP product).

3. Domain knowledge. This is what recruiters like to think of as
"industries", although that tends to discount relevant knowledge in an
overlapping industry. For example, having worked with a number of J2EE
enterprise transaction systems (law and finance), am I not competent to also
work on such a system say in the hospitality industry? According to the
existing recruiter regime, I'm not.


Lastly ... a point of clarification to an earlier post regarding the Westie
proposal. As a founding member of that group, I can refute the notion that
"popularity" plays any part in the proposed assessment. There may be some
confusion with the right of one member to challenge the self-assessment of
any other member. In that case I guess some kind of arbitration would be
needed. This avoids the unrealistic proposition where a review board
assesses every application, yet imposes some rudimentary quality control.

Cheers

Colin Dawson
Info Action Pty Ltd
P +612 9674 7025
F +612 9620 8441
www.info-action.com.au

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