Job-Hunting Tips Since there are many general books on job-hunting strategies, this section concentrates on job-hunting tips specific to technical communicators.

CV
Portfolio
Writing Tests

CV
You simply must have a first-class CV (resume). Your CV not only records your achievements but is also the first sample of your writing that a potential employer sees. However, CV writing can prove more difficult than other writing tasks because you cannot be truly objective about yourself. Approach the task of writing your CV as you would approach the jobs you're applying for: do an audience analysis; do a task analysis; gather all relevant information; select a format appropriate to the message you wish to convey; write a first draft; revise the draft; and get at least one other person to proof-read the final draft.

A very practical book on writing CVs is The Perfect CV by Tom Jackson (published in North America as The Perfect Resume).

Portfolio
Nearly all employers expect technical authors to show a portfolio of their work at an interview. Although a good portfolio is not always the deciding factor in the selection process, a bad portfolio will certainly rule you out. So it is worth spending some time on putting together your portfolio.

Try to include items that demonstrate the full range of your capabilities-reference material as well as "how to" material, information for beginners as well as information for expert users, hardcopy information as well as online information, indexes as well as body text. For a large piece of work, such as a 300-page manual, select a few pages that give a flavour of the document. Small pieces, such as brochures or proposals, can be included in their entirety.

If you are applying for your first job, or if you cannot get permission from previous employers to put the work you did for them into your portfolio, use anything that demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively-a project you did as a student, a fact sheet you produced for a voluntary organization, a magazine article you have had published. Alternatively, you could produce something especially for your portfolio. For example, you could rewrite all or part of a badly written user's guide and create a "before and after" presentation. Or, if you have a friend who has written a shareware utility and hasn't documented it, volunteer to create some online help in return for a free copy of the software (unless the software in question is a virus, of course).

Finally, make sure that your portfolio hangs together literally as well as metaphorically. Use a loose-leaf binder or a special portfolio case, or anything that shows your work to good effect. Also consider the use of tabbed dividers, transparent document protectors, and so on.

Writing Tests
Some employers ask applicants to take a writing test, especially when hiring inexperienced staff. They may ask you to take the test while attending for interview, or they may send you the test and ask you to bring your answers to the interview. A writing test typically contains one or more of the following types of exercise:

Multiple-choice questions designed to test your knowledge of spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Rewriting some garbled information clearly for a specified audience

Writing the instructions for an everyday task for a person who has never performed that task

Writing a specified number of words, or for a specified length of time, on a technical topic of your choosing
None of these elements should present any difficulty to you, provided you don't panic. However, there is one complication: they might put you in a room with only pen and paper for writing tools. If you haven't handwritten anything longer than a shopping list for many years, you might need to practise producing neat handwriting under pressure. So if you have an appointment for a test, it's worth asking whether a PC or workstation will be provided and what software will be available. And if you have an appointment for an interview, it's worth checking whether it will include a writing test.