Job Hunting Tips

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The New England job market is heating up, so those of you who are looking for new positions should find the task easier than it has been in the past year or two. Here are some tips and comments that we often share with the documentation and training professionals who are working with our agency:

• When you're working with placement agencies, keep a detailed list of which agency has submitted you as a candidate for each specific temporary or permanent position. Don't allow duplicate representation for the same opening at a client company.

• Have a friend or colleague (hopefully an experienced editor) review your resume for grammar, punctuation and typos. It's easy to overlook a mistake in your own work, even if you're a seasoned documentation professional. Remember: your resume is almost always your first "introduction" to a hiring manager.

• Always be prepared to provide recent professional references, and let your references know that they might be contacted about you. Ask them what they will say, especially in cases where there may have been personality conflicts or misunderstandings. You should be able to provide a list of management and peer references, including contact information, if asked.

• Bring examples of your work to every interview. The manuals you wrote, books you edited (bring marked-up samples, too), courses you developed, brochures you designed or newsletters you produced will give the interviewer useful insights into how your background matches the job. Be prepared to explain your role in each project.

• Avoid offering derogatory remarks about present and former employers. Even when these comments are justified, you take the chance that you'll be labeled a sorehead or complainer.

• Ask for the job! The result you want from a job interview is an offer. Unless you have no interest in the position, be sure to close the job interview by indicating your interest and availability for the job. Don't close the door on an opportunity until you've had a chance to compare it with other positions and choose the job you want.

Brett Randolph is a partner in Randolph Associates, Inc. in Boston, Mass. and has been placing documentation and training professionals in contract and permanent positions since 1973.