Technical writing is the process of simplifying the complex. This writing discipline helps to break down information into easily understandable language for those who need it to accomplish a task or goal. High-quality technical documentation and content are vital for the success of products and services in any industry. As such, choosing the most suitable technical writer to join your team is essential.
Businesses and organizations rely on technical writers to produce a wide variety of deliverables, such as design documents, knowledge base articles, process flows, reference guides, training course materials, and so much more. With so many potential end goals, the process of finding the perfect writer for your needs can feel overwhelming.
This is why our Staffing Services team implements a structured process to select the right technical writer for a position or project. We’ll review those steps, including preparatory activities to complete before your candidate search begins.
In this article, we provide some helpful insights about the ways we’ve been able to find some of the industry’s best technical writers for our customers. We will also explore the kinds of questions you should ask when interviewing a technical writer, as well as how you can refine your process to ensure that your recruiting efforts produce the results you want and need.
Consider Budget, Buy-in, and ROI
Your supervisor has been saying that you can hire a new writer for your team next quarter. And guess what? The next quarter is finally here. Hurray! You’ll be able to onboard a new writer and assign some of the projects stacking up in your team’s queue. Maybe you’ll meet those aggressive deadlines you have in front of you.
But before you start recruiting, be sure to get formal approval on a budget. Budget constraints could ruin the excitement you had just five minutes ago. Talk about being derailed!
If you’re the hiring manager, it’s important to build a strong business case explaining why you need to hire the writer. Financial decision-makers, who are often C-suite executives, may not even know what a technical writer does, so you must explain the impact of not hiring a new writer. For example, many companies don’t see the importance of keeping documentation up to date with software product upgrades. A financial decision-maker will listen and understand the case to improve documentation and keep it up to date.
Define, Rank, and Assess
One of the most important things to do before you start your search is to clearly define the technical writer’s goals and objectives and make sure they align with your company’s overall mission and goals. Believe it or not, we’ve worked with companies in the past who have onboarded technical writers without having anything for them to do. This leads to frustration for both the hiring manager and the writer. The best way to ensure a successful hire is to clearly define your needs and expectations upfront. If you know exactly what you’re looking for in a technical writer, you can more easily find the one that meets your qualifications. Some key considerations include tool familiarity, industry experience, style experience, a natural hunger for knowledge, and general communication skills.
When defining a technical writer’s role and responsibilities, be sure to rank your qualifications in order of importance to the position. Having an idea of which skills are a must-have and which skills are a preference or nice-to-have before the recruiting process begins keeps the candidate screening process as focused as possible. Ranking your needs will make sure your candidate matches the essential requirements.
Don’t Fall for the “Experience Myth”
Our staffing services team has filled needs for a wide variety of industries, From high-tech software and hardware industries to consumer goods and manufacturing, and even to urban agriculture, we’ve seen it all. We understand how specialized requirements for certain types of documentation can be. While it is important to ensure that a writer has a firm grasp of the material, technical writing skills are not confined to a specific topic or field.
You may not need to restrict your available talent pool solely to technical writers with experience in your industry. A good technical writer can develop and apply a keen understanding of your material regardless of its subject. This skill of taking information and making it clear, concise, and compelling stays with the writer regardless of subject matter.
Still, there are some instances where industry experience will help your potential writer hit the ground running faster. However, if you’re open to giving new hires some training and time to come up to speed on your specific products and services, you might be able to hire a candidate with great potential who can make a positive impact.
Lastly, the speed with which industries change is a constant. Adaptability to these changing conditions requires the ability to obtain and retain information efficiently. Make sure the candidates you consider are life-long learners.
Be Prepared to Evaluate
Reviewing and evaluating an applicant’s writing samples can be a daunting task. This is especially true if you are both writing technical content and managing a team yourself. Creating benchmarks or simple scorecards can take the subjectivity out of the evaluation process. If you have a clear idea of what success looks like, it will be easier to decide which applicants make the cut to move to the next stages of the hiring process.
A word of caution: Technical writers might not have access to their proprietary work from previous employers. Be gracious when you review samples, especially if you are reviewing “in process” drafts or work that was limited by a client’s design choices. What a technical writer gives you to review is the best work they have available to show you. Allow them to explain their samples if you have any questions.
Get Ready to Look Beyond the Resume
A common challenge when it comes to staffing is misalignment with the company’s ideals. While it is important to evaluate demonstrable skills, experience, and performance in an assessment process, your candidate is—first of all—a person. Personality differences can be rejuvenating, but they can also become toxic and ultimately undermine a candidate’s otherwise excellent qualifications. You want to be sure that your candidate will be able to work effectively with your team and grow your organization.
General professionalism is central to a candidate’s successful entry into an organization, and it’s something that usually shows right away.
Now What? Call ProEdit
We apply these and other best practices every day to find the right technical writer for our clients. We also find instructional designers and editors. If you are looking for top talent or have questions about what to look for in a technical writer, contact us today!