I came across this article recently, which states “code is the new resume”. It asserts that people seeking coding jobs should be contributing to open source and using those contributions as proof that they have the skills for the job they’re seeking. I wholly agree, but it got me thinking about the equivalent for writers.
When I have had prospective tech writers come to me for advice on where to start, I have always pointed them towards an open source project that I think would meet their skills and interests. I usually have three main reasons for this. I want them to get experience working with processes within a docs team (particularly a mature docs team that functions well, such as Libre Office or OpenStack). I want to give them an opportunity to get familiar with the tools and programs used by highly technical writing projects (things like Docbook XML and Publican, rather than proprietary tools like Madcap or Adobe). And, perhaps most importantly, I want to give them a chance to write things that they can share with prospective employers.
But contributing to open source docs, while beneficial in career terms, rarely ends up being something you can confidently wave in front of an employer. Rarely, if ever, will you get the chance to create a new document from scratch, something you can call truly yours. And even if you get that chance, rarely will it remain the piece of art you crafted for very long. Open source software moves quickly, and by the time you publish your meticulously researched and effectively written document, there will be a team of hungry writers circling, ready to rip into your virgin words and tear them apart. Within months, your perfect book could be an almost unrecognisable crime against information architecture, full of passive voice and typoed commands, with a title that no longer reflects its content. Certainly not something you want your name anywhere near.
Herein lies the tech writer’s dilemma: when asked for writing samples, what do you do? You don’t want to admit to authorship of something that (through no fault of your own) makes you want to quit the industry, but you also don’t want to say that you’ve been contributing to a project for months and have nothing to show for it. My answer: make your resume your writing sample. You won’t always get away with it, because some employers will ask for writing samples as a matter of course (at which point, having kept a tech writing blog for a while can be very handy. Just sayin’), but having plenty of prose in your resume and making sure it shows off your skills will do wonders for proving you can do the job.
There are no rules saying you need to deliver a two page resume, developed using a standard Word template, to apply for a job. Designers have been handing in creative resumes for decades, and we can take a leaf out their book. Offering something different, something that screams “I’m a writer, and I’m damn good at what I do” is going to make any recruiter or hiring manager stop and look. Remember how many resumes these guys see. Offering a bog-standard resume means that yours will get thrown away at the first typo.
First of all, do your research. If you can, find out what writing tools your prospective employer uses, and use it. If you don’t have that in your repertoire, then use the closest thing you can do. When I applied for my first job that used Docbook XML, I delivered my resume in LaTeX (complete with “Typeset in LaTeX and TeX” in a footnote at the bottom of each page. Nothing like rubbing it right in). I later found out that the hiring manager ran around the office showing it off to all his existing writers, pointing excitedly to the footnote. Once I’d learned Docbook XML, following jobs got that instead. If the company you want to work for uses Word, then deliver a beautifully formatted Word resume (and don’t forget to use styles!). By the same token, be aware of internal culture, and the fact that people get very passionate about their tools. Never deliver a resume built in Word with a .docx extension to an open source company if you don’t want to be teased about it forever after (assuming you get the job despite it, of course).
And, perhaps most importantly, don’t just deliver a series of dot points. This is your chance to prove you can write. Include a fairly long prose introduction, but don’t waffle. Be clear about your goals, the job you’re after, and any relevant work you’ve done previously. If you can, do some research into the company you’re looking to join, and tailor this part to the role you want. Mention how your experience meets their demands, not as a canned response to selection criteria, but as someone who has gone looking for core values and culture clues, and is addressing the human beings that work within that group. Write directly, succinctly, but passionately. Don’t use words too big for the subject (with apologies for paraphrasing C.S. Lewis), make your language casual, but not informal. Get your writer friends to proofread it until you are confident it is perfect. Feel free to email me with your text and I’ll also help.
Don’t make recruiters ask for writing samples. Get creative, use your skills to your advantage, and don’t be afraid to have some fun with it. If you have your own stories of resumes (good or bad), or hiring, please share!
