Since 2004, Employment Lead Louise Tincher has been the guiding force behind the chapter’s employment-related resources:
- A Yahoo job site where relevant Web-posted job offers are conveniently aggregated
- A chapter bulletin board with employer postings of currently available technical communication jobs and a section where members can post resumes
According to Louise, "The biggest thing I do is gather job ads from the Internet. Initially, I was clipping ads from the Dayton newspaper, and John (Biederman) was clipping from the Cincinnati paper." Now that the job market has changed (and John has moved on to other tasks), the routine is a little different.
STC-SWO Yahoo Job Site
Instead of clipping newspaper ads, Louise retrieves techcomm job postings from www.indeed.com, which aggregates from a wide range of Internet job sites. When she receives the daily email from Indeed.com, she sorts through the listings, aggregates them, and sends them off to the Yahoo group site. The group has about 300 members (anyone can join) and the site is moderated, which means that one of the site moderators (Louise or chapter President Jean Fudge) has to approve all postings.
(Interested in receiving weekly emails with the results of Louise’s searches? Here’s how to sign up.)
STC-SWO Employment Forum
Louise moderates the employment sections of the bulletin board. Chapter members can post their resumes in the Looking for Work section (or email Louise and ask her to post for them.). She advises all members who are consulting or looking for employment to take advantage of this opportunity.. "Sometimes an employer will contact me directly looking for someone to hire," she says. "I try to pass that on" to members who have indicated their interest and availability.
"The job seekers who contact me come from quite varied backgrounds. Some are people coming out of the military or out of college. Some coming out of careers in law or financial services think they want to switch to technical writing and aren’t sure where to start." She tries to steer them to STC for contacts and professional networking opportunities.
Job seekers can also browse the Now Hiring section for locally available jobs. Louise averages about one posting every week when things are humming. "I don’t post non-techcomm jobs or positions in distant, offshoring locations," she says. "I have been seeing more ads for people who work with video and multimedia, or with scripting and content, so I pull that into my job searches. I cast a pretty wide net, trying to be inclusive rather than exclusive."
About Louise
Louise draws on her background in history, anthropology, linguistics and computer science to research, analyze and fill documentation needs. As a technical writer and editor, she enjoys mastering new subject matter and software tools, as well as interfacing with project team members. Louise uses a structured design process to develop documents that meet business requirements, budgets and schedules. She has worked for a variety of engineering and technical firms in southwest Ohio, but says she is still searching for the perfect employer.