|
|
|
|
The truth is, specialized industry knowledge is a critical factor in the career of every technical writer. Does this mean one is forever stuck with the industry in which one has happened to work for a number of years? If you want to make a transition to the financial industry, you can get an MBA in two years; become a certified paralegal in ten months; or explore the other expensive, time-consuming educational remedies that undoubtedly exist. But technical writing experts maintain that there is a cheaper, faster solution: volunteer your writing services and add the experience to your résumé.
Jack Molisani suggests that you find someone who is working on financial documents and offer to help—free of charge, if necessary. You can solicit employers directly or approach independent contractors and volunteer your assistance with their projects.
OCSTC senior member Adrienne Escoe, president of Escoe Bliss Communication, suggested putting in some extra time to assist the financial department at your present place of work. If you're applying for a job that requires industry-specific experience, Adrienne advised, you can offer to work one week for free to demonstrate your skills with the new subject matter. Adrienne also emphasized the importance of strong skills with authoring tools such as Robohelp, and a picture-perfect résumé that showcases your excellent skills with the formatting features of Microsoft Word as well as proofreading to eliminate all errors.
I was encouraged when Adrienne told me that Escoe Bliss recently placed technical writers at three prominent Orange County and Los Angeles mortgage companies, two of which did not require previous financial industry experience. All three of the companies did, however, require experience in writing corporate policies and procedures. Some of the writers worked in industry-specific areas including loan origination, loan servicing, and default management. The other writers developed policy and procedure documentation and wrote content for the company intranet and newsletters.
I was also inspired by these words on the Writer's Market Web site: "The financial writer [may acquire a basic business sense] through formal education, practical experience, or informal study. Knowledge of the stock market is a common foundation; the writer then develops a financial specialty [that] may take any of several forms...Writers keep current in their field by regularly reading industry publications, union newspapers, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. They gather economic information from government offices, public relations agencies and professional societies associated with their writing specialty."
In conclusion, I believe that a technical writer can make the transition from one industry to another by mastering current authoring tools, acquiring experience through volunteering, taking some form of relevant education, and reading lots of industry publications. The financial industry should be no exception to this rule.
I offer my sincere thanks to everyone who made this article possible by answering my questions and providing valuable information.