Prior to coming back to school to work on my Master’s
degree, I was in the workforce for eight years. I worked for a Fortune 500
company that gave me experience on the corporate level of how to gather and
present information to a large range of people. In 2013 I was presented with
the opportunity to come back to school. Obtaining
a master’s in technical and professional writing I have taken classes that have
challenged me as well as helped me grow as a reader, researcher and writer. I
finally got to re-enter the workforce with my internship putting the
information that I have gathered and collected from my classes to work on a
more professional level. The information that the Technical professors have
shared in my college courses has been extremely beneficial when it comes to
the work place. I have learned how to use a variety of programs to create
information that will benefit a large variety of people through visual, written
and verbal communication. Articles such as Johndan Johnson-Eilola’s “Relocating
the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age,"
Sherry Southard’s “Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture,” and Emily
Soplinsky’s “Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations,” expressed
the understanding that I need to have as I enter the workforce to be able to
collaborate with a large group of fellow employees with different background
educational levels. Through my past history in a fortune 500 company with
roughly 25,000 employees to my internship company with 15 employees but
a large customer base I have learned how to express ideas to promote ideas to a
large range of people.
For this final blog post about my internship assignment, I
have found three job listings that I could turn into potential career
opportunities. The first job listing is for a Technical Writer for Jack Henry
and Associates located in Monett, MO. The second listing is for a Technical
Writer at Genesis 10 in Addison, TX. Finally, the last job listing is for an
Environmental Analyst/Technical Writer at an undisclosed company located in
Buffalo, NY.
Jack Henry and Associates located in Monett, MO is looking
for a Technical Writer. This company is a software-based company who provides
support for the Banking industry. This position will write and edit paper,
multimedia and web-based publications. They must be able to conduct interviews
with various users, technical staff and quality assurance staff to gather data
for documentation. They also need to be able to communicate with customers to
resolve minor issues relating to said documentation. My previous
skills obtained through the fortune 500 company, school, and my internship I
feel that I am well equipped to handle this job. I have learned how to conduct
research and provide information to large groups. Where I lack
knowledge for this position is in the banking industry and federal regulations
that regulate the industry. As a way of learning about banking regulations,
contact the local chapter of AIB (American Institute of Banking) to find out when their next round of courses are offered on the banking industry. It would also be beneficial to do research on the FDIC laws and regulations through the FDIC Website.
Genesis 10
is
a US Business and technology-consulting firm where recruiters and delivery
professionals are highly accomplished career advocates. They are looking for a
technical writer for their Addison, Texas location. This position creates a
shared knowledge base for customers through different outlets including Wiki,
coordinate and standardize the documentation for PKI, Federation, SSO, Extended
Services, etc and help streamline management and regulatory reports. Most of
the job is on the job training.
However one piece of document support required knowledge is Adobe Portable
Document Format. To prepare to learn about this
particular Adobe product a YouTube series has been found that gives basic
background information on how to use Adobe Portable Document Format.
Finally
an undisclosed company located in Buffalo, New York is looking for an
Environmental Analyst/Technical Writer. This makes the job position a little
more difficult to fully discuss because the company chose to remain anonymous
however they are looking for an Environmental Analyst to analyze and convey
technical information. This is an expanding team of professional and qualified
environmental, construction monitoring and real estate staff members who focus
on providing solutions in challenging real estate transactions to national and
community lending institutions as well as other real estate professionals. My
previous background knowledge is in Risk Management and Environmental policies
at a fortune 500 company. With the knowledge gained in technical writing I feel
well equipped to present information about environmental affairs. As a way to
brush up on my knowledge on environmental standards, visiting the EPA website
is extremely beneficial to this position as well as OSHA
knowledge
since there is some co-mingling between the two organizations. Another avenue
to gain some information in would be Human Resources, taking a basic HR
class at a local college or university.
Sources:
Emily
Soplinsky, “Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations”
Johndan
Johnson-Eilola, “Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in
a Post-Industrial Age”
Sherry
G. Southard, “Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture”
