Over the past few years, blogger Cammy Bean has conducted an open survey of her instructional designer readers asking whether they have a degree in instructional design.
The latest survey results indicate:
- 61.45% responded that they do not have a degree in Instructional Design
- 36.92% indicated they have a graduate degreein Instructional Design
- 1.64% indicate that they have a non-graduate degree in Instructional Design
The results may suggest that employers typically do not make having a degree in Instructional Design a top priority for learning professionals they hire. Those that do have a degree requirement are more likely to stress a graduate degree in the field than a Bachelor’s degree.
Connie Malamed, of The eLearning Coach, has compiled a top 10 list of what she believes are the qualities, knowledge and skills the ideal instructional designer should possess or develop. Her list focuses on instructional design for eLearning.
10 Qualities of the Ideal Instructional Designer
What do you think are the most important skills an instructional designer should have to be an effective in an elearning position? Leave a comment.
Find an Instructional Designer through WAI
This post on Tech Tav talks about how new technical writers can stand out in a crowded field of job applicants.
While the advice is geared toward technical writers in Israel, it certainly applies to the U.S. and Canada, too.
The other aspect of this that seems important is that it not only applies to new technical writing graduates, but to those who are unemployed and competing in today’s tough job market. For that matter, it also seems to apply to those who are comfortably situated in a technical writing who think they are secure in their jobs.
The advice?
The advice given in the article includes these five ideas:
- Learn a New Skill
- Get Creative
- Find an Internship
- Do Some Volunteer Work
- Get Involved with Social Media
Lets’ face it: There’s just very little job security anymore. If and when the time comes for your company to cut staff, what are you doing/have you done that might give even the slightest advantage when it comes time to decide who gets let go? Sure, the internship part of the advice doesn’t apply to everyone. But in today’s economy, it seems that you need to be mindful of your qualifications and what differentiates you from the competition every day.
Independent, self-employed and contract technical writers already know that’s true. They need to bring value to the table. And the more they can differentiate themselves from their competition (in a good way), the better.
When’s the last time you learned a new skill? When’s the last time you did something really creative, like a video resume or a demo on using Camtasia, Captivate or Flash? Are you thinking about how you can stand out in the crowd and what are you doing to prevent getting trapped in a career dead end?
What are your thoughts? In today’s marketplace, what are some of the things technical writers can do to stand out in the crowd and get noticed?
Going on or conducting face-to-face interviews can be nerve wracking – both for the job seeker and the person conducting the interview.
These ten tips from Karen O’Keefe are designed to ease the stress of interviews and make the interviewing process go more smoothly.
Use these tips the next time you need to conduct or attend an interview and perhaps you’ll improve your chances for success.
Read: Top 10 Interview Tips
Related Topics:
Negotiating Techniques
The Art of Self Marketing
Editor’s Note: This was the feature article in this month’s TechCom Manager newsletter, reprinted here with permission. Click the previous link to subscribe to the newsletter.
by Uri Galimidi
Job Hunting In Turbulent Times
Almost one year ago, unemployment in the US was 9.4% (or 14.5 million people) and job openings were approximately 2.7 million. If you have been laid off recently, you are probably asking yourself “What would it take for me to be successful in my job hunting?”
First and foremost, you have to be at the top of your mental form. You have to be very clear about your goal, be creative, resourceful, determined, understand the best techniques and resources out there, and have a strong support system.
This article aims to bring you an insightful Career Transition FrameworkTM that will help you meet your career objective. Let’s start with an interesting job-hunting story.
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by Whitney Potsus
Quick! Answer the following questions without putting a lot of thought into them. We want your instinctive, knee-jerk first response.
- Do you enjoy going to work each day?
- Are you excited about the projects you’re working on?
- Do you look for excuses to be late, leave early, or be off altogether?
- Are you in a bad mood more often than not?
- Do you feel like you have control over your job?
- How long have you been feeling like this?
If you answered ……
- “No”
- “Not particularly”
- “Yes”
- “Yes”
- “No”
- “Can’t even remember”
.….. keep reading. Whether you realize it or not, you’re probably displaying half the classic signs of burnout.
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by Steve Capri
So you’ve given it a lot of painstaking thought. It’s decided. It’s time. Time to move into management. After all, you’ve worked hard to get where you are. You’ve paid your dues working through the various levels of technical-writing jobs, and survived all the promotional requirements to get through each position, and so on. As a senior-level professional, you’re at a crossroads. How do you prepare and are you absolutely sure you want to make this transition?
Clearly, not everyone is cut out for management. For some, the thought of being responsible for more than one’s own work is unheard of….sometimes even frightening. For others, management is a logical stepping stone into an entirely new career.
This article is a collage of ideas and experiences from some people who’ve made the leap from writer to manager. Although it’s not a step-by-step guideline, it provides some compelling insight as to what individuals might expect as they transition into the management ranks. Even if you are an experienced manager, you might find these ideas helpful.
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by Christy Simard
At first glance, technical communication (techcom) and technical marketing communication (marcom) appear to be very different genres. Where traditional techcom strives to help people use products, marcom seeks to make people realize they need products. Techcom instructs, while marcom persuades, and this distinction affects everything from the genre’s focus, to its content, and medium.
On the other hand, when executed well, these two genres share important similarities. They both deal with technical, complex subject matter. They both pay close attention to their target audiences, and they both benefit from a concise, accessible writing style.
Given these similarities, it makes sense that many organizations get technical communicators involved in marketing work. But what are you getting into when the marketing department looks to your techcom team for help? And what do you do when a writer on your team expresses an interest in marcom?
In reality, it can be tricky to distinguish the opportunities from the risks. This article examines two challenging situations for techcom managers, pointing to the risks you are likely to face and the opportunities you might realize.
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