Work is a thing you do, not a place you go. Well said, Cisco people! I could not agree more, especially when it comes to technical writing.

For the past nine years, Tech-Tav’s technical writers have been working with Cisco on a telecommuting basis. It works for us because Cisco recognizes the tremendous cost savings and benefits of being virtual and on-line in real time. I envision that this type of model will become not only more and more accepted in 2011, but encouraged and embraced by an increasing number of employers. The cost savings alone should make telecommuting attractive to employers, but it has taken today’s ubiquitous cell phone, wireless laptops, Skype, et.al. usage to remove the stumbling blocks and clear the way for a new paradigm.

Many companies working in agile environments insist that the writers be on-site exclusively, but we have worked in agile environments remotely and with great success. Tech-Tav is living proof that not only can it be done, but it can be done well.  Commuting 2-4 hours a day drains every part of the system. Imagine how much energy and productivity your people would have if getting to work involved putting on their favorite music, kicking off their slippers and digging in? Employees who are forced to work on-site probably waste 3-5 total hours per day getting ready for and getting to and from the office. Home lives are happier, people are more productive and families are more stable when people are allowed to telecommute and have lives beyond the office.

Let’s say you’re looking to hire a new technical writer for your team. At the very minimum, you probably want a graduate of a technical writing course and minimal level of competence with an authoring tool such as Author-it, Framemaker, Robohelp or whatever tool your company uses. You will most likely add a few more requirements to your job ad, probably something like “minimum 3 years of technical writing experience” or “experienced Word user” before sending your ad out to the job-boards and Linked-in groups.

Disappointed in your applicant pool? I’m not surprised. When it comes down to hiring great technical writers, my experience has shown time and time again that the level of expertise someone has with a tool and how long they’ve been on the job has exactly zero correlation with how well they actually do their job.

So what are the qualities that hiring managers should be looking for in a new technical writer?  Here’s my Top 10:

1.   Technical know-how:  This does not necessarily mean a PhD in electrical engineering, but education or on-the-job experience in programming, IT, engineering, etc. would mean a candidate has an understanding of basic technology and how stuff works. The tech in technical writer has serious value.

2.   High level of integrity:  A must for someone with access to your company’s highly secretive product information. You don’t want your technical writer tipping off the media or the competition, so make sure you hire someone you can trust.