James River Technical Communications

Web Sites & Content

The Internet is mass communication today. Whether your organization is profit or non-profit, you need a Web face. And, it has to present you well. Visitors don’t spend more than a few seconds on a site when they search. They’re looking for information; if they don’t find it, they’re gone. I create Web sites that comply with best practices for SEO and marketing.

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Business Writing

We prepare résumés, business cards, flyers, product specifications & presentations that succeed. We have the experience, professionalism, and acumen to give your communications the flair and competence demanded in an increasingly competitive business world.

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Manuals

No one will earn a Pulitzer Prize for the Great American Technical Manual, but a bad manual can do a lot of damage. We produce manuals that are well-organized, well-written, complete, and correct.

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“How-To” Guides

Also called “Quick-Start” guides, these let your people get up and run with your applications quickly and easily. They rely heavily on graphics to show how to do specific job-related tasks.

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Winning Presentations

A good presentation helps you sell a product or a position. There are ways to create presentations, and there are better ways to do it.

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Web Sites
Business Writing
Manuals
“How-To” Guides
Presentations

May 19, 2012

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Who are Technical Communicators and what do they do? These people are professional writers, editors, designers, and Web developers. And…

Diverse Technical Fields
They are involved with, for example:

Information design
Usability
Quality assurance
Marketing
Editing
Online Help
Instructional design
Graphic & technical illustration
Requirements analyses
Design specifications
Database & system architecture,
Product guide books

Among other things…

Diverse Fields

Technical communication is as diverse as our economy.

“Specialization” is broader than with other professions: instructional designers create and publish training materials regardless of the subject or tool used. Experienced professionals tend to be good leaders and managers, though their résumés show a succession of apparently independent, sole-writer, contracts.

The good technical communicator rarely focuses narrowly on a specific skill set, such as Java, .Net, or Sarbanes-Oxley. Outstanding professionals rarely limit themselves to the use of a particular tool set, such as MS Office^®, Adobe CS^®, etc.

How Do You Find a Technical Communicator?

Searching
You can place job opportunities on Internet job boards (such as Dice or Monster), contract through local staffing agencies, find independent writers through the Yellow Pages, or engage companies such as ours that specialize in technical communication. You can also search the online databases of professional associations and their chapters or other organizations, such as the Software Contractor’s Guild or the local chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

Can a Candidate Do The Job?

As with any field, of course, some candidates don’t have the experience or skill to step in and do what you need done. You can write and administer tests to check for competency, but those tests will probably hurt you and the candidates since no one test can span the diverse fields in technical communication. You should ask for examples or a portfolio of work a candidate can show to be his or hers.

You can also look for affiliations with relevant professional associations, such as the:

Membership in one or more of these organizations shows that the candidate keeps up with trends in the field and indicates his or her support for professional standards and ethics.