STC jobs evening

Society for Technical Communication's UK chapter, London, 10th April 2003

In view of the current economic climate, it was no surprise to find this meeting well attended. Around forty people had braved the cold and rain to share their concerns about the current lack of openings for technical communicators.

The evening kicked off with a presentation by Peter Meherne, who tackled the thorny subject of estimating productivity for project management. Although this might not seem the most gripping subject, it proved a good way to break the ice. Everyone, or so it seemed, had strong views on managers' attempts to predict how quickly they can work.

The remainder of the evening was devoted to discussions about job market in the UK. The STC had invited representatives from several companies that either recruit technical authors for client companies or use the services of contractors on managed projects. As a result, we could hear the views of:

Neil McCreadie (neil.mccreadie@hh.com) of TMP/Hudson Global Resources
Ellis Pratt of Cherryleaf Ltd.
Terry Gascoigne of Author Services Technical Limited
Peter Meherne of Plain Words Ltd.

These guests gave their own interpretations of the state of the market, and they were also available to give individual advice to anyone who wanted it. Ellis shared the results of recent surveys carried out by Cherryleaf. He described 2003 as a time for consolidation with few of the surveyed companies anticipating any changes to the numbers of authors they employ. Of the minority that did anticipate changes, slightly more were expecting to increase their numbers rather than reduce them.

When listening to the views expressed by job seekers in the audience, I was interested to hear people echoing my own thoughts about recent trends. For example, compared to a few years ago, recent job advertisements have been more likely to ask for knowledge of very specific business practices, industry standards, or technologies. Although employers are becoming more demanding, pay rates are dropping. Some attendees were particularly unhappy about the pay advertised for some permanent positions— they considered the salaries to be insulting considering the skills and experience that employers expected candidates to offer. Several people also commented at the geographical distribution of work. A few years ago, there was a concentration of work around London and the Thames valley, but recent vacancies have been more evenly distributed across Britain.

Overall, the evening provided few notes of optimism. Still, I'm sure that everyone left feeling more confident that they had a clear understanding of the market today and the prospects for the coming months.

	Peter Meherne of Plain Words (in the light shirt), the evening's main speaker
	Cherryleaf's Ellis Pratt has his audience eating out of his hand
	Neil McCreadie of TMP/Hudson Global Resources (middle) lends a sympathetic ear.
	Mark Clifford, president of the UK chapter, seems shocked by the state of the job market.

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