FROM FIONA: Your reply cordially requested

[pegkerr]

Tomorrow, as part of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work, Fiona is going to be visiting Rob's store and spending the day with him, learning about his job. The last two years, she has spent this day with me at my office, learning about my job.

I'd like her to give her the chance to learn about a lot of jobs. Specifically, your job.

Won't you tell Fiona about your job, so she can get an idea of the vast possibilities in the World of Work out there?

If you can, please leave Fiona a comment by tomorrow night, telling her about your career. Something like:

What your job title is, and what that means

A description of a typical day

What you need in the way of training/education/experience to do this job

Why you like it and (if you dare)

Why you dislike it

What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?

What kind of person thrives in your job

Anything else you can think of that would give her an idea of what it might be like to choose your career?

I'd like her to get as many replies as possible. Thanks ever so much!

Cheers,
Peg (and Fiona)

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Hi Fiona!

My name is Darice, and I work as a proposal editor and writer for an information technology consulting company. "Information Technology" is big computer systems that keep businesses and stores running. "Consulting" is providing assistance to those businesses and stores by reviewing their computer systems and giving them advice and help to improve the systems. To sell this assistance to businesses, my company will send the business a "Proposal" -- a document that tells the business what my company can do and how much it will cost them.

The proposals are developed by many people who are experts in the computer systems. My job is to help write parts of the proposals, and to edit all the other parts to make sure the information is correct, the grammar is right, the spelling is good and that all the client's questions are answered. I also make sure all the pieces that everyone writes are put together in one document.

On a typical day, I will check my e-mail to see if any new projects have come in, and also to see if anyone has sent in parts of a proposal that we are all working on. Sometimes I have several proposals going at once, so I have to keep track of who is sending me which part of what proposal! If they've sent in a new part of a proposal, I read it, make edits to correct any problems, call the writer if I have any questions, and then add it to the big proposal document.

All of this is done on the computer -- I sit at the computer all day long. I used to print out things to edit them (with a red pen!) but now businesses want answers quickly and I only have time to read it on the screen! This is hard on my eyes.

Sometimes there are meetings with the other people who are working on a proposal. They aren't necessarily in the same office I am, though -- they could be anywhere in the world! We meet by talking on the telephone together.

I went to college and majored in English, which helped train me to read and write. I used to help my friends edit and rewrite their papers for class -- that's when I discovered I liked editing. Then when I got my first job, my manager taught me how to work with others, how to correct their writing without upsetting them. People don't like to have their writing corrected! You have to be very gentle with them, but at the same time you have to be firm because if the document is wrong, then the company will look bad to the client.

I like working with words. I like writing and I like correcting others' writing. I like it so much that I have a hard time reading anything without editing it! And some of the people I work with are wonderful -- whether they like to write or not, they don't mind having someone work with their words.

What I don't like is people who disrespect the time involved in writing and editing. Sometimes, people put off writing their parts and then I have to work really hard at the last minute -- sometimes I have to work late because they didn't do their part. I don't like that very much. It's better now, because I am working from home -- so even if I work late, I'm already here. ;)

There are things that could go wrong. If I'm not careful with what I do, then there could be errors in a proposal -- I could promise something that the company can't deliver, or tell a client we'll do the job for not enough money!

To thrive at this job, you need to have good writing skills and a mind that likes to focus on detail. You need to be a perfectionist! It also helps if you have a good sense of humor. Sometimes you just have to laugh when things are running late -- it helps make the situation better.

I enjoy writing and editing, but I admit, I wish I was working on books and not on reports! But I do get to work with words, and that is wonderful.

- Darice