Shanghai Tech WriterTechnical Writing, Technology, Web2.0, Google, Shanghai, China

As this year’s college graduates get ready to enter the work field, the slowing economy and soaring unemployment rate make finding a job even more difficult. New graduates are now competing with millions of other unemployed as many companies are laying off workers and/or not hiring. The job situation is even worse in China as 1.2 million college graduates compete for limited jobs, including selling pork.

What makes one candidate stand out among millions of job applicants? The following video from YouKu (China’s version of YouTube) demonstrates exactly that! Check out this guy’s video CV for a position related to video production.

Now that got me thinking about what makes a candidate stand out when we hire technical writers at National Instruments. I’m not involved with hiring so everything I write here is just my personal opinion, but from conversations with colleagues and managers, it’s not that hard to identify a talent when we see one. That’s not to say it’s easy to find a candidate like Ma Wen in the video above. 

For example, when we say that we’re looking for someone with interest in technology and writing, that means we are looking for a geek who is passionate about technology and has already demonstrated that passion in various projects, writing samples, previous job/experiences, etc… A colleague told me that during his interview, he mentioned something about being a geek (or nerd). He was hired. I’m sure he was hired for many other reasons as well, but the point is, NI hires the best and brightest people and we keep our eyes out for talents.

With that said, please don’t go and send resumes to me because I’m not involved with hiring. I don’t think we’re hiring right now either, but maybe if a candidate like Ma Wen jumps out from our pile of resumes, that might change.