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April, 2006 |
It'll Be Our Little Secret
OK, I have a little confession to make. When I first joined STC Puget Sound's board about 10 months ago, I wasn't a member.
There, I've said it.
I was unemployed from 2003 to early 2005, months that I will forevermore think of as The Void. I moved to Seattle from the Bay Area, and couldn't find work in a field that, in previous years, required me to screen my calls just to weed out the recruiters clamoring to hire me (that might have been an exaggeration, but not by much).
After over 12 months of fruitless job searching, of not even receiving a "Thanks so much for your resume, schmuck, we look forward to shredding it" automated email in response to my online job applications, an old mentor suggested that I look into getting involved in STC. She has been involved with STC in the Bay Area and Las Vegas, ever since I've known her, and possibly before. A talented technical writer who, as far as I can tell, never wants for work, I took her advice to heart. All except the part about paying for a membership.
Being a behind-the-scenes type of person, I performed some small editing jobs leading up to the annual STC Conference, which I couldn't afford to attend. After that, I took over the position of communications manager from Renee Schurtz.
But there was that dark secret. I simply didn't have the money to pay for a membership. Heck, I could barely pay rent. So I PRETENDED that I belonged. I just took on the work. And no one ever asked me. I actually kind of expected someone to run a check at the door of the first board meeting that I attended, but of course, no one did.
A few months later, when I finally landed a job that paid more than Nicaraguan sweatshop wages, I did purchase an STC membership. I like to think that being a member of STC helped me land that job (it certainly helped with subsequent contracts). Being involved in volunteer work, even if you are unemployed, is an admirable thing, and it never hurts to have career-related volunteer experience on your resume. And although STC obviously prefers that volunteers actually belong to the Society, it's not forbidden for nonmembers to begin volunteering with us, to test the waters before making a decision as to whether or not they want to join.
Some people come to volunteer at STC already well into a successful career, with the desire to meet other tech comm professionals. Their input and expertise is invaluable. Others arrive the way I did: jobless, penniless, and hoping to somehow break into a surprisingly difficult market. Our input and expertise are also invaluable. It should be known that the board doesn't differentiate between volunteers. Anyone willing to devote time and energy to the Society is welcome to take part.
Now, more than ever, we need community input and ideas in order to better serve our members and potential members. This means that we are opening our arms to everyone who has time and creativity to contribute. I encourage everyone, not just Senior Technical Writers, to stop by a meeting or event, or just drop an email to our volunteer coordinator expressing your interest in getting involved. Every committee can use another set of hands, so why not try your hand at a little bit of everything?
And if it means that you can't commit to becoming a member right away, well, that's quite all right.
This article originally appeared in the February 2006 issue of Sound Off!, the newsletter of the STC-Puget Sound Chapter.
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