Using Wordpad to assess writing skills of a technical writer candidate

Jobs like journalism and technical writing require employers to assess a candidate's writing skills. While CVs and covering letters can be written by someone else, an on-the-spot test will definitely reveal the real writing skills of a candidate.

So, you go to an interview, and you are asked to write a test. The test will mostly consist of a few stupid grammar questions, followed by a question to write an essay, or rewrite a passage.

The biggest issue with such an approach is my poor handwriting. I do still keep notes, but the amount of writing done is pretty less. After a few minutes into the test, I really struggle to keep the words getting bigger and bigger on the answer sheet. Towards the end of the test, it gets really bad, with the letters getting bigger and fatter, and more sheets of paper required to completing the test.

In IT, innovation is the buzzword (Since I am writing a blog post, I am not expanding the abbreviation as per the guidelines in innumerable style guides). 

In a recent interview, somebody did a real innovation. I was saved from exhibiting my atrocious handwriting, by being asked to do the test "online".  This meant sitting in front of a wide monitor and typing answers. Even more innovative was the "tool" I was supposed to write.

The tool was "Wordpad!"

I really admire the thought pain behind such a decision. Wordpad will decide my writing skills in my 18th year as a poor middle class person interested in a writing career and the identity as a writer. I could not help laughing, but I completed the test happily.

Let me cut to 1996. There were no PCs, but there were DTP operators who were slowly setting shop. Internet cafes were very rare, and the old style typewriters still existed and were a safer bet. I started my writing career at that period, when Infosys was conducting interviews. It took me two more years to start using a computer and to start typing my reports in Microsoft Word. These reports were sent as fax messages to the magazine office in Delhi.

Even in 1998, DTP operators used to give "proofs" for corrections that were marked using a pencil or a pen. These proofs were printouts on the unused side of already used paper. I don't remember using the "Spelling and Grammar" feature of Microsoft Word till 2003, or later. For over seven years, I was using my understanding of grammar to send reports as a journalist. I was not castigated for my poor writing skills in the absence of Microsoft Word. And I did not replace or sell my brain to Microsoft Word to make my writing better. And I still refer to grammar books. And I still buy grammar and usage books.

The innovative use of Wordpad as the tool for the written test speaks volumes about so many things. Someone wanted to know whether Microsoft Word made me, my resume, and my written samples pretty good. The great Wordpad test was intended to find out whether I would still be a good writer without the aid of Microsoft Word. Either the disbelief in my quality of writing, or the pain to see me as a bad writer, prompted the trick to use Wordpad. There was no response from the written test organizer, so I assume they were happy with the test result.

Next time, someone can be more innovative. Invite me for a written test on multiple days, and give me the same questions and a couple of answer sheets. On different days, and on different hours of the day, test my writing skills.

There will be only one result: I will not be worse than the worst writer in your organization.

How to write an editorial

Most of the newspapers carry one or more editorials on all days except Sundays. Editorials state the newspaper's "editorial view" on matters of local, national, and international importance. They are actually official position of the newspaper about an issue and it varies from paper to paper.

The main purpose of an editorial is to analyze, interpret, criticize, persuade, or praise issues of the day. 

The structure of an editorial consists of the following parts:

Lead or statement: The editorial starts with a statement opposing, criticizing, or supporting (which is very rare) a newsworthy incident. This explains the incident being referred to and provides essential details about the incident. This is important because the editorial may be written a few days after an incident. The explanation will also allow the reader to recollect the story if he or she has forgotten the details.

Explanation: After the lead or introduction, the editorial will now explain the official position of the newspaper. It will bring in facts that supports its official position. It will also refute opposite viewpoints and tries to convince its readers why this editorial position is the best one. The language will be forceful and strong to make the opinion pretty clear.
Conclusion: The concluding remarks will offer solutions, analogies, or pointers to the readers. It may also offer to say what turn the events might take and what will be the impact. 

Editorial sample

The following is a sample editorial written by this blogger following the rape and murder of two girls in the state of Uttar Pradesh on May 27.

                                        No country for women?

The rape and murder of two girls in Badaun of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is a callous and despicable act. The victims hailing from the backward community were found missing from their homes and later found hanging from a tree close to their homes. Post-mortem examinations later revealed that the girls were raped before they were hanged. While the UP administration has ordered a CBI probe into the incident, the case raises several disturbing questions on the administration of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. The delay in launching investigations reveals the total insensitivity on the part of men in uniform and raises suspicions about a possible collusion. While the issue has attained political overtones with the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party latching on to it, the administration did not help matters by letting out irresponsible statements and media bytes. The announcements of a fast track court and the CBI probe should not be seen as ways to soften the political embarrassment triggerd by the controversy and the rape case. The case should be allowed to be taken to its logical end and exemplary punishment meted out to the perpetrators of the crime. This is not to forget the fact that this is not UP's issue alone, and there is no room for complacency for the rest of India where the record of preventing sexual aggression is not a tad better.

The administration should also not lose focus on the urgent need in dealing with sexual crimes against women in the state. The recurring incidents of rape and other crimes against women indicate that nothing has changed after the civil society movement and media furore over the Delhi rape case that went on to topple the Sheila Dixit government in New Delhi. The constant media glare on such incidents and repeated affirmations by our elected leaders and representatives seem to have failed to sensitize the people and the police department about the sexual crimes against innocent and vulnerable sections of Indian society. In fact, the voices demanding justice and massive demonstrations were missing in this case and several others unlike the events that unfolded after the Delhi rape case. Exemplary punishment and gender sensitization are the ways to go, but the Central government must make a beginning in reforming the tainted and callous police administration that is still deeply rooted in some ancient era in a developing country like India.

Op-eds

Do not confuse editorials with "op-eds". Op-eds are articles or commentaries published on the editorial pages. Op-eds are written by staffers as well as freelancers, and columnists.