the web professional test - part i
Before I worked in IT, I was a writer.
Getting a writing job is not trivial. You interview. You submit a portfolio. And, you should expect take a writing test.
Here’s what I recall about the writing tests I took:
- They were timed - anywhere from 2 to 5 hours usually.
- They had a copy editing section: either a series of sentences to untangle or a shoddily written passage to clean up.
- You got a stack of materials ranging from 1 to 4 inches high - research papers, press releases, brochures, books, and so on. Information from these materials had to be transformed into either a press release, an article, a brochure, or sometimes all three.
- There usually would be a multiple-choice section evaluating everything from knowledge of copyright issues and other best practices, to word usage, to spelling and grammar.
I neither miss taking nor administering those writing tests. But consider the alternative: Take your chances on hiring someone who cannot write their way out of an elevator?
I think not.