When Carole Sigouin was laid off from Nortel Networks Corp. in 2001, her first thought was to look for another full-time technical writing job. But she soon realized there were few positions available.

So, she sought contract work. Five months later, Sigouin finally found a project.

Originally expected to last three months, that initial job stretched to nine months, but, when it was over, Sigouin spent another month-and-a-half looking for more work.

"That's when I realized it was going to be tougher than I thought," she says.

Though the stretches between jobs have shortened since her first year as a contractor, Sigouin says technical writers face a tough market.

Others in her field agree, saying technical writers are being forced to pay more attention to self-marketing since the technology boom turned to bust two years ago.

"The last year-and-a-half has been a lot tighter than it was," says Penny Lange, a 16-year veteran of technical writing who operates Penny Lange & Associates in Gloucester. "There are no longer jobs just hanging like apples on trees."

The downsizing brought about by hard times in the telecom and computer industries often hit technical writing departments hard "because it's a thing they think they can do without", says Tamsin Douglas, who manages a documentation team at BTI Photonic Systems Inc. in Ottawa.

But it's not all bad news for contractors, says Brian O'Grady, a former technical writer who also does marketing and public relations work.

"There's still lots of work to be done out there and there's no employees to do it, they fired them all," O'Grady says.

However, he says, layoffs have resulted in more freelancers competing for contracts.

The competition means it's increasingly a buyer's market, resulting in falling rates and rising expectations.

"You're being asked to do more in less time," says Tina Walsh, president and chief executive of newly launched technical writing firm Read Pen Inc., adding rates are "plummeting".

Sigouin says employers are looking for experience with a wide range of software and technologies, such as extensible markup language (XML), but such knowledge can be hard for contractors to obtain in a tight job market.

As a result, they must spend more time promoting their services and finding ways of setting themselves apart from the competition.

Having a broad range of skills helps. For example, Sigouin is bilingual and can offer translation services as well as technical writing.

Walsh emphasizes her ability to prepare manuals, help sheets and learning materials.

"I promote myself as a versatile person," she says.

Lange does both technical and marketing writing and says the combination can be a bonus for small firms needing some of each skill.

Douglas says she has written press releases, edited business plans and written for the web.

"I made it known that my skills were much broader than just writing technical documentation," she says, adding she is more valuable to BTI Photonic than someone who only writes technical documents.

One way for a writer to offer a range of skills is to pool talents with others. This also allows contractors to balance their workloads, rather than having periods of little or no work and then stretches of overwork to meet multiple deadlines.

Walsh set up Read Pen so she could work with a dynamic group of associates, building "virtual teams" to bid on such projects as government contracts.

"Marketing an individual right now is very difficult," she says, adding marketing a firm is a bit easier.

Even in difficult times, few technical writers want to resort to cold calling.

"It takes a bit of nerve to do it," says Lange, adding the closest she has come has been to phone a person she did not know but who was reportedly looking for a technical writer.

Some writers say web sites with information about their services and experience helps. But O'Grady rates his web site second to word-of-mouth for bringing in business.

"I get almost all my work by referrals because I've been in the industry so long," Lange agrees, adding the best advice for writers looking for work is to "call everyone you know, both outside and inside the industry, and tell them you're looking."

Walsh says she maintains an active profile by writing articles and joining professional associations such as the Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Technical Communication. She also tries giving good advice "and hoping they remember where it came from".

Some writers also say that, with corporate budgets tight, they are focusing on the basics rather than flashy or innovative techniques. Clients that might have been interested in multimedia and avant-garde approaches a few years ago are now looking for no-frills documentation, Walsh says.

Lange says she lets clients know the possibilities, but doesn't try to push ambitious ideas.

There is cautious optimism the picture will improve. Few writers expect a return to the boom times of the late 1990s, but there is hope for an upturn.

"In my opinion, the worst is behind us," Walsh says.

- by Grant Buckler

special to the Ottawa Business Journal