Hiring a writer to work on your technical writing project seems like an obvious first choice. It means you can have the writer attend to a variety of projects over a long period of time and work as any full-time position would at your office. This person becomes a member of your workforce, and interacts directly with you and your staff.
Hiring a technical writer on staff
The mentor approach – Hiring a writer means that you’ll be able to oversee the growth and direction of your technical writing project. This hands-on approach enables you to participate in the project on a higher level than you might find with an agency or a technical recruiter. You can drop in whenever you like, and work as a resource–directly–with your writer.
Your buck stops here – Because the writer is a direct hire, your investment is in them personally. You won’t worry about paying higher agency prices, and the writer will see the full amount of payment firsthand.
Meeting the deadline – Having a writer on staff means that you don’t have to worry about tight deadlines; you are in direct control of the pace and direction of your project. You always have a go-to person for writing.
A part of your team – Some companies really like the idea of an Atlanta technical writer that becomes a part of the team and works on site. For these businesses, having a dedicated full-time technical writer is a must, as both writing agencies and technical recruiters typically require some remote work.
Why you might not want to hire a technical writer to your staff
Every company’s technical writing needs are different, as are their writing schedules. If you don’t have enough work to keep a technical writer busy year-round, if your volume fluctuates, or if you have too much work for one person to do at a time, you might want to consider other options.
And if you do choose to work with a writer on staff, remember that your costs will be upwards of $70,000 a year to include salary, benefits, and insurance. So make sure you examine all the angles during your hiring process to get the best possible candidate.
Hiring a freelance technical writer
Another similar option is hiring a freelance writer; that is a single writer you’ll use on a contract basis, but not hire as a permanent member of your staff. While this can alleviate some of the issues inherent with hiring a full-time employee, scale still cannot be taken into account. You only have one set of hands on the keyboard at any given time, and still must manage them individually—not a good thing when it comes to overhead. Often software purchases are also required for freelance writers, so they can work in the right environment and you can keep tabs on their progress.
Learn about using technical writing recruiters for your technical writing project.