What do we look for in new consultants?

Written by: Josefin Löfstedt (CEO), Agneta Eriksson (Business developer/Co-pilot), Mikael Leveau (Site manager Linköping)

Selling competence is our business. We’re really good at that, and the competence we sell is sought-after and appreciated by our customers. Our consultants are both highly competent and really great people to be around - we are very proud of that and strive to keep this level of excellence.

So what do we look for when it's time to hire new consultants?

What we look for in potential new consultants

• Relevant competence

• A will to work as a consultant as well as an understanding of what it entails

• An overall good personality that goes along with our values

16 out of our total of 26 people who make up informiQ. Photo: Mikael Leveau

Soft skills vs hard skills

Our business is selling competence, that is just a fact. Therefore, our consultant’s competence matters a lot since every customer looks for competence to match their needs.

That said, soft skills are also very important. For example the ability to communicate, to understand someone else’s point of view, to problem-solve, as well as to collaborate with other people are necessary traits of being a successful consultant.

Also - potential matters. Most of our consultants are senior, that means they have solid experience in a variety of professional areas. However, we sometimes hire people with less experience but lots of potential.

Consultant mindset

There is not one description of what working as a consultant is like. But an important common factor is the ability to step in and be a professional asset, and always leave the situation better than before you came. Having an outsider’s view often helps us improve things where a company can be stuck in a rut.

Being an overall great person always helps build on your good reputation which in turn can open up new assignment possibilities.

Our Diversity & Inclusion statement. Source: informiq.se

Values and culture

We believe that our values are an important part of what makes informiQ a great employer. We don’t discriminate, everyone has the same rights, possibilities, and obligations, gender equality is a natural part of any activities and relationships. Also - everyone is given the same possibilities for leadership, competence development, and pay based on contribution, and we have a company culture that promotes the needs and possibilities for all employees. 

The informiQ culture is warm and welcoming, we care about each other and really like each other. We want all our consultants to feel the same way about being informiQ employees.

In short, we’re interested in competent professionals who are all-around good people who share our values and also want to be part of and contribute to our warm community.

Our advice to you: As a consultant, you will get the opportunity to try on different assignments and companies. You will constantly grow, regardless if you stay with one customer or go from assignment to assignment. We want to encourage your professional and personal development by listening to what is important to you, so that we can work proactively to find new customers and assignments as you grow with us.

Becoming a tech doc ace requires a multitude of competencies

Technical writing, that’s just being good at tech and writing step-by-step instructions, right? Well, if you want to do a really good job, there’s quite a lot more to it. Becoming a tech doc ace requires a multitude of competencies.

Text & images by: Karin Askeroth

There are many different kinds of knowledge that is useful to be successful in the role of a technical writer, and we have listed the ones we find most important:

• Writing: User manuals, technical documentation, policies and procedures, as well as case studies all require writing with excellent readability, accurate wording and compliant with applicable standards.
  

• Editing: Text review, proofreading, typography, tone of voice and technical vocabulary ensures functional accuracy as well as flawless texts that speak with the voice of the company.
  

• Information architecture & Document management: The ability to structure the documentation in a good way will help you from day one. This goes for both structuring of the content, and for ensuring a good structure within every single document.
  

• Design: Information design, typography and graphic design basics helps make the content easier to grasp and absorb, while ensuring the material represents the company.
  

• Research: Even if you know the product well, research is always a part of technical writing. This includes research of both the specific product and of its end users.
  

• Teamwork: The ability to work with many different kinds of people, organizing, planning, conflict-solving, decision-making and problem-solving.
  

• Single-sourcing: A great way to save yourself from starting from scratch when creating new documents is to have a master source file that can be repurposed when new needs arise.
  

• User experience: In order to write great user guides you need to investigate how the end users will use the product. It may not always be the exact same way that the business analysts and the development team have pictured.
  

• Technical writing tools: There are plenty of tools for technical writing. It’s useful to at least learn the basics of a few.

These are three of our exceptional consultants that you would be happy to have in your project!

Technical writing offers specialization possibilities

One single person can not have all this knowledge, and other skills than the ones mentioned can also be useful. Technical writing is a field with great opportunities to broaden your knowledge and to specialize in what interests you the most.

Our advice to you: Once you have the basic knowledge you need in order to work as a technical writer, see what specialized areas you are most interested in. In most cases; what you find easy to do is where you’ll be able to specialize the most.

The golden rules of technical writing

The purpose of technical documentation is to inform the reader about something she needs to know about a product, or to guide the reader through the steps of actions she needs to perform. How well the documentation does this is dependent on how it is written.

Written by: Mari-Ann Gripmark

Remember, you cannot please everyone! The most important reader to please is the end user of the product that your documentation describes or instructs about. Below are a number of very important golden rules to follow.

Image by pch.vector on Freepik

Golden rules of technical writing:

• Focus on the reader

  • Who is she? Does the user have a specific role in a company, or is she someone who has bought a product for personal use?

  • What info does she need? What does the user need to accomplish in her role or purpose using the tool you’re writing an instruction for?

• Keep it simple

  • Use short, simple words and short, clear sentences.

  • No repetitions or redundant information.

  • No beautiful language or personal touch.

• Make it impossible to misunderstand

  • Be specific.

  • Do not use synonyms.

  • Use the correct terminology.

• Address the reader directly

  • Use active voice: YES: “You can change the configuration”. NO: “The configuration can be changed”.

  • Use imperative: YES: “To turn on the machine, press the On button.” NO: “The machine can be turned on by pressing the On button”.

  • Avoid “should” and “shall”: YES: “Do a backup”. NO: “A backup should be done”.

• Do not mix description and instruction

  • If a descriptive part is needed, put it at the beginning.

  • Make it clear to the reader what she is supposed to do.

Summary: Focus on the reader, keep it simple and concise, be specific, use an active voice, and separate description from instruction.

Our advice to you: There are more aspects of technical writing that can be considered, depending on what kind of document you’re producing and the expected life cycle of the document. But by following these rules, you will be standing on a solid base producing really good material that will be helpful to the reader and also easily translated.

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