Are you driven to see your clients succeed?

We are seeking a smart, hardworking, talented and passionate project implementation professionals to join our Global Services team.

You are experienced in implementing and configuring content management systems (CMS).You remain focused during implementation projects and handle client requests with professionalism. You are confident when delivering product training to technical communication professionals. You are comfortable when advising clients in knowledge transfer workshops about Best Practices.

You are success-driven and work efficiently with others including Project Managers, Business Analysts, Developers and Support Analysts. You maintain confidence when approaching deadlines, including times when problems have been identified.

You have a history of gathering and understanding your client’s requirements and then using this information to deliver successful implementation/training projects. You’re not afraid of challenges, you are self-motivated and you go the extra mile for your clients. You gain satisfaction from pulling together a demanding project and seeing it through to a successful conclusion.

If this sounds like you, contact us now!

We need people ready to make a difference, so start today by sending us your CV along with a covering brief telling us how you can contribute to our team.

We offer

Author-it Software Corporation is on a mission and you can be a part of this by helping our clients succeed in implementing and using Author-it.

If successful, you will become an integral team member of the world leader in software for authoring, content management, multi-output publishing, and localization. Our client list reads like a who’s who of the global market and includes companies such as Microsoft, Philips, XEROX, Oracle, and HP.

We offer outstanding working conditions, a competitive salary and flexible working hours. This role will involve domestic and international travel.

We will train you on Author-it plus our implementation and project management methodologies. Most of the training will be on-the-job, directly working on “real” projects for our clients. A mentor will guide and support you over the first few months while you come up to speed.

Consultant Global services – Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Role Requirements

A full position description is available on request.

Soft Skills

• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Work smart attitude.
• Follow directions and established project methodologies as well as display talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.
• Multi-task and prioritise, organized, accurate and detail orientated.
• Dedicated to making a difference.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.
• Self driven with exceptional time and task management ability.
• Dedicated to making a difference.

Experience and Knowledge

• A qualification in a technical field.
• 3+ years practical experience in providing professional services.
• 1+ years practical experience in using Author-it products preferred.
• Knowledge of the content management industry is preferred including familiarity with documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing content.
• Proven record of delivering client service meeting or exceeding expectations.
• Ability to understand and communicate using “technical” language.
• Competence in delivery of training (remote via web-meeting and onsite).
• Competence in writing technical publications preferred, e.g. user manuals, help systems, or knowledgebases.
• Competence in Microsoft Word (2007, 2010 including word macros), web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
• Competence in windows environment (e.g. AD groups, server environments, VM).
• Prior stable work experience.
• Authorization to work in New Zealand.

Preferable

• 1+ years’ experience using Author-it.
• Knowledge of the content management or technical publications industry.
• Familiarity with the documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing.
• Authoring background with other technical communication products.
• Competence in Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, Web Help, Java Help).
• Knowledge about industry standards (e.g. SCORM, DITA, S1000D).

Client Care Consultant (US-based)

Role Requirements

A full Position Description is available on request.

Soft Skills

• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Work smart attitude.
• Follow directions and established process guidelines as well as display talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.
• Able to multi-task and prioritise, you are organized, accurate and detail orientated.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.
• Self driven with exceptional time and task management ability.
• Must have the attitude of “How can I make things better” and “EXTREMELY satisfying Client service”.
• Ability to build and maintain good relationships with clients.
• Dedicated to making a difference.

Experience and Knowledge

• A tertiary qualification preferably in a technical field.
• 3+ years practical experience in delivering professional services and/or client support in the software industry.
• Proven record of delivering client service meeting or exceeding client expectations.
• Ability to understand and communicate using “technical” language.
• Expert in assisting clients on the phone.
• Ability to analyze requirements and find client focused solutions.
• Professional in complaint management, effective escalation management.
• Competence in all Microsoft products (Word, Office, Power Point), web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
• Competence in windows environment (e.g. AD groups, server environments).
• Prior stable work experience.
• Available to work 40 hours per week and work a shift arrangement to accommodate all US time zones.
• Authorization to work in the United States.

Preferable

• 1+ years’ experience using Author-it.
• Knowledge of the content management or technical publications industry.
• Familiarity with the documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing.
• Authoring background with other technical communication products.
• Competence in Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, Web Help, Java Help).
• Knowledge about industry standards (e.g. SCORM, DITA, S1000D).

To apply

We work hard, but enjoy our work and there are some great perks to being part of the Author-it team! Join our global team with members in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australasia and the US – take your first step today!

To apply, email: ralf.wittgen@author-it.com.

No 9-5vers please; we need consultants who are fully committed and want to make a difference!

No recruiters please!

If you’re interested in joining a really great group of people who actually work together as a team, then we have the place for you. We work hard, but have heaps of fun and there are some great perks to being part of the Author-it team!

Technical Writer – Immediate Start – Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Author-it is hiring a Technical Writer for their Albany office. This needs to be someone who can really hit the ground running.

Do you have 2+ years experience using Author-it and 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product? If this describes you and you can say ‘yes’ to the required skills, knowledge and experience requirements below then, send your CV along with a covering brief on how you think you can make a difference at Author-it.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Requires the ability to communicate effectively across different levels of understanding (strong interviewing, listening and documentation skills).
• Strong business and technical acumen with the ability to plan, multi-task and prioritize as well as work flexibly to a deadline.
• Must have strong user documentation, design and presentation skills.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Passionate, work smart attitude.
• Must be detail orientated, can follow directions and established documentation guidelines as well as show a talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.

Technical Requirements

Required:

• Degree or certification in IT, technical documentation or relevant experience.
• 2+ years experience using Author-it software products
• 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product.
  • 1+ years experience in writing user documentation for web-based software applications.
  • 1+ years experience using SQL and relational databases (e.g. SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle).
  • 1+ years experience in using Active Directory and working with Microsoft server software.
  • + years experience working with images and graphics, including design and manipulation.
  • 3+ years practical experience using Microsoft Word, Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, WebHelp, JavaHelp) and web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
  • 1+ years practical experience in quality assurance.
  • Expert command of English spelling and grammar.
  • Experience with Agile development methodologies and SCRUM.
  • Full understanding of the SDLC.

Preferable:

• Familiarity with Ext JS or other rich web application frameworks.
• 1+ years’ experience in writing user documentation for content management software applications.

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks very focused on creating screen videos for our YouTube channel. While this isn’t hard, I thought I’d share how I do it, in case it’s useful information to you.

But first, a related tangent.

Learning styles

Adult learning theory says that adults learn in four modes:

• Visual
• Auditory
• Read/write
• Kinesthetic

Because humans are wonderful, individuals typically prefer one of more of these modes to consume information. This is called a mixed strategy.

People tend to be stronger in some of these modes and weaker in others. Personally, I’m very weak in Visual. I really struggle to consume information when it’s presented in only a visual mode.

For example, when I was in Graduate school, getting my degree in Cultural Anthropology, I struggled with archeological site maps. These line drawings that showed the monumental architecture and distribution of artifacts seemed flat and uninteresting to me. I just couldn’t “see” why the other students were so excited about them.

I’m not a visual learner.

But other people are.

Good user assistance

Good user assistance supports all four learning modes. And because we have the web, it’s easier today to support all four.

Screen videos are a great way to support visual and auditory learners. And they are not my best ways of learning, because they are so visual.

Delivering information in a visual way means this is hard for me. And yet, my customers need this support.

Worse, my boss is a visual learner. I know this because he prefers to video conference when we have our weekly meeting. He says he feels better when he can see who he’s talking to, that it feels flat otherwise.

So, my users need this support and my boss prefers to consume information this way.

Looks like I’ll be making screen videos!

How to make a visual process less visual

Now that we’ve established that we’re not pitching to my strengths and I need to do it anyway, I thought I’d share some ways I’ve found to make this easier for me. It may help you as well.

Step 1: Decide the small thing I’m going to show

This may sound obvious but it’s an important step. The videos must be no longer than five to seven minutes or it’s going to seem complicated, even if it’s not. So, short is good.

I look for a small thing I can show in less than seven minutes, understanding that eventually, I’ll have lots of small things which will be a large thing.

Step 2: Write the script

Because I’m a word oriented, kinesthetic learner, I want a written script that includes what I need to be doing on the screen. Think of it as the plan.

So I write out what I’m going to be saying and what’s generally happening on the screen. I don’t need to include what to click, for example, because I’m fairly confident of the product.

As a rough guide, my scripts work out to about 3 minutes per page, single spaced. I use that as my first measurement of Step 1. If I’m at the middle of the second page and I’m no where near the end, I’ve got issues and I need to edit what I’m doing.

Step 3: Walk the application with the script

When I’m done with the script, I walk the application, doing what I think I’m going to be doing to check issues:

• Do dialog boxes appear where I think they’ll appear on the screen? I need to adjust and relocate these to appear where I want them.
• Is there anywhere where things are going to take too long? This may be a spot I can cut frames or speed up the video in post processing.
• Is this the easiest way to do this? I may discover an easier way as I walk the application.
• Is there a place where things are happening on the screen and I can talk about a best practice while we wait? If it’s short, I’ll add that to the script.

Then I edit the script, making notes and changing things until I have a better feel for this.

When I’m done, it’s time to start recording.

Next week

Next week, I’ll take you thru the actual recording and post processing steps I’m using to get good videos.

For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been involved with a large retailer, trying to get my husband’s laptop serviced and repaired under the warranty. The details are not appropriate here but it made me think about a company and how it interacts with people.

Your experience with a product is about people, even if you don’t realize it right away.

Companies are about people

When you purchase a product, you deal with a person or people, depending on where and how that product is purchased. Even if you buy the product online, there are people involved in making the product, packaging it up, and getting it safely to you.

If you have an issue, you read the product docs, call support, or go back to a store. You’re dealing with people involved in the successful sale and use of that product.

If it seems the company doesn’t care about you – thru the interactions of the people you deal with – then you have a bad experience. A bad experience is very frustrating and makes you think poorly about the company.

And there are a lot of touchpoints where that interaction can go wrong.

Good experiences=passion

I think we all want to deal with a company that seems interested in you being happy with the product, or at least not cursing the day you got involved. I don’t need to get teary with happiness when I think of the company, but it’s nice to not feel the company is actually daring me to use the product.

We’ve all dealt with a support person who seems to know less about the product than we do, who seems to be reading a script. It makes you uncomfortable because it seems the company simply doesn’t care enough to hire people who have some passion for what they do. And if the company doesn’t care…

But when a company does a good job, when it shows some passion for what it does, it makes you happy. You want to deal with them again.

An example

I drive a Mazda Miata convertible sportscar. I love my car. I also typically hate dealing with mechnical issues about cars. I think they should be shrink-wrap technology and it shouldn’t be hard.

One day last summer, one of the latches on my roof started making a loud rattling sound. I looked at it and discovered one of the tongues that slots to seal the roof had come loose. Out doing errands one day, I stopped by the dealer to see if we could schedule a fix.

The service manager looked at it, told me to go inside, and get some coffee. I barely had time to drink any of it when he came back and told me it was done. For free. I was all smiles when I left. Less than 10 minutes and fixed for free! Delighted.

He cared that I was happy with my car. He showed passion about the brand and the customer.

Passion matters

As the world gets smaller and yet bigger, good service matters.

I’m not saying at Author-it we’re perfect, but I can tell you the entire staff works hard to make happy customers. We’re not always successful every time but our goal is 100% happiness all the way through.

We want you to be happy with the products we develop. We think our products can make your life easier, not harder, and we want you to think so too.

That’s our passion.

It’s true, we are. If you want to work at a company where everyone is really good at what they do, this is the company for you.

We’re hiring in the US and New Zealand.

United States of America

Senior Sales Executives x 2

1. California – Bay Area
2. U.S. East Coast (virtual)

As a Senior Sales Executive, you will assume a leadership role within assigned Fortune 1000 organizations within your territory.

Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Senior Web Developers x 2

Author-it are hiring two Senior Web Developers in their Albany office who can really hit the ground running. Are you a smart and hard worker, talented and passionate about cutting edge web development that makes a difference? Are you the kind of person who comes to work every day ready to “make it happen”?

Find out more at

http://www.author-it.com/index.php?page=careers

Author-it has a new employee – me!

My name is Sharon Burton and I’m the new product evangelist for Author-it. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you and finding out what you want in our products, how you use them now, and showing you exciting things you may not have known about.

As part of getting to know you, I thought I’d introduce myself and then you can introduce yourself in the comments below. If we know more about each other, then I can better help you.

About me

I’ve been in the Technical Communication field for nearly 20 years. I, like most people, fell into this field and discovered I loved it. I love providing the right information to people at the right time. This field is always interesting to me and it’s never been boring!

I’ve been a sole writer, a documentation manager, a highly paid consultant, owned my own outsourcing business, and a contractor. I’m most interested in workflow problems the last few years – the How do we make the process of developing user assistance more efficient? stuff.

I want us to spend more time developing useful content and less time fiddling with our tools. Our value to our companies and our users lies in the content we develop and not in the time we spend reformatting the same stupid document for the 3rd time this week.

Other stuff I do

I live in Southern California with my journalist husband and 2 large young dogs. When I’m not working on Author-it stuff, I teach technical communication to undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the University of California, Riverside with my best friend. I simply love teaching these bright baby engineers things I want all engineers to know. Essentially, we’re trying to grow the engineers we want to work with.

I also occasionally teach for the Society for Technical Communication as part of the online certificate program. I like doing this because I’m teaching my peers and making a difference in the lives of working professionals. And that makes me feel very good.

When I’m not buried in technical communication stuff, I hang out with my husband, play with the 2 large young dogs, knit and crochet, design knitting patterns, ride my bike, write creative non-fiction, read, and garden. Occasionally, I do standup comedy, which is fun and terrifying.

It’s your turn

Now that you know about me, it’s your turn. Tell me about you. I’m so excited to learn about the Author-it community and what excites you about our field!

We all like to think that we work hard, most of the time that is true, but we certainly like to play hard as well. I don’t think that this is a bad thing, we all need to relax. If we kept working/programming our fingers to the bone, we would more than likely be dead before we hit 40, and that is definitely not my idea of fun. Also, I think that you learn more about work mates when you get them outside the work environment.

When I heard that this years Author-it Conference involved caving, rock climbing, adventure racing and partying, all with with the coolest bunch of people I have ever worked with, I was well pleased, to say the least!

Welcome to the Author-it Software Corporation Conference 2008 , which only lasted 2 hours (well the ‘work’ part of it anyway ).   We’ve had an amazing year so far and it was nice to celebrate it together.  All credit to Paul (CEO) and Steve (President) for acknowledging that this weekend was all about fun.

The first activity was the caving/blackwater rafting. Think icy cold water with a bit of mud and clay mixed in just for fun. Everyone took part, from Gung ho leaders and people of all ages and sizes from the very demure Kendra (Implementation) and Olinka (Quality Assurance) to front-rowers (for those not familiar with Rugby, think big, strong and built like a fridge!) like Adrian (Training and Implementation), Colin (IT administrator) and myself (Support Analyst).

Charging through the darkness we were positive we heard Smeagol, or was it Gollum? We could never be to sure but we felt the ‘power of the ring’, but search as we might we had eventually to settle for a chocolate fish and a hot cup of coffee.

Tracey (Office Administrator) did a fantastic job organizing the outdoor activities and the venue ably assisted by Julia (Office Aministrator) and the dinner later that evening was fantastic. I can’t remember the exact details of dinner. All I can say is what do you expect when there is an open bar!!! The evening was merry everyone talked and drank the night away.

As mentioned earlier, it is much easier to get to know people in more relaxed settings, and the night was only just beginning as we found out…

I think the presence of alcoholic refreshment was meant to make the games night harder (or more fun), either way we definitely raised the roof off the hotel! The first ‘game’ was like monopoly, where teams had to compete with each other. I was on Paul’s (the CEO) team and so the pressure was on. We did not disappoint!

We had Deidre (Financial controller) handling our finances, which involved collecting the cash and not paying out a cent, Richard (Business Development Manager) selling his services to the highest bidder, AND John (Development Director) tackling the challenges with highly organized gusto! His driving skills were also brought to the fore. I was the link man, running around directing people. It’s the only role in the game where I could wield power (the influence of the caves earlier perhaps?). And not that the result mattered but We Won!Once the award were handed out (lots of chocolate) we all drifted away to our beds, but not before we paid taxes to Gretchen (Director of User Assistance) and as long as we gave her some chocolate we were safe….. to be continued

Posted by Martin Irawan, Technical Analyst, Author-it Software Corporation