Before we were all online all the time, knowing a trusted technical talent acquisition professional was like having the key to the treasure chest. It’s not who you know, it’s who I know.
When I enabled the #OpenToWork feature on LinkedIn, I discovered genuinely wonderful talent acquisition professionals. My best interactions were messages that showed the recruiter had done their due diligence and had discovered my profile through a targeted search.
For example, I was positively thrilled to receive a message from Doris that showed she read my profile and acknowledged my achievements. I was already predisposed to listen to her pitch:
Hi Barrie!
My name is Doris Tong and I’m from [clip]. I enjoyed reading your profile and seeing your trajectory at places like Instabase, DataStax, etc. and even being a Distinguished Toastmaster. Very impressive.
Congratulations on all of your achievements!
When we did connect, we enjoyed our chat and I have since referred other candidates to Doris.
Geography agnostic agencies
Over a decade ago, I attended a How to Earn Six Figures as a Technical Writer workshop led by Jack Molisani of ProSpring Staffing. Thank you, Jack! He’s the executive director of the LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management and is well-connected in our industry.
At conferences, I regularly interact with Writing Assist.
I see Clear/Point on job postings, but haven’t worked with them personally. Who is your go-to agency? Please share!
San Francisco Bay Area recruiter
I always learn something interesting from Tom Johnson’s blogs and podcasts. Relevant recruiter-based LinkedIn, resume, and hiring tips are covered in this podcast with Andrew Davis: Hiring API doc writers — an inside look at fixing broken processes.
Recruiter Andrew Davis, a recruiter for Silicon Valley software startups, talks about why it’s so difficult to hire technical writers for developer documentation roles.
Synergistech Communications
synergistech@gmail.com
650-271-0148
FL recruiters
In a past life, I worked with several agencies in Florida that placed technical communicators. Tek Partners, Mondo, Signature Consultants Signature placed me in 2 different contracts at Motorola, and at NCCI and at my first-ever tech writer contract at EDS for Ryder.
NJ, NY, PA recruiters
For New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania geographic searches, reach out to tech comm recruiters in the NJ, NY, and PA geography. This is a decades-stale list, but still might provide some insights.
Silver linings 
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