20 Hot Job Tracks: Communications
COMMUNICATIONS Technical Writer Last month Sharon Murphy, a technical writer at General Mills in Golden Valley, Minn., decided that the verb "simmer" is meaningless to a "cooking illiterate" population. She changed the back of the Betty Crocker scalloped potato mix box to read, "Cook until the mixture bubbles very gently." Some technical writers tell couch potatoes how to program a VCR; others write space-probe manuals for rocket scientists. Technical writers use specialized knowledge to translate complicated concepts into layman's language. The Society for Technical Communication has seen its membership rise 53 percent since 1990, from 13,159 to 20,190, as the demand for technology filters down from the lab to the home.
HOT-TRACK SALARIES (AVERAGE) ENTRY LEVEL: $35,500 MIDLEVEL: $41,300 TOP: $54,510
TRAINING. A bachelor's degree-typically with an English or technical communications major-and strong writing skills are required. A specialized background like engineering or business helps, but on-the-job training is often available.
RUNNER-UP HOT TRACK. Health care public relations. HMOs and hospital chains often face negative press; many have in-house PR staff and retain an outside firm as well.
WHAT COMMUNICATIONS JOBS PAY NEWSPAPER REPORTER $26,301 TV NEWS REPORTER $33,223 PR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE $36,050 CORPORATE PR SPECIALIST $57,467 HEALTH CARE PR SPECIALIST $63,800 TV NEWS ANCHOR $71,937 Sources: Society for Technical Communication, Inland Press Association, National Association of Broadcasters, Public Relations Society of America, Folio, PR News
This story appears in the October 26, 1998 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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