Intern Success Guide

During my internship, I was assigned the task of revamping the Mr. Cooper Internship Success Guide for the Policy office. After evaluating the existing documentation, I found that some content was outdated and left much to be desired in terms of guidance for a new intern and new technical writer in some areas. As a new intern myself, I was able to identify information 

 

I kept a record of roadblocks and pain points encountered during my first few weeks of the internship. I made note of instances where I ran into a question or concern that I thought could be covered in the guide easily.

 

These areas included:

• Templates for communications with SMEs

• When it is appropriate to reach out to a SME

• How to fix mistakes with HTML

• Quick tips for using Archer

 

Communicating and building rapport with SMEs was the most intimidating aspect of my internship. As such, I wanted to ensure that interns coming after me had more guidance in this area. The existing internship guide did not address how to communicate or give examples of how to communicate with SMEs. I made it a priority to include this information as it’s a core skill all technical writers should cultivate and carry with them throughout their career.

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Additionally, the Emergency Management Software used by the company, Archer, is a system with a sharp learning curve and many quirks that are important to be aware of. Knowing what to do and what not to do can save hours of processing time. Certain mistakes, which are more likely to be made by inexperienced users, can lead to huge setbacks. Giving future interns a leg up in this area and saving them a few headaches was important to me. 

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Lastly, some areas of the guide were outdated, as it was written before COVID-19. Since 2020, Mr. Cooper has been a primarily remote company, so I knew it was important to update sections such as meeting etiquette, and include information about how to use Microsoft Teams.