Re: job interview question: ethical issues about portfolio

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

All this discussion of portfolio contents has made me curious: how much
attention do your interviewers actually pay to these materials?

Are you submitting these materials in advance, or going in with them in
your briefcase?

In my experience, nobody does more than briefly scan these items. They
don't really READ them; there isn't enough time. I never leave the
documents behind, and I've never been required to send in a sample in
advance.

Thus, it seems like some of you are excessively worried about something
that will just consume a small portion of the interview. Or is my
experience unique?

I've made sure my writing samples were perfect, correcting any mistakes I
may have identified after their initial publication. (Thus, those docs may
not be "authentic," but they're pretty.) I have "sanitized" some work to
change product and company names, and I've been very careful to not show
any technical information I thought anybody might steal (although again,
the few moments they allocate to skimming through the document would not
afford them the time to do so).

For editing and layout, I've shown before-and-after examples, using a
manual I did not write or layout to compare with the one I did. Again,
both those documents go home with ME.

If I were asked to provide a leave-behind document, I would either
sanitize one or write something not product-specific.

But how about you? What have your prospective employers actually done with
your portolios?

Thanks for any input!


 - Keith Cronin

_____________________________________


Boy, giraffes are selfish! 

 - Barney Fife

[for those who asked: The Andy Griffith Show, Episode 93: Dogs Dogs Dogs]



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