RE: Showing sample and proprietary content

["Rick Bishop" <rickbishop -at- austin -dot- rr -dot- com>]

Joe: What samples address is they give you a basis for interview questions
on skill levels in several areas. I always request samples. No sample, no
interview.
 It's hard to believe that anyone that has been professionally writing for
more than a couple of years would not have 'something' they could share in
some form or other. I've had people tell me they've been writing for 15
years and everything they wrote during that time was proprietary or
confidential . Puh-lease!! Only if your house burned down last summer.  Very
few employers refuse a 'show' request on outdated materials (except DoD).
Ever hear of redaction?
 And yes, I have hired staff that created materials strictly for the
interview. One hire's sample was on operating his home tv remote. He said he
spent a few hours on it and it showed creativity, artistic sense, English
mastery, design and layout skills, etc., all in just 5 pages. That showed me
he was a pro even better than 50 pages of how to set up a cold fail-over for
Citrix. If you aren't willing to do something to get or create a sample, you
probably are not the person I want anyway.
 I agree that you should NOT write to fulfill a specific request from a
prospective employer if there is any chance they might use it. Don't write
30 pages on WebSphere for an interview at IBM, <!--hello> just like you
don't let 'em pick your brain for ideas for 3 hours. A legitimate hiring
manager will accept work samples on almost any subject.
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rickbishop=austin -dot- rr -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rickbishop=austin -dot- rr -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Joe Malin
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 5:09 PM
<snip>
=================
Seriously, for anyone who has previous tech writing experience, what problem
do samples address? In engineering, a manager can give you a technical
interview and quickly determine if you have the skill to do the work. Can't
a writing manager do the same thing?
Joe

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