Re: Response to Peter Taylor

[Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM>]

I disagree you Virgil. Peter's question is trying to get at one of the most
common problems I've seen, at least in my experience. That is, as writers we
are often faced with meeting a deadline when the product isn't ready to go.
It happens. Nearly every single project.

There is no magic "correct" answer to this question. Either you send the
documentation out without testing it thoroughly (and risk having it go out
with serious mistakes), or you move the deadline so that you can make sure
that the documentation is correct. You're stuck with picking the lesser of
two evils. So I think it's a fair question for an interviewer to ask -- I
would expect a candidate to talk about what steps to take in deciding on the
best course of action.

I don't interview people on a regular basis, but when I do, I'm not
interested in trapping candidates into making mistakes. That's a waste of
everyone's time, including mine. If anything, I go into an interview hoping
that maybe this candidate will be perfect for the position. There's no point
in being paranoid in an interview (or why bother going). Just answer the
questions as truthfully as you can, and be prepared with questions of your
own. That way the interviewer can decide whether or not you'd be a good fit,
and you can decide whether or not you'd like to work there. Maybe I'm being
naive, but this has worked for me, on both sides of the interview table.

Regards,

Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: Virgil Jones <virgil_jones -at- EMAIL -dot- COM>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Date: January 13, 1999 2:22 PM
Subject: Response to Peter Taylor


>Peter:
>
>You seem to be a person who enjoys making an interviewee squirm.
>The question in itself was loaded-since there is no real answer. However,
the person was smart enough to suss you out! My response to such a
ridiculous question would have been to get up and leave.
>
>You remind me of the Foreman at a Car Factory whose mentality is: "do this
do that and don't even stop for a cough." Where you a Sergeant in the
RAF/USMC? I am glad that I don't have to work for someone like you. I tend
to make mistakes throughout my day and knowing you, you'd probably keep a
detailed list of what I had done wrong; lets not forget that you would
probably take great pleasure in bleeding all over my work and berating me
for lack of skills and talent.
>
>It seems to me that you're the one who lacks any kind of vision. You are
Legend in Your own Mind.
>
>Where did you say you worked?
>


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