atw: Re: samples of work requested at interview
- From: Bob Trussler <bob.trussler@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 20:34:04 +1000
Who wrote this?
I was asked by a project manager years ago about interviewing tech writers.
I suggested that the tech writers bring copies of their work and ...
He immediately interrupted me and said that 'he would have no idea who
designed the material ...'
.. and then I went on to suggest that he ask
"What went wrong?
"What could have been done better?
"What compromises were made?
"Why was this style used for the header /footer/title page ...?
If the candidate was actually involved, then they could describe the
problems encountered. There are always problems and compromises.
and he then twigged. He hired an experienced and competent tech writer.
On 14 August 2012 15:34, Christine Kent <cmkentau@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I found this to be an ongonig nightmare until I wrote my own copyright
> material. That solves the problem.
>
> I still carefully point out to them that they have no idea who designed
> the material, who has really written it, whether there was a substantive
> editor who fixed it up, how much layout work had to be done on it by
> someone else, how much proofreading was required, and who did the
> indexing.
>
> But apart from that. they are welcome to judge me on the quality of the
> book.
>
> Ho hum.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 3:02 PM, Bob Trussler <bob.trussler@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
>> This has happened twice now. An organisation has requested that I send
>> them copies of my previous work – as SOFTCOPIES!
>>
>> We have … decided to request examples of written work before we progress
>> to interview.
>> One or two examples of some user guide or instructional material you have
>> developed would be much appreciated.
>>
>>
>> This is a great idea BUT as I work for government departments, most of
>> the work that I do is confidential in one way or another.
>> In the past, I have taken a bundle of carefully selected printed copies
>> of my work to an interview.
>> I don't keep a copy of seriously confidential documents for personal use,
>> because I am simply not allowed to. In many offices, you cannot copy to a
>> USB memory stick or CD or whatever so taking a softcopy cannot be done.
>>
>>
>>
>> Does the person requesting the sample documents understand
>> confidentiality?
>>
>> Do they consider the situation if it was reversed and I gave a softcopy
>> of their documents to another organisation, maybe a competitor?
>>
>> What do other people do in this situation?
>>
>> Bob Trussler
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Christine
>
--
Bob Trussler
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