RE: Advice for Job Seekers

["Murrell, Thomas" <TMurrell -at- alldata -dot- net>]

> From: 	Ruth Lundquist[SMTP:rlundquist -at- prosarcorp -dot- com]
> 
> Now is the time when many eager, soon-to-be graduates are hoping to land
> their 
> first tech writing jobs. We will see (and have seen) an increase in
> questions 
> about resumes, writing samples/portfolios, networking, and interviewing.
> 
> As a hiring manager, I have some advice about what *not* to do in an
> interview. 
> I would love to see examples/advice from other hiring managers about what
> not 
> to do in an interview. I hope that newbies find this useful, and that 
> experienced writers find it entertaining.
> 
> 
I think this is an interesting topic and one that should be useful for all
of us.

One thing that I think the whole of Ruth's post, snipped to free up
bandwidth, points out is that prospects need to be polite.  I know when I'm
interviewing someone, I have a need to fill, and I want to know if this
person I'm interviewing can fill it.  I'm not trying to be tricky or
devious.  Frankly, I have better things to do than interview people, but I
interview people because I will have to work with them, and I want to make
sure I get people I can work with.

I would advise new people not to adopt the attitude you see a lot on this
list of arrogant intellectualization.  (No, I'm not casting stones
elsewhere; I'm as guilty as the most guilty person on the list.)  All the
questions you get in an interview are really variations on one question: "I
have a problem.  How will YOU help me?"  If you keep focused on listening to
the interviewer, drawing the interviewer out to learn what the interviewer
needs, you ought to be able to answer the question and tell me how you can
help me.  That's where my focus as an interviewer is.

Don't brag as much as you want to.  Yes, you will need to tout your
qualifications and experience, but I'm not interested in hiring you to tell
me how to do my job.  I already know how to do it, and I am more arrogant
than you are, so there.  I need to know how your knowledge and experience
are going to help me get the documentation out on this project and for this
company.  You are new.  All your classes and training are but prelude for
what you will learn on the job.  So don't start out trying to convince me in
the interview that I am wrong.  I will probably end up thinking that you
will be all argument and no production.

Tom Murrell
(You asked for two cents, but I gave you a quarter.  What can I say?)