Re: Advice

Subject: Re: Advice
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 10:15:35 -0700

Vicky Rubin wrote:


If you all had one piece of advice on how to prepare for interviewing and
looking for work what would that be? I have some knowledge of Frame,
Dreamweaver, Acrobat 5.0, Visual Basic, Visio, and Office 2000, but am
concerned that I'll be laughed out of space, cyber and physical, because I
can't compete with folks who can do it all.


I think the answer is in the first sentence above: prepare for interviewing. Above all else, to get a job you need to come across as professional and reliable. Projecting these qualities is even more important than being good at the work.

Obviously, you can't be completely hopeless, but competency is far less important than most people think. So long as you have a basic ability, being the sort of person whom others can work with, and who can meet deadlines is far more important. That's especially true because there's a lot of bad writers out there, as well as a number who are skilled, yet act like prima donnas.

Besides, even if you have a portfolio, many interviewers will barely glance at it, and won't be able to appreciate your samples without a lot of guidance anyway.

There are a lot of books about interviewing, but, the gist is: go into the meeting knowing the image you want to project and the talking points that will help you project that image, and psych yourself just before you go into the interview. If you think of it as a performance on stage, you'll have the right idea.

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com





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References:
Advice: From: Vicky Rubin

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