Re: Dealing with samples...

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

It's been years since I actually asked for samples from candidates.  If I 
see that someone has shown up with a portfolio I'll ask if those are 
examples of their work and we'll discuss them, but generally I get what I 
want to know by asking candidates how they go about specific functions, such 
as determining document requirements, developing plans, schedules and 
outlines, obtaining buy-in from stakeholders, getting reviews and document 
validation done, etc.  Yeah, I'll ask them about writing and editing, but by 
the time I'm interviewing writers I'll already have style guides and 
customized spellcheck dictionaries in place, so the best of all possible 
responses is for the candidate to ask about my style guides and announce 
that he or she is a style chameleon whose output will religiously comply 
with company formats with suggestions for improvements being offered for 
consideration rather then unilaterally inserted.

The best reference info anyone can bring is a list of people I can talk to 
who will tell me what great documents the candidate produced for their 
products, and the candidate's last direct manager doesn't necessarily need 
to be one of them.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>