Re: Portfolios and writing samples...

["Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM>]

Hallo:

Respectfully, I disagree. Yes, a potential employer can ask for a portfolio
and, *yes,* a potential employer does have a right to ask to keep some
samples. Why not? A candidate certainly has a right to refuse, but, aside
from company confidential information, why? Because the interviewer will
misrepresent the piece as their own, at some point, or because the
interviewer will get a good idea from the piece and withdraw the position .
. .? C'mon. You didn't want to work there, anyway. (I would not send samples
before or without an interview, though. I wouldn't want to work there,
either.)

Let's be mature adults about this. There is no conspiracy here. Bring your
portfolio. If the interviewer asks you to leave a copy of something, feel
free to say yes or no. Perhaps the interviewer wants to review the piece
with someone who is not present. Perhaps the interviewer wants to carefully
review the piece in private, with more time. In any event, if this worries
you, bring along some handout samples and say "I can't leave a copy of that
with you but I can leave this copy with you, instead." Or, bring along an
SASE and say "sure I can leave that with you but I do need it back, here's
an envelope."

Come to think of it, while I have never been asked to leave a copy I have
asked to keep a copy. I was not turned down. Neither did I draw cartoon
stick figures on it and post it in the lunch room, nor did I represent the
copy as my own. In fact, the last copy I requested is in my file drawer with
that candidate's resume.

All the best.

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: DHICKEY -at- ALIS -dot- COM [mailto:DHICKEY -at- ALIS -dot- COM]
>>>Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 11:18 AM
>>>
>>>> *An employer is certainly within her rights to demand a portfolio.
>>>> She is not, however, within her rights to ask the
>>>candidate if she can
>>>> photocopy the samples. *
>>>> lends itself to suspicion of a hidden agenda.  I personally
>>>> know three gifted writers in my area who have been victimized
>>>> this very way by unscrupulous interviewers who intimidated
>>>> them into allowing their portfolios be taken from the room
>>>> during their interviews, only to have some copies appear
>>>
>>>Egads... I'm going for an interview tomorrow where the
>>>interviewer asked for
>>>some writing samples he could keep! I felt a little uneasy about this
>>>request, but I was going to print out a chapter from an older manual.
>>>
>>>Now that I've read this post, I see that my uneasiness may
>>>be justified.
>>>I'll just tell the interviewer (it's an agency) that if a
>>>company wants to
>>>see my writing samples, they can interview me.

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