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I have a limited portfolio, I bring it, I talk up the process, I talk up
what I can do given their needs, and I'm not John Candy.
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I have a very limited portfolio. I've done a lot of work, but most of what
I've done is behind lock and key at the companies I did it for. So, I guess
I can see Goober's point. But, I do try to show up with *something* to show.
Whether it's the printed copy I was actually allowed to take from one
company, or the online docs from that company (now severely dated), or
something I whip up before the interview.
But, I don't put any weight on my "portfolio". The portfolio doesn't speak
for me, and doesn't serve as a "what I can do for you" leverage point
either. It's just a dumb collection of stuff I did. Whooptie doo, IMO. What
I did in one company might be worthless in another.
I've been forced to take a lot of different types of tech writing jobs over
the past 7+ years (yeah, I haven't hit year 10 yet). I went from typesetter,
to consulting help author, to tech writer, to jack-of-all-techcomm-trades in
various forms...
I don't look at what I did as leverage. I look at it as what I did. It fit a
need at the time. The prospective employer's needs might be similar, but
chances are they'll be different. The fact is, they want to see samples, as
if I was peddling shower curtain fasteners or something (I'm a big guy, but
I'm no John Candy). *g*
So, I say, get your portfolio together, but don't go nuts over it. It's a
snapshot of what you did, and nothing more. Rather, focus on your
explanation of what you did, and use your portfolio as visual props to wave
under the interviewers' noses. But, never focus on the details unless they
are related to what you might need to do for the interviewing company should
they hire you. That is where focusing on what you can do for them shines.
Bill Swallow
wswallow -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com
::: -----Original Message-----
::: Don't you have to show what you did in order to show what
::: you can do for them??
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