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Christine,
Potential employers will respect that you actually keep classified
material classified. Anyone with sense will understand that you can't
show off specific work. They can call your previous employer and verify
that you actually did DO the work. You will be there to talk the
interviewer through your portfolio (don't *ever* leave your portfolio
with anyone!). Guide them through it. If they don't have sense, well...
May I suggest that instead of focusing on specific tasks that you can
accomplish with software (like generating TOCs), you should focus on the
*process* used to generate the *content* of the manuals. How did you
gather the information? How did you synthesize it? Some will argue that
tools are critical, but I believe that the true skill of a technical
writer lies in the abilities to gather, analyze, logically organize, and
then skillfully present material *in a way that the reader can
understand and use it.* Besides, I've never had somebody look at
something in my portfolio and ask about the tools I used to create it,
which I probably can't remember anyway. (Though I suppose I could see
that with an online/web/multimedia project, now that I think about it.)
But the point is that the information is important.
Anybody can generate a TOC. Show them that you have a brain.
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