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Subject:Re[2]: Agency and interviewing questions From:Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 9 Dec 1996 13:08:36 EST
I wrote:
> The agency does what we ask, but it takes them some time to dig up samples.
> Why is this? Am I asking for something non-standard or unreasonable? Are
> writing samples usually brought only to the interview? If so, how the heck
> can you tell in advance if the person is worth interviewing?
Linda Castellani (castle -at- crl -dot- com) wrote:
> What do you, Melissa (or any of you), look for when someone submits samples,
that lets you know whether or not they are worth interviewing? What impresses
you? What guarantees a call from you?
When the agent sends samples to me, she asks what I'm looking for. In this
case, I tell her that I want to see user guides, quick reference cards, anything
written to the end user.
I examine these samples with an eye to spelling, grammar, obvious stuff like
that; layout and design; choice of font and size; and general style.
It makes me very happy to see a sample that had no mistakes in spelling, etc. --
this does occasionally happen. I see a lot of mistakes in tense, hyphenation,
and spacing. Those discourage me, but they aren't necessarily a deal-killer,
because we can proof them.
I also love to see samples with wonderful design -- enough white space,
judicious use of graphics, etc.
Mostly I look for clear writing geared to an end user. That's the bottom line.
You might be concerned that repeated faxing would blur your work. It does, but
I know that it looked better before it was faxed. I can still tell what it
looked like originally. *All* the samples I see are blurred, so that isn't a
problem.
Several posters have said that they don't want to give their precious
one-of-a-kind samples to an agency and some have said that agencies have lost
their stuff. I understand these concerns, but can't one give a copy to the
agent? Then it won't matter if the stuff is lost.
Looking forward to more feedback on this subject. This has been a very
instructive thread for me and I appreciate the effort that all respondents have
put into it!
Melissa Hunter-Kilmer
mhunterk -at- bna -dot- com
(standard disclaimer)
