Re: Should I Say Something?

[Eric Ray <ejr -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 08:39 AM 5/17/99 -0700, John Posada wrote:
>NO.
>
>> I had an interview last week and during the course
>> of that interview, I asked for some samples, so that
>> I could see what they did.
>>
>> When I sat down to read what they had written I
>> found quite a few mistakes. It occurred to me that I
>> could correct them of say nothing. I want the job
>> and I'm not sure that saying anything would help.
>
>If you aren't sure it would help, then don't. You are
>already there for the interview, so get the job based
>on that interview, based on previous situations that
>you know something about. Not knowing the environment,
>the pecking order, the procedues, and processes, you
>could end up screwing yourself out of the job. What if
>what you critique something that was written by the
>person you are interviewing with and he was real proud
>of that content?
>
>===
>John Posada

Fundamentally, John has a good point--saying anything
other than "Thanks for letting me look at these samples"
has a far greater chance of resulting in NOT getting the
job than getting the job. However, depending on
how badly you want/need the job, critiquing the samples
might be exactly what you WANT to do.

If you know that you want to work for a person/group/
organization/company that does not stifle new ideas
or perspectives, that can gracefully accept criticism,
that responds well to the way that you present comments,
and that isn't thin-skinned, go for it. It's a gambler's
approach, but will quickly and surely ensure that you're
not going to work for someone who is pretty sensitive
or for a stodgy company or for a place in which you
personally wouldn't fit particularly well.

Oh, and check out http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/raystory2.html
for a more detailed and personal perspective on this approach.

Eric

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray    RayComm, Inc.
http://www.raycomm.com/      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com

*Award-winning author of several popular computer books
*Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
*Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_

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