Interviews

[CheeseSlice]

Does anyone here take along examples of previous work (visio diagrams, designs, presentations, etc) along to interviews to help wow and swing the interview in their favour?

I'm considering doing this for an interview I've got coming up but haven't tried this before. Artists and photographers must have to do this to get any work, so it can't be that odd for me to do it I guess.

[Muttley08]

Not sure of the impact of it really - depends heavily on what you do and what they're after.

Had an agent once wanting me to go along to a senior PM interview with copies of my degrees, etc 'to show how keen I was'. Politely informed him it was a senior role and I'd look a boy scout - but he didn't really get it !

I can see in the right context work will show enthusiasm - but make sure you look professional and the seasoned, experienced person they're paying contract rates for.

[northernladuk]

Depends on what they want from an interview. It is possible to over deliver and put the client right off. If he hasn't asked for them then I wouldn't bother. If he has asked for evidence of something then maybe, if he has asked for a presentation then definately.

You also have to be very careful, if you whip out work that you created for a client showing any hint of the clients business you could shoot yourself well and truely in the foot. He will wonder how many other people you are showing company business as well.

Avoid too much unless requested I would say.

[The Agents View]

Not sure of the impact of it really - depends heavily on what you do and what they're after.

Had an agent once wanting me to go along to a senior PM interview with copies of my degrees, etc 'to show how keen I was'. Politely informed him it was a senior role and I'd look a boy scout - but he didn't really get it !

I can see in the right context work will show enthusiasm - but make sure you look professional and the seasoned, experienced person they're paying contract rates for.

You might want to consider taking any identifiable information off of the documentation - these things are often sensitive, and I know if I turned up to an interview with examples of marketing literature, and reams of databases, the reaction wouldn't be positive.

Make sure you look at it from the other side of the fence, at the opposite end of the contract (ie. "If I give this guy the gig, is he going to start banding my project plans, process flows etc etc around to get other gigs?)

That said - I would suggest it's always good to have example pieces of work to refer to. Don't plan to use them, but perhaps refer to them, and then say that you have some details with you if they want to see them.

Whenever I'm doing a sales pitch, I always have a powerpoint presentation prepared. When I arrive, I always ask what the preference is - would they prefer to have a chat, or run through it in a more structured fashion? I would suggest 60% of the people I see, prefer to have a chat. Same theory, different delivery I guess?

HTH

Good luck with the interview!

[Scary]

As suggested above, work for previous clients is confidential making this difficult unless you have some personal projects you are proud of or open source contributions you could show.

[Old Greg]

I had a contractor come along to interview who did this and it just looked weird as he kept fiddling for pieces of paper.

having said that my CV now contains hyperlinks to work I have done that is in the public domain.

[CheeseSlice]

Thanks for all of the replies. I decided in the end to take some examples with me, but only to get them out if asked. Good points also about confidentiality, and although I had removed any traces of each customer from the material, it would have been obvious who they were for when referring to roles in my CV.

Interview is done, now I play the waiting game

[Old Greg]

Thanks for all of the replies. I decided in the end to take some examples with me, but only to get them out if asked. Good points also about confidentiality, and although I had removed any traces of each customer from the material, it would have been obvious who they were for when referring to roles in my CV.

Interview is done, now I play the waiting game

Best of luck.

[MarillionFan]

Does anyone here take along examples of previous work (visio diagrams, designs, presentations, etc) along to interviews to help wow and swing the interview in their favour?

I'm considering doing this for an interview I've got coming up but haven't tried this before. Artists and photographers must have to do this to get any work, so it can't be that odd for me to do it I guess.

No.

I will if the opportunity is there, whiteboard a clients requirements during the discussion. I will then run it like a BA/Consultancy meeting and start asking the questions. I always get the gig.

[moder8or]

Funny (odd) interviews

I rely on my presentation skills in interviews, as rustling paper and searching for the right exhibit during the interview usually ends in a mess on the desk, or the floor, and as the previous post said you have to modify documents for confidentiality.
The interviewer is not interested in reading through a £0.5m quote for plant and equipment or a lengthy specification.

Just thought I would share this....
I had an interview this week.
The interviewer was very frank, told me that they had not yet got the job of assessing an equipment installation in Italy, (The agent did not tell me this) for which he thought I was the right person from my c.v. I speak the lingo, thats what interested him in my c.v.
In my opinion he had no idea how to tackle the job, this may have been evident from my body language which I tried to conceal.
I explained that my first approach would be to read the instruction manuals and then the maintenance records.
"Pretty basic, but why would he want to send me all the way to Italy?
Why not just contact the local manufacturers service team to do the internal checks which would be required to determine the life left in the machine as they would have the equipment, flow meters, pressure/temp gauges, sensors etc to make the checks."
I had to be very careful not to talk myself out of the job, so I didn't mention the latter part of the above "..."
He told me that part of the job was that I should fit in.
Needless to say I have not heard anything more, though he said he always and would take time to make a decision
I guess he is putting 2+2 together, so I am not expecting further interest from them as it appears to be a none job
Initially the agent said the role would be 6 months + from his discussions with the client.
When I asked the client when he would reach a decision he said there would be a second interview.
He then asked what would be the shortest contract I would be interested in, I mentioned 3-6 months eventually after blathering he uttered something about 1 month. I was very courteous in my reply, and said I looked forward to meeting him again and bade him a farewell
I gave feedback to the agent, he just muttered on about what a wonderful relationship he had with the client
I had previously turned down the agent for the role last june as I thought it was fishy, but decided to "go for it" second time around
Just one of my weird and wonderful experiences of current job search interviews
Anyone else suffer these time and effort wasters?