The Sixth Interview Principle

Panhandler Posts Her Working-Rate

There are Five Big Things you want to avoid during an interview. They are:

1. Being unprepared
2. Behaving inappropriately
3. Appearing unfocused
4. Seeming insincere
5. Stretching the truth

That’s according to an article by Jerry S. Wilson, Senior VP-chief customer and commercial officer at Coca-Cola Co, in addition to his current incarnation as a motivational marketer, etc.

Portfolios: Show Me Your Money

A physical book/portfolio is essential, and a co-equal to a web presence.

A physical book lets an interviewer scan your work in less than a minute, and know exactly what you can and cannot do. They don’t have to wait for a Flash/media presentation to load. No cut on all the Flash wizards out there, but they want to get in, and out, fast.

They don’t care about anything else.

Sometimes an original item is a showstopper, and provides physical evidence that you are capable of handling large print projects.

I produced a 355pp high-end furniture catalog several years ago. This monster was printed at Geo Rice & Sons, lush and sweet. Ditto for annual reports, where 4/4 plus spots are more often used.

Exceptions would be telephone books, newspaper, OfficeDepot catalogs, etc.

Presentation styles come and go. I’ve seen slide portfolios, 8×10 trannies, matted flat pieces, laminated ‘place mats’, 8×10 vinyl books [in varying degrees of finish], godzilla attache cases, etc. Currently I’m in the higher-end vinyl sleeved book place.

A multtude of sins and defects can be hidden in a 50% reduction of a double-truck spread to an 8-1/2 x 11 page. Colors become more saturated and rich, etc.

But back to Flash and other media: this brings up questions of process versus content, which I’ll revisit at a later time.

A splendid time will be had by all.