Want the job? Better work for it.

You may have noticed that I didn’t post much last week. Here’s why: I’ve been interviewing. After two and a half months of relatively few bites, my popularity exploded. Well, maybe “exploded” is exaggerating. But I did get several calls that resulted in interviews. And those interviews resulted in…work. Yes, that’s right, work. But not for pay.

The kind of work I’m talking about is prospective employers requesting a sample project. So, for the past few days I’ve been juggling a creative brief, marketing plan and sample blog post. And you know what? I kind of like that process. I think it’s smart for two reasons:
1) prospective employers have a better understanding of an employee’s ability, talent and style
2) prospective employees have a chance to showcase their skills and test drive a project

This is a particularly valuable process when considering a career transition to a new industry or job function. It is far better to figure out if you like the work and are capable of performing it before you accept a job. Also, the person hiring has a better sense of how you’ll fit in. It’s much harder to gauge that from an interview alone.

All of that said and done, I was relieved to finish a majority of my samples today. And I’m excited to hear the results. Win or lose, each exercise was worth my time and effort. Now it’s just a waiting game to see how my projects were received. I’m feeling a little like I’m back at Georgetown awaiting a final grade on a case study!