people who will be interviewing you and to whom you will be showing
items from your portfolio.
If you are in a huge rush, you may only have time to guess at what
these P.E.A.K.S. might be. But you can, at least, make an educated
guess that is informed by what you already know about the opportuni-
ty you are pursuing. To do this, put yourself in the place of the inter-
viewer and ask yourself what would be the most important P.E.A.K.S.
given what you know about the activities, responsibilities, and goals as-
sociated with this opportunity.
If you can find the time, we strongly encourage you to talk to a few
people who know enough about the kind of opportunity you are seeking
to be able to give you some ideas as to what the key P.E.A.K.S. might
be in the minds of your interviewers. Even if you only have a short
phone conversation, if you talk to the right person you are likely to get
some very useful advice.
When pursuing a specific job, a particularly good person to talk to
is someone who works with the person who will be interviewing you. It
is not unreasonable to call the office of the person who will be inter-
viewing you and ask if you can have a quick phone conversation with
one of his or her assistants “to learn more about the job for which I’ll be
interviewing.”If you are able to get a hold of a person who works with
your interviewer, in addition to finding out about the particulars of the
job, you can ask about the particular P.E.A.K.S. that are important to
the person with whom you will be meeting. The person who answers the
phone, regardless of his or her level in the organization, may be able to
give you some useful information.
If you can’t hook up with someone who works with the person who
will be interviewing you, try to at least talk to an industry “insider”—
someone who is in a position to know about the kind of opportunity you
are seeking and may even know something about the person who will
be interviewing you. Suppliers of the organization and former employ-
ees, customers, and competitors all have their biases, but they also have
a lot of inside information that doesn’t show up anywhere else. You
might also try to talk to someone who has worked at an equivalent job
in a different organization.
Ask the people you talk with to specify the particular P.E.A.K.S.
that are considered desirable. And be sure to find out about the per-
sonal characteristics that are valued, as these characteristics are like-
ly to be particularly important to the interviewer. It is especially help-
ful if you can get the people with whom you speak to specify which of
the particular P.E.A.K.S. they have mentioned are of the highest prior-
ity.
If you are seeking a raise, speak with someone who has been suc-
cessful at getting a raise from your boss. Find out about the particular
P.E.A.K.S. that most impressed your boss in this situation.
If you are applying to a school, try to talk to someone closely asso-
ciated with the school about the P.E.A.K.S. that are most valued in can-
didates for admission. Ideally, you’d like to talk to someone in the ad-
missions department prior to your interview. But you can also learn aChapter 10: Portfolios on the Fly: Creating a Portfolio in a Few Hours 145