ed often include a brief description of what the job involves and the
qualifications that candidates are expected to have. To get a more com-
prehensive write-up, you can try contacting the people who will be in-
terviewing you and ask them if you can obtain a copy of the job de-
scription prior to your interview. Making this kind of request has the
added advantage of sending the message that you are doing your home-
work.
Get a realistic picture of the job. Regardless of how extensive it is,
a formal write-up of a job can only tell you so much. You are not told
what it is really like to be an incumbent of this particular job in this
particular organization and industry. But a job description will give you
a general idea as to what the job entails, so that you can start making
inquiries into the specifics involved.
The key is to gather as much information as you can about what
the job really involves. To learn more about the organization and the
field in which it operates, you might first look at the organization’s Web
site, annual report, and promotional literature. But to get a less-biased,
more up-to-date view on what’s really going on in the organization and
its industry, you should also search for relevant articles in trade jour-
nals and the popular press.
Play detective. Talk to people who might know something about
this job, organization, or industry. Suppliers of the organization, former
employees, customers, and competitors all have their biases, but they
also have a lot of inside information that doesn’t show up anywhere
else. If you can’t find anyone who knows something about this particu-
lar organization or job, you might still be able to find someone who has
worked at an equivalent job in a different organization.
Do informational interviews. The best way to get a realistic pic-
ture of a job is to conduct informational interviews with people who can
provide much of the information you are seeking. Unlike a jobinter-
view, in which you are the person being interviewed, when doing an in-
formationalinterview youmake the appointment and youdo the inter-
viewing. Informational interviews can be tremendously useful not only
for getting a realistic picture of a job but also for assessing career di-
rections you are considering. In the next chapter we will discuss every-
thing you need to know about how to set up and conduct effective in-
formational interviews.
Do as much research as you can. If you do not have time to do an
informational interview, or do not wish to do one, it is still a good idea
to do whatever research you can into the exact nature of the position
for which you are going to be interviewed. Reading any material you
can quickly put your hands on and having informal chats with anyone
you can easily get a hold of who might know something useful is a lot
better than not doing any digging at all.
The better you understand the real requirements of a job, the eas-
ier it will be to identify documents that demonstrate your ability to do
this job well.
As you can see in the examples we provide in Part 2, you don’t
have to write a long essay on a job to prepare a targeted portfolio. A
short paragraph will do, so long as you are catching the essence of whatChapter 3: Targeting Your Portfolio 33