Julia-I never intended to imply that an evaluation of a writing sample
should not be part of deciding on whom to hire. If a professional cannot
write then it does not bode well for anyone. What I objected to was the
apparent "trap" that was being set by expecting employees to guess what the
employer wanted for a sample. As was explained in subsequent posts the
original author did not intend a "trapping" situation. That is all that I
was addressing in this instance. Employers need to be reasonably clear in
terms of their expectations, and employees need to be reasonably responsive
to the situation.

Now. to the issue of exiting. Both employers and employees need to be aware
that in a dissolution of a working relationship emotions will be stressed
and care needs to be taken by both. For example, my friend in HR taught me
that dismissing an employee on a Friday is a bad move. This ruins the
person's weekend, leaves the person at loose ends, and encourages excessive
consumption of alcohol. Dismissals ideally need to happen on a Monday so
that the employee can immediately begin the process of applying for
unemployment, begin to look for a new job, call friends to share the news,
etc. I also, for example, have taken great pains to try to line up either a
substitute job, or decent leads, for a good employee that I had to let go.

But even the worst of employees need to be treated with compassion (they
will be/are hurting as human beings). So, for example, if there is a dispute
in accumulated vacation time, or sick days-whatever, the employer should
bend to the reasonable interpretations in the employees favor. I cannot tell
you how many times a few days of disputed vacation time granted to a
dismissed employee got me a amicable exit. Most importantly, if the
dismissed employee does not have a grievance towards the employer or
institution then you do not get a negative buzz about either. I can think of
one local organization that despite great public success has a reputation
for "abusing" their employees and therefore has a very difficult time
attracting quality professionals.

For an example of bad exiting by an employee, I can cite an example from my
own life. The employer owed me a substantial amount of overtime ($1,500) and
refused to honor this sum. I went to the union and received all claimed
money in arbitration. But, we parted as enemies and not as friends. In
future years, however, when the program I initiated for this employer became
successful I was never able to take full credit for that program because I
could not ask the employer to write a glowing evaluation of my contribution
to its success. I won my $1,500 but probably lost more than that in future
earnings, and did not receive proper credit for a project I worked very hard
and successfully on. Had I been able to contain my own anger I am sure that
I could have gotten a good write-up after emotions settled, especially if I
reminded the employer about my "kindness" in not exposing that person to a
union grievance. But, that is what life experience is all about.

In short, employers need to treat exiting employees as suffering human
beings-assist them in their change of status. Employees, on the other hand,
need to do whatever they can to leave a positive last impression. Employment
is not really over until you are fully gone from that position and all
outstanding issues are settled. One never knows what the future may bring.

On the positive side. Both of the good exiting employees that I had took
great care to be honest and cooperative in their departure. In both cases
they came to me indicated that they wanted to move-on, asked for time to
interview for new jobs, gave more than a month's notice, continued to
fulfill their duties well, and left without any "skeletons" in their area of
responsibility. In both cases I gave them everything that I could in terms
of benefits, offered good references, and keep in contact to this day. Who
knows, maybe one of these years one of these former employees will become a
governor of a state and I will be asked to serve as Secretary of State.
nburlakoff

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Julie Moore
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 6:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Exiting employees; writing samples

Nick--out of curiosity, what do you define as "exiting badly" or "exiting
well?"  (from both the employer and employee perspective)

Also, I'm in favor of the writing sample issue being used as a cue to
determine the candidate's general level of good judgment...but would never,
ever consider that the sole reason to hire or not hire that candidate.  It's
one of many elements that can be used to assess the appropriateness of this
candidate for the position.  Most museum jobs require a lot of writing but
the context of that writing is important:  if the candidate cannot
differentiate between scholarly writing and general-audience writing as
appropriate to the position s/he is interviewing for, then I would have
serious reservations on whether that candidate "gets" what is expected of
him/her in that position.  At a certain level, you can't teach that.

Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center
820 E. 67th St.
Indianapolis, IN  46220
(317) 255-2464 x233
FAX (317) 254-0486
email <[log in to unmask]>
website <http://www.indplsartcenter.org>


-----Original Message-----
From: Nicholas Burlakoff [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 4:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: writing samples


There is a whole raft of issues that most employers and employees do badly,
as a rule. One is ending of the employment relationship. Few employers know
how to end an employment relationship well; even fewer employees have that
skill. Thus far, in my life I have bid good-bye to well over 50 employees
and only 2 knew how to exit well.

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