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. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).