Interesting Start to a Job Interview

[Erauso1592]

Originally Posted by Buzliteyear

When you think about it, there aren't many jobs where writing is not one of the job duties: police officer, marketing and advertising professional, nurse, stock broker, salesman, and any position that has written contact with customers. Writing is needed for inter-agency email, correspondence with other organizations, and communications with customers.

there is a difference between essay style writing and simple writing like filling out forms.The jobs you described above require basic literacy, not essay style writing. Filling out job applications or other job forms would show that someone is literate; whether he/she has basic spelling, command of grammar and sentence structure. Writing essay style paragraphs is different type of writing. But hey, if you enjoy essay writing, whatever. To each his own...if the shoe fits. I don't know anybody who would bother writing paragraphs as part of a job interview especially if you would not be writing paragraphs like that every single day.

[deposite]

Originally Posted by Erauso1592

there is a difference between essay style writing and simple writing like filling out forms.The jobs you described above require basic literacy, not essay style writing. Filling out job applications or other job forms would show that someone is literate; whether he/she has basic spelling, command of grammar and sentence structure. Writing essay style paragraphs is different type of writing. But hey, if you enjoy essay writing, whatever. To each his own...if the shoe fits. I don't know anybody who would bother writing paragraphs as part of a job interview especially if you would not be writing paragraphs like that every single day.

Honestly, IMO I think it's better than sweating bullets and praying you don't sound like an idiot during verbal interviews. I love writing and tbh I get my ideas across better through a piece of paper.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by Buzliteyear

When you think about it, there aren't many jobs where writing is not one of the job duties: police officer, marketing and advertising professional, nurse, stock broker, salesman, and any position that has written contact with customers. Writing is needed for inter-agency email, correspondence with other organizations, and communications with customers.

Most law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and medical services do require writing for taking notes or writing narratives for calls.

[sandsthetime]

As Euraso points out, there is a big difference between basic writing skills and essay writing.

[Erauso1592]

If you're going to write blogs, edit someone else's articles for papers/blogs, be involved in book publishing, and the like then maybe having you write an essay is not a bad idea. However, I do know plenty of people who would just hand in a sample of their work at the interview or reference professional writing on a resume with www.__links. I do not think it's productive to spend 40 minutes sitting there and answering simplistic questions via essays. Like I previously stated rather candidly, it's unprofessional.I don't think that a seasoned headhunter or recruiter would have you do that.Maybe someone who's a greenhorn would. If you're "sweating bullets and praying you don't sound like an idiot during verbal interviews" then you need to work on your interview skills. Speaking with confidence in front of a person or a crowd is a necessary life skill. It's useful not only in the workplace but in life in general. Work on developing that - don't worry so much about essay writing - unless that's part of your profession.