Interview Project Questions

[Gavin]

I've been asked to complete a project following in-person interviews for a new job:

We are excited to invite you to participate in the next phase of the interview process. For this phase we would be grateful if you would prepare a presentation/brief on the following two challenges:

1. Develop a website brief for the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre. You can base this brief on information currently available on the web. The purpose of the brief is to inform and excite staff, board, partners, funders and tenants about our plans for the website. The brief can be presented in any format and must cover the following areas along with any other major points you feel need to be addressed:

a) Audience/Target Market
b) Goals
c) Main and Sub Navigation Suggestions
d) Aggregation of Tenant Content
e) Integration of Social Media into the Website
f) Special Features
g) Strategic Communications Concerns

2. It is 2012 and the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre is three months away from opening. Create a social media plan that will build momentum for the opening of the Centre.

Information on the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre can be found at: _____.ca. Feel free to use any of the information found here, on our partner or tenant websites, or on the web in general. Your response should be submitted by Thursday, April 7 at 12:00 pm to _____. I would be grateful if you would confirm that you are able to participate in this second phase.

I would also like to follow up with your referees at this stage. Please send along three professional references as soon as possible so that I can contact them in the coming week. Please do let me know if there are any referees you would prefer I did not contact at this time.

So, a few questions:

1. Does this seem a little suspect? The organization is well-known and well-funded by various levels of government, but I can't help but feel like they're asking me to work for free. Is this type of request common (I know that showing previous work is, but producing new work)?

2. Would you submit this in any format other than a PPT deck (I'll upload to slideshare.net and send them the URL)?

3. I'm trying to make a career transition (industry and role) and producing decks like this isn't something I have much experience with. I did well at the interview and have what they think are good ideas, but I have very minimal experience with PPT and other presentation tools. Any sage advice?

 

[Gavin]

Or instead of a PPT deck, could/should I rough out the actual website using a quick Wordpress template and respond to their questions as the site's content?

I like this idea, but I'm not a designer...so at best the site would be more like wireframes with placeholders...but it may help convey the idea better than a boring PPT deck?

 

[Joffrey]

Edit - I can't think of anything other than a well made power point presentation that will be effective.

 

[Gavin]

I think I'm going to go the WP-based site route. I'll have more flexibility in presentation, I can better illustrate ideas ("For an example of how this might look, look to the right&quot, and it demonstrates capabilities. Since there's no mention of me presenting this in person, I think it gives me more options than trying to cram too much information into slides.

 

[toslat]

We are excited to invite you to participate in the next phase of the interview process. For this phase we would be grateful if you would prepare a presentation/brief on the following two challenges:

1. Develop a website brief for the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre. You can base this brief on information currently available on the web. The purpose of the brief is to inform and excite staff, board, partners, funders and tenants about our plans for the website. The brief can be presented in any format and must cover the following areas along with any other major points you feel need to be addressed:

a) Audience/Target Market
b) Goals
c) Main and Sub Navigation Suggestions
d) Aggregation of Tenant Content
e) Integration of Social Media into the Website
f) Special Features
g) Strategic Communications Concerns

2. It is 2012 and the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre is three months away from opening. Create a social media plan that will build momentum for the opening of the Centre.

Information on the _____ Arts & Cultural Centre can be found at: _____.ca. Feel free to use any of the information found here, on our partner or tenant websites, or on the web in general. Your response should be submitted by Thursday, April 7 at 12:00 pm to _____. I would be grateful if you would confirm that you are able to participate in this second phase.

You are asked to prepare a brief and not to develop a website. My advise is that you follow the instructions.

I would advise you prepare a detailed brief and then support it with a presentation deck. You dont always have to do something fancy to make effective slides.

For submission, if worried about copyright, you can submit in pdf format or lock the files for read only. You can also include copyright info in the footnote.

 

[cross22]

This should be a consulting gig not a job interview.

 

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by toslat

You are asked to prepare a brief and not to develop a website. My advise is that you follow the instructions.

I would advise you prepare a detailed brief and then support it with a presentation deck. You dont always have to do something fancy to make effective slides.

I won't have the opportunity to present it in person, which is why I was considering the website option. The same information from the slides would be on the pages of the site, but I could include examples of some of the ideas to better illustrate them.

I should include a separate brief though, you're right.

Or ****...should I still use the website, but make it more of a mock of the proposed site than the presentation itself? And then include a separate deck as the presentation?

 

[toslat]

Why you seem bent on designing a website when you are asked to prepare a presentation/brief is still beyond me. Unless the job would involve hands-on designing of websites, I dont see why you would want to go that route.

This project is an opportunity to show how suitable you skills and experience are for the position. I doubt a maverick is what they are looking for. The ability to communicate effectively via defined media is often as important as the content that is being communicated.

Assuming you had already gotten the job and were now given the assignment (i.e. prepare a presentation/brief for the board of directors), would you think a website is what is required? I dont think so.

Anyways, if you want to design a website, go ahead and knock yourself out.

 

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by toslat

Why you seem bent on designing a website when you are asked to prepare a presentation/brief is still beyond me. Unless the job would involve hands-on designing of websites, I dont see why you would want to go that route.

This project is an opportunity to show how suitable you skills and experience are for the position. I doubt a maverick is what they are looking for. The ability to communicate effectively via defined media is often as important as the content that is being communicated.

Assuming you had already gotten the job and were now given the assignment (i.e. prepare a presentation/brief for the board of directors), would you think a website is what is required? I dont think so.

Anyways, if you want to design a website, go ahead and knock yourself out.

The question says "The brief can be presented in any format..."

When we met in person, one of the things we talked about was getting buy-in from stakeholders who are either very apprehensive of new media...or simply don't understand it...so the purpose of the site isn't to take the place of the presentation, but to supplement it with real examples of what I'm discussing in the deck ("This is what a hash tag is. This is what a Twitter feed looks like. This is how a Twitter feed that displays tweets that include this hash tag will look.").

And while the job won't involve designing websites, it does involve updating and maintaining them...so this is a casual way of showing that I know what I'm doing.

 

[toslat]

In my understanding a brief is a document and the reference to 'any format' means options of document structure and/or file type e.g. MS word, pdf, etc. I dont see how a website could serve as a brief (for one you cant print it out and hand out to others).

I am not against you having a website to support your brief e.g. with links in the brief pointing to the website, but dont think the website should be the primary delivery vehicle. IMO, a brief should be a document, while a presentation should be in slides.

You can always ask them for clarifications and hint on what mode you are thinking of using.

 

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by toslat

In my understanding a brief is a document and the reference to 'any format' means options of document structure and/or file type e.g. MS word, pdf, etc. I dont see how a website could serve as a brief (for one you cant print it out and hand out to others).

I am not against you having a website to support your brief e.g. with links in the brief pointing to the website, but dont think the website should be the primary delivery vehicle. IMO, a brief should be a document, while a presentation should be in slides.

You can always ask them for clarifications and hint on what mode you are thinking of using.

The website won't be the presentation. The website will support the presentation. Since I won't be delivering the presentation in person, it will be easier for me to write "See <URL> for an example" than being overly verbose in a slide.

My first few posts made it sound like I was going the website route, but I was just thinking out loud...as I thought through it, it was obvious that I needed a presentation deck that was supported by the website.

 

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by toslat

In my understanding a brief is a document and the reference to 'any format' means options of document structure and/or file type e.g. MS word, pdf, etc. I dont see how a website could serve as a brief (for one you cant print it out and hand out to others).

I am not against you having a website to support your brief e.g. with links in the brief pointing to the website, but dont think the website should be the primary delivery vehicle. IMO, a brief should be a document, while a presentation should be in slides.

You can always ask them for clarifications and hint on what mode you are thinking of using.

I just asked to clarify and her response was "Yes. Presentation or brief. The term was meant to free you from feeling creatively restricted to any particular convention of preparing your response."