A while ago I went on a job interview for a Sr. BA position.  The interviewer brought up the fact you need to be a good writer to be a BA - he got no argument from me.  And I have no issues with my writing skills as they apply to BA documentation.  But he kept hounding on that comment and kept digging.  And I knew exactly what he was looking for.  He wanted to see a sample of some reports and specs that I had written.  But I didn't bring any with me for a whole host of reasons.  First, I believed my company owned that information, and second I don't think my company would want me handing out reports that show proprietary information about their systems.  And hate to think what would happen if my company found out that I was handing that information out at job interviews... so I didn't.  Has anyone else been asked (or hinted at) for sample work?  Do you bring samples of your BA work to job interviews?  Is it ok to do that?  How have you demonstrated your writing abilities to interviewers.

Thanks,

Brian

I've done written exercises during interviews. I've asked candidates to do written exercises during interviews. If I was hiring, I wouldn't put much faith in work samples that were brought to an interview - you have no way of knowing who did the actual writing. And for any real-world sized document, there are likely to have been several contributors, including the person in the company who originally wrote the template.

I've brought a lot of proprietary work with me on interviews and allow them to look at it. However, I let them know I cannot leave it behind because of those proprietary reasons. Usually there is at least one thing you can find to leave behind and during the interview they can see what they need to know by perusing your documentation. Most companies are professional and understand these things. Additionally, they will respect your adherence and loyalties to your past organizations.   Not bringing anything with you does not show well, proprietary reasons or not.