Items of Public Record - Work Samples for Interview

Hello all,

I am pursuing a job opportunity with a new group, and they have asked for work samples as a part of my interview process. I have signed a confidentiality agreement with my current employer that I am not going to break, so I am wondering if anybody knows what work would be considered "in the public record", and would therefore be acceptable for me to share? I have done plenty of work for local municipalities, so I imagine there has to be some work that I can send, but I may be wrong, and thought I would ask the people who know. I am in CA if that is relevant at all.

Any help or advice would be welcome!

I would think an attorney would need to review your particular confidentiality agreement and provide advise based on case law in similar situations. Depending on the wording you may need to remove all descriptive information from the project files. Most agreements are more in line with existing company/client information, not project information but it depends on what you signed. You may want to tell your potential employee that you have an agreement and may not be able to send copies, but that you can discuss specific challenges you overcame at various projects. They should respect you for not violating your agreement.

DutyBound said:

Hello all,

I am pursuing a job opportunity with a new group, and they have asked for work samples as a part of my interview process. I have signed a confidentiality agreement with my current employer that I am not going to break, so I am wondering if anybody knows what work would be considered "in the public record", and would therefore be acceptable for me to share? I have done plenty of work for local municipalities, so I imagine there has to be some work that I can send, but I may be wrong, and thought I would ask the people who know. I am in CA if that is relevant at all.

Any help or advice would be welcome!

Click to expand...

If most of your work was for public agencies, then I think most of the as-builts for those projects are public record anyway and you should be fine.  What does your confidentiality agreement say specifically?  I'm just guessing but I suspect it limits you from sharing electronic files.  So, my guess would be that any hard copy prints are perfectly acceptable to share.  

You're welcome.  Don't mention it.