well, it's true you have to pay attention to what the employer wants. if it's a handheld Nintendo DS developer, than yeah, low poly only would be the norm. But for PS3, Xbox 360, etc, high-res models being used to bake down into normal maps is pretty normal. I do that myself at my job.

My current job, i got through a recruitment agency, and didn't have a reel, so I dunno. guess it just depends.