Apply for this ONE? in North Carolina...

Company: Observer News Enterprise
Position: Seeking sports fanatic
Location: Newton, North Carolina
Salary: $20,000 to $25,000
Description:

Are you a sports reporter ready to take your career to the next level? If so, The Observer News Enterprise has the job for you. Situated in the Hickory Metro of Western North Carolina, The O-N-E covers for six high schools that produce state title contenders in every sport from football and basketball to soccer, volleyball and baseball. Meanwhile, The O-N-E maintains press credentials for the NFL's Carolina Panthers, the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and minor league baseball's Hickory Crawdads. We're even situated close to the birthplace of stock car racing, so sports beats include plenty of news from NASCAR and Dodge series racing. Add a taste of outdoors coverage and recreation sports, and the O-N-E's sports recipe is perfect for any sports fanatic.You could be the person reporting on the exciting happenings from these sports beats.

Qualified candidates will be adept at QuarkExpress and Adobe Photoshop, and possess the ability to capture great sports photos. Creativity and a positive attitude are essential. If you're looking for an exciting job - this is it. Email resumes to onepublisher@charter.net, or apply online. No phone calls please. Candidates will be contacted.

http://www.observernewsonline.com/ <--- site is...not the worst I've looked at recently

 

Take your career to the next level, for $20,000?

 

to $25,000.

 

Be careful with this one. I applied there a few years back and they were ready to offer me the job following a 45-minute phone interview - with my wife!

I've known others that have said "no, thanks" to them as well.

Probably not the worst place to make your start, but anyone with over a year in the business should keep looking.

 

Yeah, good luck with that.

 

In all fairness, there is a Jack In The Box not far from the office. That's rare in N.C.!

 

Yeah, I know a news reporter there. Run away, run far, far away.

 

The Hickory metro?

 

Given the status of this industry the next level is a step (or three) down, not up.

 

Run. Fast. Now.

Unless you need to be in Catawba County for family reasons and cannot get on board with the Daily Record in Hickory, or have no other financial means, avoid this job.

Boone Newspapers has run this publication on a shoestring - yes, even moreso than most other understaffed papers. It's a one-man band, there was no indication of part-time/stringer help and, at one point, they were threatening to drop AP. The most unsettling part about the last statement is I sincerely question whether anyone in the newsroom was going to see a dime of the money saved by dumping AP - and if ever there were a publication that should think about reallocating funds in the spirit of Robin Hood ...

Also, when I talked to them once upon a time, the then-publisher was thoroughly, thoroughly unprofessional. The guy there now is a big improvement, but I dunno if they'll really offer a candidate much more financially.

 

It's the second-biggest paper to serve the Unifour (unless the Observer has more presence than I remember)! You'll positively OWN the Newton-Conover area! You'll ... be near furniture!

But having met someone who worked sports there and having seen the product, and piggybacking on SM51's comments: with so much drama in the O-N-E, it's not hard to ... um ... don't take this job.

 

The "O-N-E." Ha ha! Classic stuff.

Seriously, that Jack In The Box is the O-N-L-Y thing this paper has going for it at this point. And SM51's comments are dead-on.