In-person Job Interviews

Years ago, I was flown across the country, taken to lunch and dinner with editors and put up in a hotel for a night. A friend of mine from the newsroom said the hiring editors thought the interviews were great. But I never got an offer. It went to a local guy who they could've just interviewed and hired before flying me out, just a few months before they had a round of layoffs.

I'm a big believer in bringing finalists in for interviews. It's smart to interview any local candidates first, though.

 

You handled your end well. Good for you.

A few years ago I got flown in for the personal interview, and everything went well on Day 1, and the hotel was really nice. I get up the next day and go back in to seal the deal, and the SE said the position had been frozen overnight. It was awkward, but what can you do? I said "Good luck" and left.

The SE left the paper a month later.

 

Years ago, I interviewed in Eugene, which included working a night on the desk in addition to the whole interview process. I got an offer and countered for $4,000 more a year, which would basically just cover my expenses of driving in from an hour away. The next day, I was told the position was frozen. It was a Gannett paper at the time, I believe.

 

Back in the Donrey days I had a photographer I was going to fire (we both knew he didn’t want to be there any more) so I let my photo stringer know there would soon be a position open and I wanted to bring her on.

The day I let the staffer go I immediately hired the stringer before the publisher had time to decide we no longer needed the position. There was no blowback and I’m still friendly with both photographers.