Newport News (Va.) designer/copy editor

The Daily Press, a 90K paper in Southeastern Virginia, has an opening for a full-time designer/copy editor.

We recently have moved to a new computer system, CCI, and are looking for a great all-around desk person to help us in our transition. We want a talented designer, one who is never afraid to try something different, and/or a gifted wordsman.

A little about us: We cover about 40 high schools, Virginia Tech, Virginia, NASCAR and IRL races, LPGA tournament and several area colleges.

If interested, send work samples and a resume to nmathews@dailypress.com.

Please, no phone calls.

 

All I have to offer on this is that Nick Mathews is a helluva designer and an even better guy.

 

Definitely would have gone for this a few months ago.

 

Can someone refresh my memory on where Doug Roberson went?

 

Didn't he head to the Pilot?

EDIT: Never mind, was thinking of someone else.

 

For some reason, I thought maybe he'd been bumped and no longer was the SE.

And yeah, Doug's a good guy.

 

Yes. Just don't go playing him in NCAA football.

 

Hope you either:

a) don't have to deal with HR, or
b) don't have to deal with the bitch in HR that I dealt with

Few years back I was interested in applying for an open position there. Sent my stuff in and called to confirm that they received it (and no, there was nothing saying not to call). Figured I'd ask a few questions (that I admittedly already knew the answers to, having lived in the Hampton Roads area my entire pre-college life). Rather than answer my first one, she got all pissy and said that a good journalist would have already looked up that information.

So I explained to her I already knew the information and wanted to see if she'd shoot straight with me. So I told her the answers and asked her to take me out of consideration for the job.

Which is a long way of saying, there's at least ONE person willing to shit on every place here at SportsJournalists.com. Even the ones with the triple gold stars.

 

Doug's a good editor and an even better guy. His sports sections can hang with any paper anywhere.

 

I've told this story a few times, but I wonder if I had the same HR woman you did. I was working at a nearby paper and had tried to get a job there a few times, but I never got close. The HR person talked to me for a bit after I had called in regards to a job, and she told me that I really needed my degree to have a chance, but if I had one, I'd probably end up with a better job than that in this business. Fair enough; by that point in the game, I had already figured out the first part and returned to school after a longer-than-anticipated hiatus.

So I go to school, get half-decent grades while freelancing to keep my writing chops sharp, and wouldn't you know it, about six weeks before my graduation they have another job opening. Remembering what she told me, I sent my stuff in yet again and gave her a call. She fawned an cooed over my impending graduation, then told me, and I quote, "we're really looking for a woman."

Yeah, aren't we all?

They got their woman (I did not). And I took that as my cue that I wasn't, nor likely would ever be, welcome. But looking back, I probably wasn't good enough anyway. God knows I'm not now.

So the job. Can't say much about it, but I DO know they have a bunch of good people who put out a damn fine product. Good stop for someone, and I can't imagine that there won't be a whole lot of someones in the hunt, even for a non-writing position.