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Want to interview for the job? Send us 8 story ideas first!

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by anotherbucket4monsieur, Dec 24, 2011.

  1. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    IMO, the difference lies in the "is it worth it?" factor. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. In the case of Esquire, it's worth the work. In the case of a political alternative weekly, it perhaps is not. It's time better spent working on some other aspect of one's career.

    An analogy could be - and I've met a few of these - is the old "I'll pay my own way to cover the team/story on the road" guy. Under certain rare circumstances, it's worth it. Under many circumstances, the rewards for it just don't line up with the financial/time sacrifice.

    Keep in mind, I'm generally on the "if you want it, sacrifice a little bit-to-a-lot" side of the debate. My advice to people looking for jobs in the business usually starts with "well, move." I think too many writers shrug, absorb the blows too readily and don't bust hard enough. But I also know the limit to that, and maybe it's drawn at the free weekly running the herbal supplement dude, the local grunge scene guy and the angry activist rant.
     
  2. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    If I'm the editor for the political alt weekly, I don't want the guy who feels the job isn't worth the legwork of generating a few ideas. I'm not saying I would ask for eight ideas for a position at a political alt weekly. But if I asked for those ideas and someone declined, there's no way I would hire them. If you can't take pride in your work and where you work, you should get a new job. If you applied for the job just because why the hell not, then you're not the ideal candidate.
     
  3. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    In that case, by no means should that person get the job. If you want to apply for a job, and the criteria for applying is known in advance, then you can make an educated decision on whether it's worth it to you to make that effort. If you decide it's worth it, you should never half-ass it because then you're just wasting everyone's time. That pisses people off.

    But I do fall in line with Alma's "not every job is Esquire" way of thinking on this. The hoops that many professional and qualified job applicants have to jump through these days is absolute crap -- they're often asked to grovel for jobs that should never require groveling. It's sickening.

    The original post on this thread quickly raised red flags in my mind. Asking for examples of ideas or having a conversation about what stories an applicant might pursue in the future to prove she/he can think? Perfectly reasonable, especially at the later stages of the interview process. Asking for eight specific ideas germane to that publication's market? Ripe for potential abuse and outright theft, as some of the anecdotes here have proven.
     
  4. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    I see what you're saying, Alma. I guess I'd say that if you're applying for the job, then you're making the choice that it's worth whatever they're demanding of you to get it. Otherwise, don't apply. And I think it's important to remember that the value of a job is a relative thing. One man's dream job is another man's demotion.

    Buck—unless you're getting ideas that are specific to your publication, they're pretty much not showing you anything except the ability to come up with ideas for someone else. It has to be pretty specific to the publication. If I'm editing a political weekly, I don't give a crap that you think the Durant-Westbrook feud is a good story. I want to know what you'll be writing for me next week.
     
  5. BobSacamano

    BobSacamano Member

    Just don't take a look at jobs with Gilt. They want pitches and critiques of content they've already published. So I have to give you the future and detail how your past was mishandled? If this step at least guaranteed a new freelancing stream, then I'd have no issue. But, as freelancers, we already waste enough of our day sending ideas out to editors who sit on them too fucking long.
     
  6. Simon

    Simon Active Member

    I heard through this rumor through the grapevine. Bill Simmons wanted 50 feature ideas from each person he hired to start working on Grantland if they weren't already named Chuck Klosterman.
     
  7. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    Eh, not A-material; I would save it for the mid-act lull. However, as an aside, the Fake Grantland twitter account is a thing of beauty: https://twitter.com/#!/fakegrantland
     
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