1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What happened to professional courtesy?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by sportsguydave, Jun 23, 2009.

  1. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Well, I agree with both sides.

    I've posted before about the lack of responses. I suspect about 75 percent of places I apply I never hear back from. Sometimes, if I'm truly interested, I'll follow up with a phone call. Other times not.

    And, yeah, I can understand the viewpoint of an overworked SE who has far too many respondents to sort through.

    In a recent conversation, one issue that came up was the applicant to job ratio. I'm not sure this is limited to media, or even sports in particular. But it does strike me that far too many people out there are aspiring to be sports journalists --- and, of course, that drives down salaries along the way. If I had known 20 years that so many people wanted to be sports journalists, I'd have gone a different route. Back when I was in university, it didn't seem like a highly sought major.
     
  2. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    We're doing OK on this thread, but I simply can't agree all of the negatives toward the editors who aren't acknowledginng every resume received, or notifying every single applicant concerning what's going on.

    Not only are managers getting swamped with applications for openings, they're also trying to put out the damn paper with vastly reduced staff, trying to deal with unrest among the people who remain, trying to do the jobs they've always done with far fewer resources elsewhere (space, travel, etc.) and, oh by the way, dealing with an entirely new distribution system in the web.

    In a perfect world, would I hope that a manager at least acknowledge each one of the 150 job applications he or she gets? Sure. Is this a perfect world? No.

    These are tough times for people out of work. But they're also tough times for the people still working. It's worth remembering and at least cutting a little slack.

    Edit: Hondo, upon further review, your post wasn't a good thing to hang mine on, since you were mostly right.
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I don't mind not hearing back from mailing in a resume, but I hate having to apply via the web and not even getting an automated reply saying that the application was received.
     
  4. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Agreed...
     
  5. MrBSquared

    MrBSquared Member

    Unsolicited? No reply required. That is an assumption by the sender. People are busy. File it away (no, not in File 13) and pull it out when there are openings.

    Solicited? An auto reply, at least: "Got it. Thanks. Will let you know." If it's an obvious "no" from the start, a nice "not right now" would be nice. But, as has been noted, a lot of people looking and a lot of time needed to reply to all the resumes. Still, most people put an e-mail contact. If they don't? Don't feel obligated.

    An interview? No less than a letter either updating the status or delivering a "no thanks" message. In fact, if there has been an interview, a 5 minute "we're still mulling it over" or "sorry, it just doesn't seem to be a fit" call would be better. You took the time to go, they can take the time to talk with you.

    A few years back, rearranged my work schedule, including some comp time, to fly to Charleston, S.C., for an interview. Spent a day-and-a-half meeting with everyone from the janitor to the publisher, had dinner with the editor and SE, flew home the next morning.

    Then ... nada. Nothing. Even called and left a voice message, asking if any decision had been made.

    <cricket chirp><cricket chirp><cricket chirp>

    X'd that spot off the wish list.
     
  6. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    No way should you expect a response unless you're one of the people making the first cut. If there are 150 applicants and you're one of the 20 who are getting a serious look, then yes, you deserve something. But there's no way you can ask a hiring manager to sent out 150 e-mails for everyone who throws a resume in the mail for a job. That's just unrealistic considering how much work those managers are doing with much less resources.
     
  7. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    In fairness, you don't HAVE to send out 150 e-mails. You can send out the same e-mail, and just put all the e-mail addresses on the one e-mail (In the blind carbon field or whatever, so you protect everyone's privacy). It's less personal, naturally, but it's better than nothing. And, sure, it would take a little while to type all the addresses in, but it would be, what, 15, 20 minutes? An awful lot less time than a lot of the applicants probably spent applying, anyway.
     
  8. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    The one time I got annoyed: I was told I'd be called within a week after an interview, didn't hear from the SE for three weeks, and then he called me and said he'd assumed I'd call to see what's up. It was some kind of test.

    I got the job anyway, and he was an incredible SE and a great guy, but we did not see the world the same way at all, and that should have been my first clue.
     
  9. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    I don't know about that. What are management skills? I hope not the ones taught by Gannett? It's common sense and decency to send some type of response. I would not expect most in our business to have that sense and decency. I'm not high on management in our business.
     
  10. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    I've learned not to expect anything from anyone.

    There's much less disappointment that way.

    And then, anybody who actually does respond in any way, shape or form, at any point in the process, goes way up in my estimation.

    I've experienced both ends of the spectrum.
     
  11. silentbob

    silentbob Member

    I think Hondo made some good points up there.

    But for the most part, people in this business aren't going to have much sympathy for the guy bitching about the application process. Look around. People are strapped these days. They have fewer workers and more work. And on top of that, they have the daily stress of wondering how long they'll have their jobs. Cut them some slack.
     
  12. GlenQuagmire

    GlenQuagmire Active Member

    I believe professional courtesy in this business walked out the door about 15 years ago, along with common sense.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page