Bleacher Report - What do you make of this?

[IllMil]

######,
Thanks for your recent application for the Sportswriting Internship at Bleacher Report.

This represents a six-month contract position that can be done remotely with a pay stipend of $1,000 a month. The candidate will be considered for a FT position after the internship ends but no guarantees exist for FT opportunities.

The sportswriting internship will necessitate Mon-Fri availability and the exact work hours are to be determined (either an 8 a.m.-4 p.m. shift or 9 a.m.-5 p.m. are being considered). The expectation is that the sportswriting intern will be turning around topical stories about breaking events, utilizing SEO practices to supplement the more in-depth analysis on Bleacher Report. These stories will be short and turned around quickly and the expectation is that the intern will write anywhere from 10-15 stories per day tying into popular search trends. Experience in a deadline-oriented environment and the ability to craft crisp, clean copy quickly are crucial to succeed in this role.

Phone interviews will be conducted in the next week or so and four candidates will be chosen to work one-week paid trials during the month of January with one candidate selected to begin work late January/early February.

If still interested, please advise and feel free to ask any appropriate questions. You will be contacted again if selected to advance to the phone interview stage of the process.

Thanks for your interest.

Joe Yanarella
Editor-in-Chief
Bleacher Report

 

[IllMil]

OK, I’m very young and unemployed, but I was just wondering what you guys make of this. I’m not stupid but there are a few things that don’t add up here. First is the 10-15 “stories” a day. I don’t know how that’s possible unless all but one or two of them suck.

Joe Yanarella seems like a decent guy with a decent background, but this just smells like bull****. Plus, I don’t know how this would help you in the long run because it isn’t reporting. What employer will give a **** if I can sit on my ass and blog for eight hours a day? On the flipside it seems like the easiest way to make $1,000 a month I have ever heard of.

I got the e-mail above after I sent my resume and samples to a Craigslist ad that didn’t name the company. I didn’t reply to this one right away and today I got another e-mail from Joe saying “he didn’t get a response but wanted to know if I was still interested.”

I just want to know if you guys know/think anything about this. Thanks.

 

[playthrough]

The easiest way to make $1000 a month? They want you for 40 hours a week. Do the math.

 

[IllMil]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

 

[BYH]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

It's that attitude--receiving a little bit of money for a lot of work is better than receiving no money for a lot of work--that allows pieces of **** like Bleacher Report to exploit the **** out of the vast pool of job applicants and feast on the carcass of this business.

Your work, and your effort, should be worth more than an insulting stipend. And if you can't find someone who believes that? Better to be out of the biz than be exploited.

**** Bleacher Report and their ****ty-ass brethren.

 

[imjustagirl]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

It's that attitude--receiving a little bit of money for a lot of work is better than receiving no money for a lot of work--that allows pieces of **** like Bleacher Report to exploit the **** out of the vast pool of job applicants and feast on the carcass of this business.

Your work, and your effort, should be worth more than an insulting stipend. And if you can't find someone who believes that? Better to be out of the biz than be exploited.

**** Bleacher Report and their ****ty-ass brethren.

Oddly enough, I was just about to quote his post and say it might be good for you then.

Huh.

 

[fishhack2009]

Funniest part of the post:

...utilizing SEO practices to supplement the more in-depth analysis on Bleacher Report.

Gotta love unintentional comedy!! :D

 

[Den1983]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

It's that attitude--receiving a little bit of money for a lot of work is better than receiving no money for a lot of work--that allows pieces of **** like Bleacher Report to exploit the **** out of the vast pool of job applicants and feast on the carcass of this business.

Your work, and your effort, should be worth more than an insulting stipend. And if you can't find someone who believes that? Better to be out of the biz than be exploited.

**** Bleacher Report and their ****ty-ass brethren.

This is true, of course, but as has been stated, $1,000 is better than $0. If it's a last resort type of move for someone, they could do worse ... such as doing work for free.

 

[playthrough]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

You could find a minimum-wage job, which would be MORE money than this, and use your spare time to pitch freelance stories or maybe string ballgames for your local paper. That would be better for your career than cranking out assembly-line junk. Like you said, this isn't reporting. And, like you said, this smells like bull****.

 

[JJHHI]

$1,000 for sitting by your computer and ranting. For someone who makes $0 a month right now for doing the same thing, it doesn't sound that bad.

You could find a minimum-wage job, which would be MORE money than this, and use your spare time to pitch freelance stories or maybe string ballgames for your local paper. That would be better for your career than cranking out assembly-line junk. Like you said, this isn't reporting. And, like you said, this smells like bull****.

This. The utter crap you will produce if you're trying to churn out 20 "stories" a day from your couch will not help you land a decent paying job in this business. Focus your energy elsewhere.

 

[IllMil]

I don't disagree with anything that's been said. I thought I would add that I'm more trying to get into PR and not in newspapers. What do you think is worse, this, or an unpaid internship at an agency? I'm not being facetious, I'm curious about what you have to say. Slave labor is bull**** and they are taking advantage of me. At the same time, no one will even look at my resume without an internship. My only two options for the next six months may very well be this, unpaid agency work, or stockboy.

It seems to me that slave labor at an agency is the best career move, no?

 

[playthrough]

If you're presenting those as the only two options, yes, take the unpaid internship. At least you'll be in an office with people seeing you work. BR would be holding you hostage from 9 to 5 for $40 a day, and that's not enough money to sacrifice those prime hours when you could be in a true working environment.

 

[YankeeFan]

If you're presenting those as the only two options, yes, take the unpaid internship. At least you'll be in an office with people seeing you work. BR would be holding you hostage from 9 to 5 for $40 a day, and that's not enough money to sacrifice those prime hours when you could be in a true working environment.

Yep. At an unpaid internship in a PR agency, you'll be getting to know the people you want to work for.

 

[outofplace]

IllMill, if you feel like this is at least worth considering, it's worth at least talking to Yanarello. Our career paths have crossed and my experience with him is that he is a straight shooter. Also used to be at least a lurker around here. I'm not sure if that is still the case.

That said, this just doesn't sound like an internship that is going to do much for you in the long run.

 

[flexmaster33]

unpaid internship...no-brainer...you'll make connections and be much more appealing as a hire 6 months from now than a couch potato blogging for peanuts.

 

[HanSenSE]

Hearing about this, it scares me to think people working for these sites really think they can transition into print journalism. Next time we hire (about the same time the polar icecaps melt, of course), should this raise alarms if I see it on a resume?

 

[Babs]

Next time we hire, should this raise alarms if I see it on a resume?

Yes. It should raise alarms that quantity matters over quality. It does not.

 

[tdonegan]

Tell that to every blogger ever. I don't see how this should raise any more alarms than a kid who starts his own blog and writes for that. At least this pays. From experience, some kids just can't afford to take an unpaid internship.

 

[TwoGloves]

10-15 stories a day? Yeah, that will be some quality writing.

 

[YankeeFan]

Tell that to every blogger ever. I don't see how this should raise any more alarms than a kid who starts his own blog and writes for that. At least this pays. From experience, some kids just can't afford to take an unpaid internship.

$1,000 a month and it takes up all of your time?

You'd be better off working at Starbucks & writing your own blog. At least with your own blog, you can control the content -- the quantity & the quality.

If you're putting up 10-15 stories a day, none will likely be any good or catch anyone's interest.