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 Post subject: Go for This Job--or Get Away as Fast as I Can?
PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:39 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:01 am
Posts: 8
Location: Midwestern United States
Recently, after having been laid off around a year ago from my last job as a magazine copy editor for a major firm in the industry, I got a call from a major "niche" magazine that now has a job opening for a copy editor. The magazine's offices are some 70 miles from where I live, about a one-hour-and-15-minute drive.

Just after the magazine's editor asked me if I was interested in first driving to its office for a half-hour copy-editing test, he asked me what my salary expectations were. I told him that it would be difficult at best to state any range without knowing more about the job and what it entailed and without his knowing more about what I could do and had to offer. He nonetheless pressed me to give a figure, stating that he did not want to waste my time or his if my range was outside the magazine's. He asked me, apparently as an alternative, what I made in my last job. My last job paid in the high 30s at base and, with annual bonuses, was just over $40K, but I know that living costs in the job's geographic area and/or higher transportation costs would entail a salary at least in the mid- to high 40s just to stay even in the new area. So that was the range I gave him, noting that it was a preliminary; "all else equal" figure and that I was seeking to veer toward the higher end of that range. This prospective employer offers no relocation assistance.

After the editing test, it seems that the people there (contrary to what I expected) are still interested in me, calling me in for another encounter (I use that word very deliberately), but I remain deeply concerned over possible pay levels, commuting (almost 70 miles each way) costs, and/or possible moving/living costs (I very much want to stay living where I am!).

Based on what the magazine's editor told me via telephone last week, it seems that the editorial staff there is put through a scheduling wringer toward the end of each eight-week production cycle, and the owner, happy with his magazine simply coming out on time, doesn't seem to care how that happens. He seems quite willing to put up with freelancers whose technical expertise seems to override the fact that many don't follow proper magazine style (requiring extensive last-minute rewriting and editing) or heed magazine deadlines. The editor, a 30-year veteran who's previously worked for at least three other niche magazines. seems quite resigned to this, almost beaten down, unwilling and/or unable to do anything about it. (I even asked him if any thought had ever been given to sending regular freelancers a copy of the magazine's style guide--and he said that that had never been done, implying he doubted it ever would or could be.)

He noted to me that the senior editors regularly put in a lot of overtime and that the copy editor would basically be expected to put in about five hours extra or so each week during crunches, too.

All this might well be at least part of the reason why three people, all under 40 and at least two relatively new to the field, have held the copy editor's job there (the one for which I applied) over the last five years or so. Not good.

None of them wanted to discuss with me any details about the job or why they each left. Not good again.

I told the editor that while extra hours during crunches often came with our field, it was important to do all we could to make sure that they were the exception, not some standard rule. While crunches can never be completely prevented, I added, I believed we needed to do all we could to minimize and mitigate them proactively. I said that if I got the job, I would want to work with him and others toward doing this. I hope he realizes that I'm not merely spouting rhetoric here (or anywhere else),

Disposable, low-cost doormats, not a real, committed, long-term copy editor, I fear, might be what those in charge there really want. I do not want or plan to be this place's possible fourth victim, but I want to hear the editor's and managing editor's sides of the story as well--and make it clearly if diplomatically known where I'm coming from. Quality and commitment have their price--and merit at least some respect.

I do want to ask the editor and managing editor at least why the previous copy editor left, mention my own commitment to longevity and stability and the importance to me of a good "long-haul" fit, and see how they react.

If they bristle at such signs of assertiveness and intelligence, even at more probing, if they decide to pursue candidates a bit more gullible, willing to work for less, and/or more amenable to abuse, I'll have dodged the "bullet" I fear this could be. If I did take the job, I would not want to consider moving unless this job proved truly viable--but I fear that its very location would make it quite hard at best for me to seek a "real" job in my current (and lifelong) geographic area.

If a job involved a minor pay cut but was in my current geographic area, that's one thing. I've taken such jobs twice before and recouped the loss in each case in two or so years. But I fear that this might be an entirely different matter. For this job to be a sustainable possibility for me, it would also have to be relatively stable and pay reasonably well--it would be silly and economically suicidal to move, especially at my own expense, for a job that ultimately does not prove stable and offer decent pay and benefits, especially if one must deal with higher transportation, housing, food, and other basic living costs.

This matter is far from settled, and there's a lot that's unsettling that needs resolution.

All else equal, I'm not quite ready to write this one off as "a bridge too far" (financially as well as geographically), but I do want to make sure that this really is a viable possibility for me. It might well not be. I fear that this job might be what some call a "meat grinder," a "revolving door," or even a "suicide slot." I hope that's not so here. But if it is, I am fully prepared to walk away.

What think you of all this? What would you suggest I do (and not do)?


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 Post subject: Re: Go for This Job--or Get Away as Fast as I Can?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:39 am 
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:22 pm
Posts: 232
Location: Houston
I think you're tackling the issues pretty well.

In a previous life, I edited a monthly magazine. They talked a good game of evening out the flow of work, but it never happened. So I'd have a lazy week, a busier week, a busy week and then the big, crazy week. If that sort of thing is part of the environment, it's unlikely to change.


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 Post subject: Re: Go for This Job--or Get Away as Fast as I Can?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:57 am 
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Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:16 am
Posts: 190
Location: Canada, eh?
The answer you seek is within your post. You should go for this job ... if you can stipulate certain conditions. It's worthwhile, if:
- it pays well enough for your own comfort
- you're compensated fairly (whatever that means to you) for overtime and don't mind putting in the OT
- you don't mind the commute
- you're provided the tools and flexibility to be satisfied with the end product
- you have a reasonable expectation of having bosses who will take your input seriously
- you will be able to leave this job in future with your dignity and integrity (however you define those) intact

This job doesn't sound like a lifetime career. On the other hand, they weren't scared off by your preliminary salary discussions. Therefore, they can be pushed somewhat, and if you push too hard, it sounds like no big loss, so it's worth a stab.

If it were me, I would imagine what this job will say about me on my resume when I'm looking for my next job. Does it show commitment to the industry and a willingness to work hard to stay employed, making me a valuable person with a strong bargaining position? Or will it seem like a desperation move that reveals me to be a doormat, making future negotiations more difficult?

When I first started in this business, I commuted two hours a day to work at a small paper in the country. Despite the grind, long hours and low pay, I was able to translate that into jobs at big city papers with managers who admitted flat out that they highly respected the journalism at the little paper and recognized that it was a good training ground. The early sacrifices I made 25 years ago have paid off, for me.

Good luck.


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 Post subject: Re: Go for This Job--or Get Away as Fast as I Can?
PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:24 am 
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:15 am
Posts: 1432
Location: Alabamer
gdcfa wrote:
If it were me, I would imagine what this job will say about me on my resume when I'm looking for my next job. Does it show commitment to the industry and a willingness to work hard to stay employed, making me a valuable person with a strong bargaining position? Or will it seem like a desperation move that reveals me to be a doormat, making future negotiations more difficult?


That gets straight to the heart of the matter. Nobody cares about your logistics, salary requirements, workplace political savvy. If it's not a job you see yourself enthusiastically settling into, think about how it's going to affect your career and skills and how it'll be viewed by prospective employers.

That said, I suspect that desperation jobs are underrated in this journalism market. I think staying employed in any job in your field is a positive for workers in just about every industry right now. (Not something I could do, but I've been steadily going broke by pursuing good employers in jobs I like at the expense of adequate pay and work.)


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