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Topic: lack of professionalism at media companies
| Author | Message |
| noname1234 | Posted – 10/23/2007 8:11:25 PM | show profile I guess, for me, I've been on so very many interviews over th years, including when I was unemployed and desperate for a job, and I've basically come to the conclusion that the people interviewing me are just that: people. Some are rude. Some can't deal with giving negative information. Again NOT A DEFENSE. Just a recognition that people exist in this world who behave in ways I try not to do myself. I remember interviewing for one position twice for an hour each time, then getting an email from them saying they wanted me to come in to meet with their CEO and were just working out a time in her schedule....then never hearing from them again (despite my repeated calls/emails). Was that rude? Did it suck? Yeah. But eventually I got a job and kind of got over it. I wouldn't even hold it against the company -- i'd be happy to talk with them again. but that's just me. Once you get an offer, the rudeness you experienced will fade from your memory. And you can vow to break that pattern when you have a chance. |
| onmyown | Posted – 10/23/2007 8:15:23 PM | show profile To clarify Yes, I do agree, if I have met with a qualified applicant for a job, I would let them know if someone else was hired. I did take it a bit further in my earlier post to include unqualified applicants who don't have the sought-after experience and freelancers who write poorly conceived queries (who often, in other threads, complain about the same lack of "courtesy"). At one point, I received something like 300 email applications for a job -- and perhaps six had the experience and qualifications that even remotely related to the advertised position. Many were automatically sent from Monster and those kind of site. In my opinion, the unqualified applicants deserve no consideration -- just as they showed no consideration in applying for a job they clearly could not do. But, yes, if you were interviewed two or three times, that clearly is a different situation in which you do deserve notice. Still, there are times when I've applied for jobs for which I believe I am qualified and heard nothing. I just assume they didn't want me and moved on. |
| Suet | Posted – 10/24/2007 9:54:26 AM | show profile Suet ... VERY unfair ... "imagine ManhattanMatt is right in some cases but not in others. I imagine there are many people who could spend a bit less time on "how was your weekend" type conversations, stock trading, calls to their significant other, shopping, etc., during the day and a bit more time conveying information to job candidates. (Not to mention hello and good night to people who work for them.)" ManhattanMatt: Yeah. As IF. (etc. ... snipped) ManhattanMatt: I don't think you are living in the same world as the rest of us if you think people are 100 percent efficient at their jobs. I would really like to see your workplace, where nobody talks about yesterday's sporting event, or the latest natural disaster, or flirts, or spreads gossip, or balances their checkbook online, or calls the babysitter, or looks for another job, or posts to this thread, or does their holiday shopping, or orders replacement contact lenses, or calls for their blood-test results, or reads a newspaper, or blogs, or cleans out their purse, or goes outside for a cigarette, or goes out for ice cream, or goes to the corner bar, or the corner newsstand, etc., while on the clock. Rationalizations do not serve misplaced priorities. |
| ZeldaMedia | Posted – 10/24/2007 12:37:26 PM | show profile Ignored by all I applied for a job last November 2006. I was called in to interview for this position in August 2007. Yes, that's right, one year later. I interviewed three times with three different groups for the same job. After each interview I sent thank you emails and cards. And not your cheapo "thank you" cards either, they were the nice artistic reproductions from a museum kind. I also made follow up calls. No one responded to ANY of my communiques. It was as if I imagined the whole thing. I mean come on! If they had enough staff to drag me in three times, then they have enough staff to send me a "Dear John" letter. I am not asking for an indepth analysis of what happened and who said what corporate intrigue, just a simple one line note. That, my mbbb friends, is bad manners not the result of understaffing. |
| granitegirl | Posted – 10/24/2007 12:44:12 PM | show profile onmyown: I'm talking about BIG magazines. Every EIC I know has an assistant, some have assistants and secretatries. You must work at a small magazine. You can get an assistant like that if you work at CondeNast. Devil Wears Prada was pretty accurate in its depiction of a lot of duties of assistants. Remember the Hearst assistant who got fired when she posted a memo to her editors about all her ridiculous duties? Hysterical. I'm not making this up, but if you think I am--boy are you in for one helluva eye-opener if you do ever get that "dream job". My most insidious task was picking up my editor's medication for her STD. I doubt she'd care if I mentioned it--she told the whole office about it. There were other insidious tasks--the dry cleaning, the cleaning up after the writer's little dog, the party tray assembling, etc. but the STD errand is the one that really sticks out in my mind. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 10/24/2007 4:25:36 PM | show profile Granitegirl, just FYI: I work at the kind of big mag you're thinking of -- not conde (though I did work there for a number of years), but similar. The EIC here has an assistant who schedules her meetings and answers her phone. The assistant also does editorial work on sections of the book. She doesn't fetch dry cleaning or babysit. No other staffer has an assistant of this nature. |
| onmyown | Posted – 10/26/2007 12:19:42 AM | show profile Granite, get real Granite, by "dream job" do you mean a top position at a women's magazine such as you refer to by the "Devil Wears Prada" jobs? I guess that's really what you aspire to, based on your sour grapes posts about those kind of publications. Geez. |
