For the first time in more than nine years, I'll be going to a job interview on Wednesday. For a number of reasons, I haven't been very happy at work for quite some time and have been steadily looking for a new job outside of news for a couple of years now. Last week I saw a listing on craigslist* by a local video production company and sent them a tape and resume. While I'm glad to have gotten the interview, I'm afraid that it's going to be a waste of time because I suspect that this outfit isn't going to be able to give me the money I'll need to take the job. Besides making a decent salary and getting an assload of overtime at my current job, I also have a company vehicle (and company gas--a not insignificant bonus these days) and I get 4 weeks of vacation. I can do without the vacation time, but I've got to have the dough or else I can't make the move. Then again, they could surprise me and offer me exactly what I need or even more. Wish me luck... *Part of my skepticism stems from the fact that video companies that advertise on craigslist tend to be cheap.
Unless the only job left is cleaning up after the day's shooting. And they're all Peter North features.
In my experience, it never hurts to let your present employers know you're hunting again... That said, good luck!
Thanks. It really depends. My experience in this line of work is somewhat different. While most of them understand that people are going to move on to other jobs, many news directors see it as somehow being "disloyal" when people look for other jobs. That being said, my immediate supervisor does know. He's one of my best friends and is listed as a reference. >EDITED TO ADD< The way my current news director is, the first I want him to hear that I'm looking to leave is when I give my notice. He's worthless.
I know some guys who have done awfully well as free lancers and starting their own production houses. Keep and open mind and don't do anything hasty. Trust your gut. Good luck!
I've considered that, but I don't have the kind of capital it would take to start one up. The freelance market here is already pretty saturated.
Well, I think it went okay. It seems like a pretty small-time outfit (as I expected), but he didn't blanche when I told him my salary requirements. I dunno. There are things I think I'd like about the job and other things I'm not so sure about. They don't have the same quality (or quantity) of gear I'm accustomed to using, which would be weird. I've already had to take "technological" steps backward with two previous jobs (my current and last jobs, come to think of it) and the transistion was tough to deal with. Think of it as being used to working with a 2007 computer and then having to work with one from 10 or 15 years ago... I suspect that he won't offer me the salary I need but, if he does, I'm going to have a tough decision to make.
Well, it's still about your skills when it comes to shooting. You're going to do a better job than a less skilled shooter/editor no matter what gear you're using. If you haven't done it already, part of the decision making process could be some due diligence: how long has the company been around, what happened to the last guy who had the job, how long have the people who are there been there? In the end, you've been around the block enough times to make a good decision. If all else fails, trust your gut, one thing about getting older, your gut gets smarter, even if you don't! Good luck!
Tomorrow will be a week since the interview and I haven't heard anything. They told me nearly two weeks ago that they were wanting to hire "within the week", so I'm thinking that I have a rejection letter coming my way... Which is okay, because I'm pretty sure that the salary was/is the sticking point. From what I was told about the work I'd be doing, I'm way, way overqualified for the job and I really doubt that anybody on staff there is getting paid what I'm making now. For the most part, they do very simple, formulaic work and, while I wouldn't have a problem doing that for a while, I'm certainly not going to take a pay cut to do it. It all works out. Last week I was contacted by someone who wants me to mentor them. Over the years I've mentored more than a dozen photographers, but this is the first time I've been "officially" contacted through one of the professional organizations I belong to.
Regardless of the outcome, it never hurts to look at options. People have come to think "talk is cheap" is a bad thing. My take is that it costs you nothing to talk to someone and it's always valuable for finding out what your real value is in the market. Looking forward to a chance for burgers n beer in St. Pete!
Yep. As I told my wife, hopefully the worst thing that happens with this deal is that I've made a contact for freelance work... Ditto. Hopefully I can get together with Frontline, too.
I got an email from the place this morning saying that the job had been filled. From the wording, I suspect that it was because of the salary.
Sorry to hear that. You'd think that they let the reel decide and at least try to talk about the money. It's not like compensation isn't something you can talk about.
The guy who interviewed me is an idiot. Early in the interview he asked if I had any questions about the company and, during that conversation, he mentioned that they had a $5,000,000 contract with the Air Force to shoot all the graduations at Lackland AFB. This was before he asked me what kind of salary I would need. Talk about tipping your hand.
