Joe Grimm's News Jobs Café: Ask the recruiter

No Good at Math

A journalism student was describing for me this week how good she is at math: "The only A I ever got in math was the one that comes after the M."

Life After Newspapers II

On Sept. 20, I recalled where five former Knight Ridder people who were assistant veeps or higher have landed.

Today, the California Newspaper Partenrship announced that it has hired Marshall Anstandig, who was vice president and senior labor and employment counsel for Knight Ridder.

Anstandig is now senior vice president and general counsel with the Media News-run partnership that has 33 dailies and 56 non-dailies in California. They include the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, which were part of KR, along with Anstandig. He joins Steve Rossi, who came over from KR as chief operating officer.

Netproofing for Jobs

I love it! After endless articles about the hazards of MySPace and Facebook, Business Week has published an article about netproofing yourself so as not to squelch job opportunities.

First, we had people tripping over their own profiles.

Now, we have people netproofing their on-line selves.

Prediction I: Next, we'll have consultants who can search drown and scrub up anything detrimental about you on the Web.

Prediction II: They will be followed by a cottage industry in manufacturing spiffy on-line reputations.

On-Line Candidate Tracking

OK, this is a bit much. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a high-profile job candidate was so high profile that anonymous posters and bloggers watched and logged her every move as she tried to land a faculty job in international relations.

The Chron said, "the blog followed Ms. Hyde's nearly every move, from her interviews at the University of Virginia and George Washington University to her decision to accept the offer at Yale."

The article says that the job- and candidate-tracking on-line rumor mills began as Web sites in narrow fields such as  theoretical particle physics.

Are faculty members as concerned as journalists that exposure could be detrimental to one's career?

Here's the rumor mill for jobs in theoretical particle physics -- in case you were thinking of a career change. 

Convergence and Collaboration

One benefit of talking with people about careers and work all the time is that it opens your eyes to new things.

I had one such moment recently when talking about newsroom cultures.

It seems that some folks approach the newsroom environment as a contest. They want to be the best. Others approach it as an organism that they are part of. The first person would thrive in an individualistic culture, the second would thrive in a collective culture.

Well, guess which type of culture would seem to be best for fostering the media convergence we seem to be needing?

Life After Newspapers

While I was at the Dallas Morning News last week, helping people deal with the buyouts, one of the editors asked me, "What do journalists do when they leave the business?"

Good question.

My own experience over the past year has been to see the dissolution of Knight Ridder, a company I worked with for almost 23 years. Here's where some of its top executives went:

 

• Hilary Schneider, senior VP at KR: senior VP of classified advertising at Yahoo!
• Steve Rossi, senior VP and CFO with KR: executive VP and COO with MediaNews
• Larry Olmstead, VP of staff development and diversity at KR: founded his own consulting company, LeadingEdge
• Paula Ellis, VP of operations at KR: VP/national and new initiatives at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• Bryan Monroe, assistant VP for news at KR: VP and editorial director of EBONY and JET magazines

Early Decisions on Internships?

Harvard has decided to end its early-admission practices, the Harvard Crimson reported last week.

It cites a lot of reasons, including inequality.

Newspaper recruiters, who in recent years have made summer internship offers as early as August of the year before, have sometimes talked about putting a moratorium on offers until sometime later in the school year.

I'm betting that competition prevents us from doing that.

I'm sticking with a Dec. 1 application deadline -- but have broken it when pressured.

Pink is the New Black

Why is it that, with newspapers contracting and television audiences fragmenting, enrollment is up in communication programs?

I wondered whether students see a great flowering in media despite the troubles in traditional communication companies.

But people on campuses are saying that journalism and communication degrees offer more skills and specificity than the old, reliable liberal arts degree.

So, with apologies to Gloria Vanderbilt, maybe commuinications is the new liberal arts.

Where do they find these people?

In a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article on how not to interview, we meet someone who, "ate -- no, dismantled -- an artichoke in full leaf-plucking, butter-dipping, teeth-scraping splendor" right in front of the interviewer.

Anyone who needs to be told to not do that wouldn't listen, anyway. Yet I don't doubt that this happened.

The article has advice about deodorant, tongue studs and swearing. In a nutshell: yes, no and no.

How to apply after being fired?

Amid some good advice about bouncing back from being fired, an article in the Acorn quotes a source who advises this answer when an application asks you to state the reason for leaving your previous job: "Mutual employment termination."

I don't know about that. It sounds rather like a mutual suicide pact.

Bear vs. shark?

DealBreaker.com, which bills itself as a Wall Street tabloid, posts what it calls the best job interview question ever, at least for investment banks: "Bear vs. shark. Who wins the fight?"

I haven't heard that asked by media companies, though our current travails might bring it out.

The point of the question, of course, is not to give the right answer, but to show how you reason.

Check out the post. It does lead to a recommended answer. But don't expect me to be asking the question.

Mess at the News-Press?

Q: I was wondering if you could comment on what has been happening at the Santa Barbara News-Press in California. (I hope it's not too presumptuous to assume you have read about it). The still-unfolding story of mass resignations, internal disputes and alleged editorial interference has been covered quite a bit in the media --- seven stories in Editor & Publisher alone by my count. It has brought up issues of ethics, labor/management conflicts, and paper ownership in a rather dramatic fashion.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you were a newsroom employee there, what would you do?

Confidential

A: I've been watching, along with the rest of the industry.

Given my vantage point -- half a continent away -- I am not in a position to say anything that is very well informed. After all the words that have been spilled, I wouldn't be original, either.

Would I stay or would I go? And, by extension, what do I think people there should do? I can't say. Each of us is in a different predicament. The more times I go through difficult situations, the more sure I become that I do not want to make -- or judge -- anyone else's decisions.

We have seen that some people could not wait to get out of the News-Press. Others will hang in because they can't move, have to feed their children or can't find something they'd rather do. I don't know whether you work there or anything else about you. Who you are is easily as important as the place where you work. The decisions come from inside; they are not imposed from the outside.

The pressure of applying

A young reporter at the National Association of Black Journalists' convention this week gave me a good reminder of how much pressure people feel.

Referring to his résumé and clips, he said, "all your hopes and dreams in five pages."

It's a good thing for recruiters to keep in mind as journalists slide them across the table.

Who owns the company?

On the occasion of his newspaper's 110th anniversary, the publisher of the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel in Augusta, Maine, publisher John Christie gives this advice: "When I speak to groups of aspiring journalists, I'm often asked about what to look for in the first job. That's another opportunity to bring up the importance of ownership, whether you go to work in a newspaper or any other private sector job."

As you would expect, he praises the people he works for in the piece, but his advice is sound: Check out the owners.

Jop-hopping

Dawn Sagario of the Des Moines Register writes about young workers and so-called job hopping.

How many moves are too many?

Focused or flexible job application?

Career consultant Amy Lindgren tackles the question of whether you should approach an opening in a focused way or an open-field way. This is the question confronting journalists who wonder whether they should apply for several jobs that may be open at the same time, of just one.

Her advice? Focus. Otherwise, she says, you come across as lacking strategy and passion.

Finding the right boss

The Washington Post has something to say about finding the right boss if you're in your 20s.

It's all about using the interview to check out your potential employer, just as they are using it to check out you. Among the strategies: be sure to talk with the person who will be your actual boss, see what you can learn about the person who left the job and how he or she was doing and watch for the nonverbals.

Jobs for photographers

Sala de Prensa offers some observations on how digital photography has leveled the playing field for photojournalists and where the jobs are going -- or coming from. Among its observations: more competition for freelance spots, more video, easier entry and more contact with agencies.

Who moves the cheese?

So, 100 employees of a Sargento cheese plant in Wisconsin share a plus-$200-million Super Ball lottery prize.

Used to making somewhere around $30,000 to $50,000 a year, they can now collect something close to $500,000 each. That's a pretty big cheese curd.

Will they still run the factory? And what would happen if a lottery club in your newsroom was as lucky?

No stupid questions about interviewing

If you've ever felt clueless because your questions about interviewing for a journalism job are so basic, you can relax.

In an article on interviewing strategies for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dennis M. Barden marvels how so many people in academe who have been on search committees wonder what strategies they should themselves use when they apply for jobs. Barden is vice president and director of the higher-education practice at an executive search firm.

He writes, "Shouldn't they already know the answers to some of those questions? Is the passage from one side of the hiring table to the other really a journey to a different dimension?"

Barden's observations on attire struck home, as well. He writes, "The strategy for interview attire is apparently only slightly less complex than the endgame strategy for Iraq."

What is he talking about? This: "The amount of jewelry and its coordination, the volume of scent, the style and height of shoes, and, particularly, hemlines are issues ripe for discussion."

Is it just me?

The BBC reports that Hertfordshire University has found that:

• 77 percent of employers are alienated by bad English, implying that 23 percent are OK with it.
• Exaggerations on résumés put off only one third of employers.
• Almost one recruiter in five would not interview candidates without relevant work experience. The other 80 percent would, I guess.

Again, is it just me?

Now, where did I leave that?

Last week's news that two laptops with information on 31,000 Navy recruiters and their prospects were stolen in New Jersey reminds me of the time I lost my Palm Pilot in the D.C. area.

Attention Washington Post: If you find it, please return. No questions asked.

Watch this space

Something exciting is about to happen to "Ask the Recruiter."

Stay tuned.

Arresting interview

Police in Opa-locka, Fla., arrested a man and accused him of impersonating a police officer, the Miami Herald reports.

How did they catch him? They called him in for a job interview.

Gotcha

The UK's Evening Star reports that a man got more than a job when he applied for one in a sporting goods store -- one day after he had shoplifted from it.

Employees recognized him from the store's closed-circuit TV system.

Does the tape go into his file?

I'm not the intern

It must be the season.

Two non-interns have recently told me that co-workers have asked them whether they were interns.

Both have several years of experience. One was actually reporting to work as an editor.

So, if you see new people in the newsroom this summer, and even if they look kind of young, say, "Hi, are you new here? My name is ..."

And if the new person happens to BE an intern? Treat them well.

Cut dreadlocks for internship

Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley writes about the controversy surrounding Black Enterprise magazine intern Mashaun Simon's decision to cut his dreadlocks to meet the office dress code.

Richard Prince broke the story in his Journal-isms column on the Maynard Institute site.

Bad boss

The AFL-CIO has been getting some attention for its MyBadBoss contest.

Naturally, an editor has been nominated. This one yelled at a reporter whose dateline the editor had changed to be incorrect.

Judging from some of the other scary tales on the site, journalists either have it pretty good or just aren't participating.

Job applicants charged $89

Word comes from The Age in Australia that Jetstar has found a way to save money -- it charges job applicants $89. That's $40 for a personality test and $49 for a security check.

That's why they call it a budget carrier.

Help wanted -- badly

Here's a story I thought I would share I found somewhat amusing.

This story is not with a newspaper, but a Tennessee-based publishing company which publishes newsletters and magazines mostly in the health care industry. I applied there for a managing editor position about two months ago.

Today I got a letter in the mail stating that they enjoyed meeting with me (I was never interviewed to begin with) and that they would contact me if they felt an interview was necessary in the future. They also told me they were starting the interview process over again. Just thought I'd share.

TN guy What can I say? Does anyone else have a story?

Newspaper movie

Have you seen "The Devil Wears Prada"?

Editor & Publisher tells how our heroine, sick of working for a shrewish fashion magazine editor, turns in her magazine notebook to work for a scruffier, friendlier newspaper.

Fact? Fiction? Nostalgia?

Worst interview mistakes

OfficeTeam came back with some strange results when it asked people about the worst job interview mistakes they have ever encountered. Among the answers:

• “Someone interviewed for a position and was not given the job. But he showed up anyway, saying, ‘Here I am!’”
• “Someone tried to bribe me during the interview. She really wanted the job and asked how much she could pay me for it.”
• “A job seeker didn’t hang up the phone after calling about a job. I overheard everything he said, and it wasn’t good.”
• “During an interview, when asked what his greatest faults were, an applicant gave too many answers. He kept going and going and going.”

Job candidate winds up on TV

We call it the communications business ...

The BBC, intending to put a computer expert on camera for an interview, accidentally put on a man who was in the office for a job interview.

Though confused, the job candidate went ahead with the interview and it was broadcast as news. The reporter was a little confused, too. And the computer expert, waiting to be interviewed by one of the world's largest news-gathering organizations? Very confused.

As near as we can tell, nobody got a new job or lost an old one.

Councilman becomes reporter

We often see journalists quit their jobs to go into public service.

In New Jersey, Freehold Councilman Kevin Coyne had resigned to become a part-time local columnist for the New York Times. The Asbury Park Press reports that Coyne is an author, historian and adjunct instructor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, too.

I wonder if his buddies on the council have teased him about "going to the dark side"?

Check out the horses

In a predictable batch of advice about interviewing, Horse & Hound, "the House of Equestrianism" in the United Kingdom, there is a gem:

"Take the opportunity to look around and speak to current employees if possible. You will quickly work out whether it is the right place for you. The look of the yard will tell you a lot."

Whether you'll be working with horses or people, get the look of the yard. But, remember: Horses don't lie but jackasses might.

On-line posts and job hunting

Can a humorous article or a little harmless social networking cost you job opportunities?

An article in the Des Moines Business Record Online makes a pretty convincing case.

Maybe there is a new industry out there in cleaning up candidates' on-line identities.

Handling unsolicited offers

Career consultant Amy Lindgren has some advice about how to keep a cool head when a recruiter tries to sweep you off your feet with an unsolicited job offer.

"The trick for handling unexpected job offers," she writes, "is to be aware of your goals and work criteria at all times."

Cell phones, wireless devices and the job search

The always-on-the-go, always-in-touch lifestyle afforded by cell phones and wireless devices can complicate the job search.

Steve Bien-Aime of the Wilmington News-Journal writes a column that points out the awkwardness of receiving calls from recruiters while in unprofessional situations or disturbing them when they don't want to be interrupted. Check it out.

Don't talk too much during interview

Talking too much in the interview was the flaw most frequently mentioned by executive recruiters who responded to asurvey by Korn/Ferry International, an executive recruiting company.

Other top flaws were"

• 22 percent: lack of knowledge about the company or position
• 16 percent: over-inflated ego
• 9 percent: over-confidence

So, know what you're talking about, but don't talk too much -- and be modest when you do.

Indiscreet interviewer

In her Questions from Career Track Live, Mary Ellen Slater fields one about a very indiscreet interviewer who conducted an interview within earshot of our troubled candidate.

Obvious advice

Random reaction: If I read one more career coach's sage advice that I be on time for a job interview, I will beat my computer with my alarm clock.

What do they think?

Submitting freelance articles?

Q: I was wondering, if I am trying to get an article that I wrote published, can I offer it to separate newspapers or magazines at the same time? Or should I wait to hear from one until I contact another?

Gary

A: You should not make simultaneous submissions to markets that are in the same market or that compete. Publications expect they are buying exclusive rights in their market and will not be happy if they buy a piece from you, only to see it show up somewhere else first.

Asking politely

I hope it doesn't alarm you to learn that this blog lets me see what search criteria landed people on it.

I had to share one charming search that brought someone here from the United Kingdom.

They were looking for, "how to politely ask for something without being a nuisance." Oh, I hope it was a journalist! And I hope they found the answer.

Patterns in interviews

The Arizona Republic has an article advising us to plan for the inevitable patterns that occur in job interviews.

It also offers advice on some of the most frequently used job-interview questions including:

• What are your weaknesses?
• Why do you want to work her?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• What are your career goals?
• Tell us why we should hire you.

Some very simple registration may be required to read the article.

A similar article distributed by Copley News Service lists five similar questions -- and notes that you'll get more than 800 hits if you use the search term "job interview" on Amazon.com.

Fabricated resumes

In an article about résumé lies this week, TIME magazine says that psychologists call lying a form of "impression management."

So, what do we call what those psychologists are doing?

Perception deception?

Not to be taken for granted

At the American Copy Editors Society conference, which concluded this weekend, I heard a great way to keep from being taken for granted.

Have a Plan B.

This copy editor was not trying to run a scam on anyone, she was quite naturally keeping options open when she asked her editor if she could get two days off to take the qualifying exam for law school, the LSAT.

That would be an eye-opener for most editors.

"How did you do?" he asked.

"Pretty well," she said.

He seems to be seeing her in a new light.

How not to get a job

CBSnews.com blogophile Melissa McNamara reports that the weekend's third-hottest blog post was "How Not to Get a Job" on Meyerweb.

Some of it is almost 10 years old, but it is still funny.

One of my favorites: The candidate who said she hadn't had lunch and then ate a hamburger and French fries in the interviewer's office.

Quit or be fired?

National Public Radio takes a cue from new White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten's challenge this week to his staff that, "if you're thinking about leaving sometime in the near future, now would be a good time to do it." NPR's Renee Montagne asks Stephen Viscusi, author of "On The Job: How to Make it in the Real World of Work," whether it is better to quit or to wait for the ax. Hear the interview.

Blogger in danger of being fired?

Q: I've got a dear friend who works as a metro reporter at a mid-sized paper.

The problem is he's got a private blog where he comments about the people he covers, including his blunt opinion on a political race in his city. His name is not on it, but the name of his newspaper is and his articles are frequently linked.

I've warned him to remove the site, because his editors could see it, but he will not listen. He doesn't think his bosses would find out. I don't want to see him fired and I'm afraid he could be if his bosses see it.

Anonymous

A: I checked the blog and share your concern.

It sounds as though your friend isn't listening to sensible advice.

Reporters can and do get fired or wind up quitting for what they post on their blogs.

It has happened in Dover, Del.

It has happened in Houston.

It has happened in St. Louis.

Admire people who take to new technologies, but wonder about those who seem clueless about their responsibilities and the potential damage.

It's one thing to be ready to defend what you say; it's another to imagine that editors won't see what you've posted for the world to read.

Thanks, Brian ...

...for the new look on this blog.

A BIG improvement!

Interview etiquette?

Etiquette columnist Thelma Domenici handles questions about well-mannered interviews including, "How do you bow out of a hostile interview without being upset or angry yourself?"

T-shirt slogan

Question from an aspiring copy editor: "Is anal-retentive hyphenated?"

Off to a good start

Our workplace reporter, Margarita Bauza, moved to her new desk in the Business News department today.

She sits right next to the editors and brought a lot of books with her.

Her first question was about where to put one of the books. Its title: "How to Work for an Idiot."

My guess is that titles like that are really meant more for at-home reading.

Top 100 newspaper list updated

For those of you have been suffering with outdated (2001) figures on the nation's 100 largest newspapers, I have just leapfrogged that ahead to the 2004 stats. Enjoy.

Bilingual journalists

Industry Week's Mark Gottleib writes about the most important skill he thinks today's workers should have.

It's language.

He writes: "Young Americans are allowed to leave universities and graduate schools with fancy degrees but no working knowledge of German, Chinese or Japanese. A fair percentage can't even speak English as well as their counterparts overseas, and horrifyingly minuscule numbers can write an intelligible sentence. Does anyone in the United States under the age of 35 know the difference between 'your' and 'you're' anymore?"

Journalists can easily answer that last question -- but can you answer it in a language other than English?

Telephone interviews

To my former journalism student, who has a telephone interview today:

Good luck, and check out this article in the Morris County, N.J., Daily Record.

Job hopping

Recommended read: Marshall Loeb's Marketwatch article on the ups and downs of job-hopping. No, despite the timing, this has nothing to do with Easter bunnies.)

Also catch the link to the article about how to explain leaving a job after less than a year.

JobsPage JOA list updated

True confession: I'm a slacker.

I had been dogging it on the JobsPage, my newspaper careers web site, to get the News Jobs Café clicking.

No excuses, just this apology.

Well, I have been working on the JobsPage again, cutting out some of the web rot and doing some updates. I'll let you know when I update stuff or add new.

One of the latest is an updated look at Joint Operating Agreements. There were a lot of changes last year with a paper closing in Birmingham, Ala., Detroit flipping and an odd change in Las Vegas. More JobsPage changes to come.

Joe

April Fools

Did you sneak into the newsroom Saturday to set up an April Fool's joke on anyone? Probably not.

Apparently, office pranks are rare -- even when April Fools Day is a weekday -- but they are not unheard of. Just ask the person whose office was filled with sawdust. Or the one whose computer keys were all switched around. Or the one found that everything in the office was turned around backward.

These pranks -- and the stats -- are in an Accountemps survey.

Interview spy camera

Reasearchers at the MIT Media Lab are developing a wearable device that would read subtle movements of eyebrows, lips and other features, synthesize the information and tell the reader about the subject's emotional disposition. The device, indcluding a tiny camera, could be concealed in eyeglasses or a ballcap.

There are applications for people with autism, the dating scene and job interviews. You could immediately tell how your answers were being received by interviewers and adjust.

But the ballcap might tip them off. Check out the Boston Globe article.

I love my job

Now it is the Boston Boston Globe telling us that employees and job-seekers can get in trouble for writing on their blogs, in MySpace, etc., etc., ad nauseum that they don't like working.

I don't get it.

If we all know that employers and recruiters will sniff out our postings for evidence of slacking, why don't people just lie?

I hope my boss isn't reading this, but I just wanted to say, for the record, that I love my job, love my boss and often go over and beyond when I am not on the clock, just hoping to bring some added value to my company.

See, that's not so hard, is it. And it sounds sincere.

Give the lady a hand

Kansas State senior Jaci Boydston has a hand-shaking hangup. With the thought of job interviews weighing heavily on her mind, she is concerned about the lack of national standards that would take the guesswork out of just how one should shake hands.

Her column describes her dilemma.

Jargon alert

A column in today's Wall Street Journal about buzzwords and jargon says that hard times and revolving-door politics have made "talent acquisition" and "skills development" the new "talent wars." Business-book authors, take note. (It's on the front of the second section in print; subscription is required on-line.)

If you'd like a free link that take you to more about jargon, step on this.

Goofed up by Google

The New York Daily News has a good article on how the Googled you can sabotage the real you at job-hunting time.

The best parts? It includes real examples of how people feel they have been hurt and a little advice on how to clean up the Google you.

Burning bridges

If you hang out in the New Jobs Cafe, you have some sense of how small the journalism world is.

So is law.

Read about a dreadful e-mail exchange about an attorney's decision not to report for a new job -- and make sure you never become so immortalized.

Business lunches

The Seattle Times' Marc Ramirez has a nice, long review  of  "The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2," by Robin Jay.

A tasty excerpt from the article:

"If you're being wooed, Jay writes, be a chameleon. Don't act like the lunch site is beneath you or like you've just stepped into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. In the book, a Commonwealth Title executive tells of an escrow officer candidate who went nuts over dessert at a casual, upscale restaurant.

" 'She was moaning,' Jay laughs, recalling the exec's imitation of the woman. 'He said it was like it was the best thing she ever had in her mouth. ... She was just going, "Mmmmmm, it's so creamy and gooood." ' "

The book is focused on business lunches, not just interview lunches, but some of the advice will apply to all those situations.

Knight Ridder to McClatchy to ...

I feel for the journalists at the dozen papers that McClatchy is buying from Knight Ridder but says it would like to dispose of.

It just means uncertainty on top of what they've already been through and makes them feel like damaged goods.

I have been hearing today from some of those people. They're looking for advice, hoping for support.

I would say this:

Bank on yourselves. Editors distinguish between individual performance and company performance. No one holds an individual journalist accountable for the fortunes of its company, even in a case like this, where the new owners are assailing financial results.

People who are unable to move from the cities where their newspapers are and who are unwilling to try other fields may have some hard decisions or some hard realities in front of them. Those who have flexibility have options.

All we can do is our best work. Good journalism is the best way to exert some control, preserve our dignity and carve a path to the future.

This is not your father's paycheck

Did you catch this one?

Generational economists say that today's younger generation may not make as much money as the older generation -- which it will be asked to support through Social Security payments & etc.

The article cites global competition, taxes, health and education costs.

That's a disappointment for parents, who always hope their children will do better than they did, but it is especially tough on the generation that will be cashing the paychecks.

Words to the wise

There is something strange about Ted Pease.

He says he is "WORDmeister & Professor of Interesting Stuff Utah State University in Logan, Utah. To amuse himself and the rest of us, he sends out quotes he finds or that are submitted to him.

This is one he sent out recently:

"We have no regrets on leaving Idaho Falls or discontinuing our [news]paper work here. We used our best endeavors to establish an organ of democracy, but found it to be far from remunerative, and in these days glory will not provide sustenance for the inner man.”

-- Charles P. Diehl, editor-publisher, the Idaho Falls Times, April 24, 1903.

Pease attributes "alert WORDster" Dean Miller with the find.

If your in-basket is not already overcrowded with get-rich schemes and tonics to make different parts of your anatomy grow, you can ask Pease to send you e-mail by sending an e-mail with the word “subscribe” in the subject field to tpease@cc.usu.edu.

Later, after you come to your senses, you can make him stop by sending an e-mail that says "unsubscribe."

Thank-you notes

The Arizona Business Gazette has a helpful article about thank-you notes that can make you stand out from the job-seeking hordes.

It's helpful because it postulates that most people don't send the notes because they don't know what to say -- and then gives advice about just that.

Hung up on a tie

Ed asks, "What do you think about these interviewing pitfalls to avoid? What does wearing a Taz tie to an interview have to do with job performance?"

That Business Week Online article says, "I interviewed a gentleman for a product-manager position who was smart and friendly. He arrived in a lovely wool suit, but wearing a necktie with a large Taz on it -- you know, the Tazmanian devil. Now why, I couldn't stop thinking, did this guy wear a Taz tie to an interview? He didn't mention it, so it wasn't some sort of rapport-building device.

"I sure as heck didn't mention it, but the Taz tie took up more and more space in the room, until I couldn't tear my gaze from it. Why a Taz tie, in a business job interview? Does the guy own the whole Looney Tunes character collection? It was too weird -- a big deal. Why didn't he wear a different tie?"

Well, I have a different take on that. I think I would be compelled to ask the candidate, "What's with the tie?" It seems to me that such an incongruous getup begs the question and the answer could be interesting and relevant.

Here's what happened when I came face to face with another version of a Taz tie:

The candidate wore plaids -- two -- and that never works quite right. Plaid pants and another plaid in the jacket arrested my attention. So did the colorful lizard printed across the bottom of the page his résumé was on.

The content of the résumé was solid, so we talked about his experience as a community news reporter. He was earnest, serious amd from the sounds of him, hard-working.

I could resist no more: "What's with the lizard?"

"I was out of my usual paper, but wanted to use something distinctive."

"It is. But does a lizard say anything about you?"

"Not the lizard specifically. I just want to be different. I do everything in a different way. I dress flamboyantly. People remember me. I bet you'll remember this résumé. I'm a community news reporter. Dressing like this makes me memorable in the community and brings me stories. When I write my stories, I try to be different then, too. I always try new ways to tell stories. I don't like to write the same old, boring leads."

I was OK with all of this. He convinced me that he was a serious reporter who did solid work and that sources, who might initially be taken aback by clashing plaids, would come to look past that and see him for what he was: a reporter who was serious about his job -- and who is not like all the others.

For me, it is no stranger to wear a Taz tie to an interview than it is to pretend it's not there.

Outsourcing, telecommuting or freelancing?

Q: I have heard that there are some newspapers that are outsourcing jobs, I am just curious what areas they seem to be concentrating on for outsourcing. Do you know?

Julie

A: In many ways, newspapers have been outsourcing work for as long as they have been using stringers and freelancers.

In that sense, parts of almost every newspaper are outsourced.

One of the new wrinkles in American industry is to outsource work overseas. It is possible, given technology, to have stories edited from anywhere in the world. What you call outsourcing some other might call telecommuting. Several years ago, a freelancer told me that a newspaper offered to send her a phonebook and have her write "local stories" from out of state. She declined.

One of the new wrinkles came last fall when the Contra Costa Times was having reporters in California write stories in English, which were then translated into Spanish by Danilo Black, a company in Mexico, for the Times' Spanish language Fronteras.

Boo-hoo-Google

In his column on ethics for the New York Times, Randy Cohen answers this question:

"After I was scheduled for a job interview at a university, a member of the search committee Googled me and found my blog, where I refer to him (but not by name) as a belligerent jerk. He canceled the interview. It was impolitic to write what I did, but my believing him to be a jerk does not mean I would not be great at that job, and the rest of the committee might agree. Was it ethical of him to cancel the interview?

You'll have to read Cohen's column to see what he thinks. You can go the article in The Times, which will require you to register -- or you can Google it.

Resume fraud

A job consulting firm tells the Toronto Globe and Mail that 10 to 30 percent of all job applicants aren't entirely truthful on their ré:sumés.

Employment firm Challenger Gray & Christmas says that the most common deceptions are:

• Educational background: making up degrees, inflating grade-point averages or listing degrees from non-accredited on-line universities
• Job titles: making them up
• Salary history: inflating it in pursuit of better offers

The firm's CEO, John Challenger, told the Globe and Mail,   "Do not assume that résumé fraud is only perpetrated by young, inexperienced job seekers trying to gain an edge over more seasoned candidates. Some of the most notable examples within the last two years have been top-level executives." (Registration required.)

Job interview Purple Heart

In the B.S. Bingo feature on the JobsPage, I ask people to submit discouraging one-liners they hear in job interviews.

Monica should get a Purple Heart for this double entry:

"In a recent interview, I heard: 'they always schedule too much time for these things' and 'what I don't understand is, why you want this job.'

" I tried to remain up-beat for the next 20 minutes, but I still don't have a job."

Can you top those?

It worked!

Just wanted to update you on what happened next (Jan. 30). I spoke with the editor, who said I should most definitely apply, and I got the job! Thank you for responding to my original query so quickly. I only wish I had found this blog when I was applying for jobs during my senior year of college.

Now signed: Very Happy

Missed appointments

A local university asked me to come in this week to give students practice interviews.

Ms. 9 a.m. was there, well-prepared and early. But where was Ms. 10 a.m. and where was Ms. 11 a.m.? They didn't show or call the career services people who set it all up. I spent the morning reading clips I