I still remember an email I got 20 years ago, from a prominent editor at a well-known magazine, asking me if I had a minute to talk about a potential job. We hopped on the phone and he described a dream: working on features, maybe front-of-the-book too, bringing in new writers, etc. I was a junior editor on the books section of The Nation. This was a big deal!
The next step was: Write a memo. But not just a memo: a front-to-back critique of the magazine, in addition to 10 story ideas with freelance writers attached and 10 story ideas for specific staff writers.
Reader: This memo took more than two full weekends to put together. I took time off work. And you know what? Not only did I not hear from the person who requested this work from me for six months — there wasn’t even an actual job, which I only learned after badgering! It was a fishing expedition. Perhaps I’d have been reeled in if my memo and ideas had been better. But perhaps not!
The dumbest thing is when they approached me again six years later, I did it all over again. For the second time, it was not a job that was ever actually filled, to my knowledge.
More recently, I know of a search for a top job where after a single conversation, 10 (ten!) people were asked to do a memo, answering a series of questions provided by the publication. That’s 10 people doing a lot of work they aren’t being compensated for!
As you can tell, I’m against both of these things: the overly long job memo, wherein candidates are asked to spend countless hours sharing analysis and ideas, as well as the wide-casting of questions to a large group just to see what comes back.
I declare: These practices must die in 2023.
Let me be clear: It’s not that the memo as a whole should go away. Memos can be incredibly useful for the hiring manager and the potential hire to ensure there’s alignment over the expectations of the role, whether to get a sense of ideas, of editing taste and skill, or quick thoughts about coverage.
At Slate, the leadership has focused on streamlining what we ask for and from how many people. While our requests look slightly different depending on the role, we have landed on the following guidelines:
We acknowledge that memos are labor, but for many roles, there’s value in asking for written work to help make a decision. (I can’t imagine hiring a copy editor without administering an editing test, for example.)
But as a whole, as newsroom leaders address equity, fairness, and labor concerns, they should extend their consideration to prospective hires as well as to employees. Our asks for special work to land a role should be useful and limited, and something we look forward to receiving to make our best hire — not to peruse at our leisure, or just in case.
Hillary Frey is editor-in-chief of Slate.
I still remember an email I got 20 years ago, from a prominent editor at a well-known magazine, asking me if I had a minute to talk about a potential job. We hopped on the phone and he described a dream: working on features, maybe front-of-the-book too, bringing in new writers, etc. I was a junior editor on the books section of The Nation. This was a big deal!
The next step was: Write a memo. But not just a memo: a front-to-back critique of the magazine, in addition to 10 story ideas with freelance writers attached and 10 story ideas for specific staff writers.
Reader: This memo took more than two full weekends to put together. I took time off work. And you know what? Not only did I not hear from the person who requested this work from me for six months — there wasn’t even an actual job, which I only learned after badgering! It was a fishing expedition. Perhaps I’d have been reeled in if my memo and ideas had been better. But perhaps not!
The dumbest thing is when they approached me again six years later, I did it all over again. For the second time, it was not a job that was ever actually filled, to my knowledge.
More recently, I know of a search for a top job where after a single conversation, 10 (ten!) people were asked to do a memo, answering a series of questions provided by the publication. That’s 10 people doing a lot of work they aren’t being compensated for!
As you can tell, I’m against both of these things: the overly long job memo, wherein candidates are asked to spend countless hours sharing analysis and ideas, as well as the wide-casting of questions to a large group just to see what comes back.
I declare: These practices must die in 2023.
Let me be clear: It’s not that the memo as a whole should go away. Memos can be incredibly useful for the hiring manager and the potential hire to ensure there’s alignment over the expectations of the role, whether to get a sense of ideas, of editing taste and skill, or quick thoughts about coverage.
At Slate, the leadership has focused on streamlining what we ask for and from how many people. While our requests look slightly different depending on the role, we have landed on the following guidelines:
We acknowledge that memos are labor, but for many roles, there’s value in asking for written work to help make a decision. (I can’t imagine hiring a copy editor without administering an editing test, for example.)
But as a whole, as newsroom leaders address equity, fairness, and labor concerns, they should extend their consideration to prospective hires as well as to employees. Our asks for special work to land a role should be useful and limited, and something we look forward to receiving to make our best hire — not to peruse at our leisure, or just in case.
Hillary Frey is editor-in-chief of Slate.
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Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
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Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
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Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
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Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
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Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
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Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
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Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
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Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
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Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
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Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
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Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
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Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
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Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
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Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
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Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
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Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
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Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
David Cohn AI made this prediction
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Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
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A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
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Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
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Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
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Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
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Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
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