Q. I have a job interview with a company that looks like it might be up for sale.
I was wondering how I should broach the subject of this possible sale during the interview. On the one hand, I don’t want to appear too apprehensive and make them think I’m afraid of working for them. On the other hand, I do have some genuine concerns about how this might affect staffing and hiring.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Concerned Job Seeker
A. Well, somebody is going to have to bring up the issue, or we’re really not journalists, are we?
Give the people interviewing you a chance to do it first. If they ask, “So, do you have any questions about the sale rumors?”, ask them what the staff’s concerns are.
Before you ask questions of your own, consider whether the people you are talking to have any conception of what the answers might be. There might not really be any answers about staffing and hiring if the people working for the company have no idea when, whether or how it might get sold. Often, the only rules that carry over through the sale are union contracts. If the newspaper has a union, ask a Guild officer for a copy of the contract and look first at any rules regarding staff reductions and seniority.
We have seen more than a hundred changes in newspaper ownership over the past few years. So don’t think you’ll escape one even if you stay where you are. Typically, the people affected first by newspaper sales are those at the top of the management structure. New people can be cut by layoffs, and veterans can leave in buyouts. Most people who buy newspapers have new plans for them.
If it seems likely the paper will go up for sale, do not go there because you think the top editors are great. They often are the ones who get moved first. But if the person you’d be working for is really good, give it some consideration.
Coming Thursday: She is having an impressive early run at her newspaper, but needs a resume that could launch her in the direction of magazines.
