ESPN reportedly hiring beat writers for all 32 teams

How could hiring occur if layoffs on the on horizon, according to Deadspin?

http://deadspin.com/next-round-of-espn-layoffs-are-coming-this-week-512569976?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Jason Wilde is a terrific reporter. They'd need to hire four guys to fill his shoes, he's so good.

 

Crazy as it is to say, a round of layoffs has nothing to do with this...

Based on your post, I thought Wilde had left... Glad that's not the case...

 

No, I was just commenting on the fact that I think highly of Wilde's work. Sorry for the confusion.

Old Tony makes a good point, though, about hiring of folks in market or state that has an ESPN website (Wisconsin, Chicago, etc.)

 

Could be that some of the layoffs were done with this in mind, no?

 

Very few, if any, ESPN Radio affiliates are owned by Disney. Unless somebody anticipated this happening and addressed it in the contracts, the radio guys are probably employees of the station and would have to jump to ESPN.com.

 

"What interests me is how ESPN is selects these folks without advertising the jobs anywhere. I suppose its EEOC compliant if you just never tell anyone the job is open, but this complaint about "How the hell do you write for ESPN?" has come back to me through others several times."

There is no law requiring jobs be posted. In this market, a company like ESPN doesn't have to advertise writing positions. They are already inundated with unsolicited resumes, and any hiring manager there worth his/her salt consistently maintains a list of people to hire. So, it is no surprise these jobs are not being advertised.

You get in line for jobs like these by networking months, even years before a job comes open. People who wait for jobs to be posted at a place like ESPN almost never have a chance in this market.

 

Why should they? You think they want to go through 25,000 resumes?

 

These jobs are almost always based on recommendations by other staffers. You want one of these jobs, go network... I know one blogger there who reached out to a college staffer on FB asked if there were any openings and as luck would have it there was one in the area where this guy was. She passed along his name, he got an interview and then the job... The guy had a good résumé, but I guarantee you he wasn't on their radar.

 

Right. Which is why I wrote "I suppose it is EEOC compliant if you never tell anyone the job is open." Or that there's a job at all. But when TBL posts a "ESPN is hiring 32 beat writers" on its Web site, I'm guessing the question arises: "How the heck are they filling them, and how do I apply?" In fact, I'd bet it's about as natural a question, in a job-starved industry, as there is.

And, FWIW, my advice to some person who'd ever asked was, "Well, find a ESPN writer you like, email them, and ask."

 

People who wait for things deserve what they get. If you reach out to a writer at ESPN and they say, "Send your resume to this guy and you can drop my name if you want..."

Yeah, if you're covering preps at a 20K circ paper you probably should wait before doing this, but if you're covering a NFL or a college team and you have your sights set on working for ESPN, if you know anyone there, reach out to them. If you don't know anyone there, reach out to someone and see if they can offer advice. The worst thing that can happen is they'll tell you to fuck off...

 

There are ways to make contacts at ESPN -- even if that means identifying them through Linkedin, Facebook or other third parties. My writing career ended a long time ago as I entered management, but throughout my career I had no problems cold-calling people to introduce myself.

I have even paid my way to visit certain companies on what's known as "informational interviews."

If I had my eyes set on a writing gig at ESPN I'd make it my business to identify and then friend some folks up there. Then when I had the coin I'd take a trip up to Bristol on my own dime.

Network, network, network -- that's the kind of effort it takes to get to the front of the line for these positions.

 

I agree. I'd also say the Amway model is best supplemented by good scouting. The magazine seems to have been scouted rather well in recent years, which I have to think went beyond "hey, I know a guy." The beat writers and columnists are generally pedestrian.