Interview expenses

One thing you've got to consider: Smaller newspapers don't have the budget to pay for people coming down to interview. If you're applying at a big paper or a paper within a big chain, then they should have the money to pay moving expenses or interview expenses. But if you're dealing with a small newspaper or a small chain, then they probably don't have the overall funding for that.

 

I've given some papers a free one if they happened to be on my vacation itinerary, and so far in one instance I went to work there (and another one years later). But the job market is so tight now that I would not bet serious money that they're going to hire me -- I have to assume that the other people they are serious about are as qualified as I am and only one of us gets the job.

 

I would. I think it gives a real good indication how hard they squeeze a nickel. Most larger companies make it standard practice to pay interviewee expenses like airfare and hotel. Gas would be less clear and could go either way.

Might be worth taking the job for the assignment, but if they're ultra-cheapo on the interview, guess what likely to be on the compensation. And the pay raises (if they exist).

 

That's the line of thinking. If they won't pay for travel expenses what would the salary be like?

 

Agree with SCEditor. Starting out, interviewing at small places, no one paid. When I finally interviewed at a paper over 50K, I was shocked that they were paying for not only the hotel and gas, but also lunch and dinner. I think it just depends on the shop. You can take it into consideration when deciding, but I would not make it a deal-breaker.

 

I agree with you. I was just wondering what everyone else thought. It's still early so there's time to maybe get something out of the deal or at least find out if it's worth the drive/flight.

 

If you have to stay overnight, yes, they should foot the bill for your hotel.

But if you're just driving in, I'm not sure they owe you gas money. In that situation, taking the candidate to a meal should suffice as "repayment" of your expenses. I had this happen once and they took me to lunch. That was fair.

Other jobs, that take overnight to get there, have paid flight, hotel, car, food, etc.

 

Agreed. Something that isn't a far drive, lunch is fine. If it's a hike paying for a hotel is the least they could do.

 

Years and years ago, I interviewed for an ASE job at a JRC paper. They said they would reimburse me for travel and motel expenses.

They offered -- at a ridiculous lowball salary. I said I'd think it over and get back to them.

Actually, it took me about three seconds to "think it over" -- had I taken the job, I would have been taking a 15% pay cut. When we touched on the topic of moving expenses, they hemmed and hawed and said some nice nebulous things like "we'll see if maybe we can do anything in that area."

A day or two later, I called and turned them down. Told them, rather bluntly, that I couldn't consider taking a significant pay cut, and the refusal to be specific about moving expenses was a warning flag too.

The SE made it pretty clear they weren't coming up on money. As far as moving, he said, "You probably can get some friends and a U-Haul truck, can't you?"

I sensed the conversation wasn't going anywhere, so I asked about the interview expenses. The SE said "send your receipts, we'll reimburse you for the travel expenses."

I sent the receipts the next day. A month later, nothing. I call the SE, leave a message on his machine. Two or three days go by, no answer. I call the ME. He says, "oh that's the SE's job to take care of that." He forwards me to the SE's voice mail, I leave another message.

Another couple days go by, nothing. I call up the publisher, whom I had met on the interview trip -- he had sat in on one meeting for about an hour. He claims never to have heard of me, and forwards me back to the SE's voice mail.

That was 9-10 years ago. Still waiting.

 

Hard to say really. I interviewed for an SE position at a 20K paper a few years ago.

I drove 3-4 hours to get there, met the editor, publisher and SE for the interview.

Then they showed me to the hotel and paid for dinner. I explored the town a little bit, came back to the paper at night to see the operation in action.

Then went to the hotel for the night. Told me to check in the next morning before I left and they ended up giving me gas money out of petty cash.


Offer came a day or two later and it was fairly low. They said they couldnt go any higher, so I said I had to pass.

I was leaning against it anyway. The town was a dying one with some closed up businesses downtown. And to top it off, the editor didn't want any columns because she said they had one SE come from a neighboring state that wrote columns saying how the local big university was subpar.

 

I've had several scenarios regarding this that all differed.

One paper paid for my moving expenses, put me in a hotel and bought me lunch but didn't pay for my travel. I took that job.

Another paper didn't pay any expenses ... but the salary and the position were so good that I took that job.

Another paper didn't pay any expenses either ... and their salary was too low. I passed on that job.

Another paper wasn't willing to pay expenses but had a great salary. At this point, though, I decided there had to be an underlying issue why they wouldn't come up with a couple hundred bucks, so I passed.

My point is, each situation is different. Use your best judgement, try to feel the situation the paper is in. Figure out whether they should be able to pay for everything or if they are being cheap. Then go with your gut instict. So far, mine has been right every time. No regrets.

 

I got my first job out of college at a 35K less than a month ago. Turnover between graduation and move-in was two weeks. That sucked. Anyway, they paid all interview expenses, no relocation. Thought it was a pretty standard deal.