Senior Sports Reporter, Orlando Sentinel

My impression is that if there are openings at newspapers these days, diversity is no longer 1-2-3 on the list of requirements for the hire.

The most important now are the pay, finding someone you don't need to pay to move or come in for an interview and the experience.

 

A very, very good hire. Nice to see one of the good, good, QUALIFIED guys get hired for a gig they are perfectly suited to have.

 

A few points need to be cleared. I'm not poking at the Shaine hiring. His reputation and work stands out and he is a good pick. I'm also not poking at Moddy.
The issue of diversity came up during the course of thread conversation. Ace's point that it's not a big issue to hiring is right on, especially the part about "the most important now are the pay, finding someone you don't need to pay to move or come in for an interview and the experience."
The question of where are minority candidates came up and I threw a few sources out there.
Many people hiring, which is a pain in the ass, are too lazy to go the extra mile in an effort to diversify their staff. Then, there are others who don't want to diversify.

 

Excellent points, Write.

I'd brought the subject up earlier, and I still don't fully understand the "you must be the one to unearth minority candidates" thing. I'd figure candidates who are actively seeking other employment would find the ads and hear about the jobs. If the employer gets an abundance of qualified candidates, why should she or he continue the search to find minority candidates?

And it seems to bear reminding, especially in light of Drip's response to my earlier query (I don't mean that in a bad way), that diversity isn't all about race. Usually when it's brought up, it's code for "black" or "Hispanic," but race is gender, religion, handicap, etc. And those can't always be distinguished from a resume. I knew some pretty Caucasion folks who had memberships in some of those.

Seriously, on a two-person staff, a 50-something Catholic balding white guy who played football in high school four states away and lives on the east side now and a 28-year-old white agnostic fella who was born in the neighboring city and spent two summers in Europe to study can be considered diverse. Throw in an intern from University City 50 miles down the road and no matter what, that adds a new voice.