Job interview question

[HejiraHenry]

Last time I took a job far away, they didn't pay a cent for me to fly out and meet the staff/find an apt, nor did they pay anything for moving expenses. Not a cent. When I got there I learned the owner had a reputation for being a penny pincher in all of his many ventures, and later found they made a lot of efforts to do all of the beat road trips on the cheap.

I imagine this is extremely uncommon in most fields, almost unheard of.

Just started at new shop in April. They paid for me to fly down for interview, put me in a hotel (a pretty nice one) and paid for my meals. And they gave me $1,000 for moving expenses. But my previous job did interview over the phone and only paid $250 for moving expenses (which covered about half of my gas, and none of the hotels). I guess it depends on the company, and the size of the paper (first job was 16K daily, current job is 40K).

I have a friend who was flown in and put in a nice hotel for his interview and treated to first class meals. Then for moving expenses, they paid for a trip (airfare, hotel and car rental, including the under-25 surcharges) to find an apartment, shipped all his belongings, including car and furniture, across the country, and paid for him to fly there for the start of work. All for a first job out of college to cover preps.

Obviously an effing stud.

 

[2underpar]

We spent about $1,000 flying in a candidate. Before we did, we gauged their interest to be as high on us as we were on them. later,they turned us down. Our next candidate was a drive-in and we hired that person.we don't pay moving expenses, but we do pay the mileage for moving.
Not great, but not nothing, either.

on the same note, I'm not flying in anybody I'm not serious about hiring.

 

[PEteacher]

Last time I took a job far away, they didn't pay a cent for me to fly out and meet the staff/find an apt, nor did they pay anything for moving expenses. Not a cent. When I got there I learned the owner had a reputation for being a penny pincher in all of his many ventures, and later found they made a lot of efforts to do all of the beat road trips on the cheap.

I imagine this is extremely uncommon in most fields, almost unheard of.

Just started at new shop in April. They paid for me to fly down for interview, put me in a hotel (a pretty nice one) and paid for my meals. And they gave me $1,000 for moving expenses. But my previous job did interview over the phone and only paid $250 for moving expenses (which covered about half of my gas, and none of the hotels). I guess it depends on the company, and the size of the paper (first job was 16K daily, current job is 40K).

I have a friend who was flown in and put in a nice hotel for his interview and treated to first class meals. Then for moving expenses, they paid for a trip (airfare, hotel and car rental, including the under-25 surcharges) to find an apartment, shipped all his belongings, including car and furniture, across the country, and paid for him to fly there for the start of work. All for a first job out of college to cover preps.

Obviously an effing stud.

So you can feel my irritation when he benches to me for all the "garbage work" he has to do.

 

[Left_Coast]

It'd be a bit of a red flag that they're having you split costs on a job interview. Never had that experience, but I think some context might be in order in terms of the size of the paper you are dealing with. Under 100K? Under 50K?

 

[Kritter47]

It's a 15-20K paper in terms of circulation. I origianlly thought it was more, but I checked the circulation at one of the audit sites linked to SportsJournalists.com.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I agree that they should pay the cost to get you there, but a lot of papers that size wouldn't even consider a candidate from across the country because of the cost so at least they are open to hiring you. My first job out of school was about 1,100 miles away from where I was living, but my fiance was already living in the area. I fudged a little bit and put her address on my resume. They called thinking I was a local candidate, but were willing to bring me in when I explained the situation and that I was (sort of) splitting time between two places. They didn't pay for my plane ticket, but I was willing to do it since my parents helped me pay for it and it was an excuse to go visit my fiance again. I was young and scared that they would be mad that I didn't really live in their state full time so I didn't push it, but if I had it to do over again I'd try harder to get them to pay for it though.

 

[Kritter47]

I agree that they should pay the cost to get you there, but a lot of papers that size wouldn't even consider a candidate from across the country because of the cost so at least they are open to hiring you. My first job out of school was about 1,100 miles away from where I was living, but my fiance was already living in the area. I fudged a little bit and put her address on my resume. They called thinking I was a local candidate, but were willing to bring me in when I explained the situation and that I was (sort of) splitting time between two places. They didn't pay for my plane ticket, but I was willing to do it since my parents helped me pay for it and it was an excuse to go visit my fiance again. I was young and scared that they would be mad that I didn't really live in their state full time so I didn't push it, but if I had it to do over again I'd try harder to get them to pay for it though.

Heh. I'm young and scared that if I don't take them up the offer of an interview, somehow I'll never get to the position of finalist for a job anywhere ever again. Which is completely illogical, but it's what panicking about getting a job will do to you.

 

[proudpittsburgher]

Heh. I'm young and scared that if I don't take them up the offer of an interview, somehow I'll never get to the position of finalist for a job anywhere ever again. Which is completely illogical, but it's what panicking about getting a job will do to you.

It's not illogical in your situation. I remember my first job interview at a newspaper in Kansas. They put me up in a hotel, but didn't pick up any driving expenses and very few meals. They just ordered in Pizza a couple of times and expected me to stick around all day (interviewing about 12 hours each day) and watch their opperations. Even though the trip was horrible, I felt really bad turning them down (but it was a neccesary evil since I had a better offer). It's tough to turn down something that is either promising or a can't miss for an offer.

 

[PeteyPirate]

They paid for my trip, first-class meals, gave me a jersey with my name stitched on it and arranged for a couple of hookers to come to my hotel. I really wish I had gotten that job.

 

[bydesign77]

Here's the deal with the whole thing.

I once was asked to interview in Connecticut. I lived in Georgia. I said, "OK, how do I get there?"

First, they wanted me to pay my own way up. I told them no deal, then. Then it was we'll fly you up, but you're going to have to foot the hotel bill. No deal.

Finally, they agreed to the flight, the hotel, all food and a limo from LaGuardia to the paper and back. Offered me the job.

You just have to let them know that if they're really REALLY interested in you, they're going to have to show it or they're just going to have to trust a phone interview.

 

[proudpittsburgher]

You went from nothing to a limo? Man, you friggen stud you.

 

[You're With Me Leather]

I am assuming that the airfare is the biggest expense here. Get them to pay for that and as part of the split, you take care of hotel and car. You can control those factors by renting a compact car or using public transportation (if available) and/or staying at a cheap hotel outside of town or something like that. I can understand a smaller paper trying to be cheap and splitting costs with you. Explain your situation and if they won't pay for it all, at least see if they will pick up the airefare, or whatever the biggest expense is.