Who you know
Via Peter and Matt, I see that there is some discussion over hiring practices. Says Freddie:
The last couple of years have seen my friends begin to start their honest-to-goodness careers, as opposed to jobs that were by design short-term. I’d say that among people I would call friends, a good two dozen have gotten long-term/serious jobs in the last couple years. And here’s the thing: literally none of them got there jobs without some sort of “in”, a personal connection that got them the job.
Now, look– I know that this is about the worst way to assemble evidence, and I’m not trying to make any kind of scientific point here. But I do think that this is a common phenomenon, and I imagine if the average reader asked around, he or she would find something similar.
We should distinguish between two different phenomena here, those being a situation where a contact gives you a job, and a situation when a contact gets you a foot in the door. I don’t see anything terribly problematic with a manager asking people he knows to recommend applicants for a job; it’s probably the most efficient way to get things done in a business setting. Throwing open the application process to every Tom, Dick, and Harry assures that 80% of the resumes you see will be awful; sifting through 40 or 50 terrible resumes is a disheartening experience, to say the least. That being said, once the candidates have secured an interview, references should be downplayed as much as possible–unless there’s a legitimate concern about someone’s ability to mesh with the office environment, there’s not too much more a reference can add.
I do wonder how much of a role this sort of thing plays in journalism in particular: DC’s a relatively insular place, and I can understand the frustration some people feel at breaking into this world–especially if you’re not willing to work at the absolute bottom for a while. But if you are willing to start at the bottom there’s no reason you can’t make it in this town. Peter’s example is instructive, and I will admit to a similar career trajectory: I worked two summer internships, a year long fellowship, and then took a job as the lowest member of the totem pole at a small DC publication before being lured away to the Weekly Standard. None of these were terribly glamorous jobs, but they allowed me the chance to make contacts and impress people and work my way up the food chain. And the whole chain started by getting my foot in the door at that first internship–an unpaid gig with the Weekly Standard.