Day 24: The agony continues…on trial at Crikey

As it turns out, the Crikey website editor saga has another twist up its sleeve. For the first time since my days as a service station cash register jockey, I’ve got a job trial. This part of the campaign is truly make or break.

As keen followers will know, last week was a week of firsts for Tom wants a job. The first job interview with Crikey on Monday and the first rejection letter from News Limited on Thursday.

The job interview was promising, with Crikey telling me I would know the outcome by last Friday.

Well, after checking my phone approximately 1,478,082 times on that particular Friday, deputy editor Jason Whittaker rang at 5:30pm with one more challenge to meet. He told me that I would need to come in to the Crikey offices for a trial.

I will be joining the Crikey team tomorrow at 8am, when I will be thrown into the deep end to see whether I can hack it.

The agony continues!

Rejection #1: News Limited

Day 18: Digesting the Crikey interview, TWAJ in the UK and the eve of embarrassment at News Ltd?

Gee this interviewing stuff is pretty difficult.

It’s the day after my first interview for a job in the media and let’s just say it was pretty tough. Crikey editor Sophie Black (good cop) and deputy editor Jason Whittaker (bad cop) didn’t pull any punches during the hour-long interrogation, despite knowing me quite well from my time as an intern.

As current Crikey intern Matt De Neef tweeted yesterday, I looked (and felt) pretty nervous being put under the spotlight.

After questioning me on a range of different areas, the pair asked how I would compete with the rest of the candidates, who would most likely have more experience in the field. I answered that I have the passion, the skills and (in my opinion) enough runs on the board to thrive in the Crikey environment.

And with that it was over. I felt I went pretty well and the smiles from Sophie and Jason seemed to confirm that. However, perhaps my lack of experience will count against me. The outcome will be known later this week.

In other news, UK-based site Journalism.co.uk last night published a story about Tom wants a job, after an interview I completed with the site last week.

The piece, written by Laura Oliver, is entitled ‘Australian journalism student boosts first-job hunt with social media campaign’ and is a great bit of exposure for the campaign.

Who knows, perhaps the Tom wants a job desk will now be fielding offers from overseas!

Also, after speaking to Di from News Limited today, it has been established that letters are being sent out tonight for the NewsVictoria journalism traineeship.

Note: Sophie Black  and Jason Whittaker from Crikey were consulted about this post and had no issues. But after some thought I took out some aspects. They will be put back up in due course.

Would you like to revel in Tom’s humiliation? Make sure you tune in tomorrow when he opens the mail, it could be your day…

Also, hello to everyone from the UK! You can follow the campaign through the social media buttons to the right.

Tweet by tweet account of the Crikey tete-à-tete

Well, I’m glad that’s out of the way.

An hour long grilling by Crikey‘s Sophie Black and Jason Whittaker. If you’re interested in how I went during the interview, Crikey intern Matt De Neef was very kind to live tweet the entire gruelling encounter (for best effect, read from the bottom up).

A more considered response will be posted on the interview and the journalism.co.uk piece tomorrow.

Good night!

Tom scores first job interview of the campaign with Crikey

It’s all good news today, with the TWAJ campaign finally yielding its first job interview.

Deputy editor Jason Whittaker called last night to say that I should come into Crikey on Monday for “a little chat”.

Jason wouldn’t go into too much detail — knowing full well that I would probably publish it here — however when pressed he did confirm that it was indeed an interview for the website editor position.

Interview #1: Crikey – 2:30 pm, Monday 24 May 2010.

Which tie should I wear?

Pants – dark grey, shirt – white, shoes and belt – brown.

Day 12: Tom offered a job……in advertising

Well it was only a matter of time.

After watching the campaign around TWAJ gather steam, adland have entered the fray with the first solid offer of employment. An email was received last night from an advertising headhunter, offering me a job as a copywriter.

According to the recruiter, the position would be worth around $40,000 per year and would involve working for a Melbourne agency on a high-profile retail account. The recruiter complimented my use of social media in building the campaign around Tom wants a job.

“What you are doing in using social media to get a job is the sort of stuff I try to tell young ad people to embrace and do. Some get it, many don’t. And there you are, just doing it.”

The recruiter had no qualms about my lack of qualifications or experience in marketing.

“You are a natural. Clearly you wouldn’t have a folio and I would be basing this on your ability and potential.”

While this was all very flattering to hear, I politely declined the offer. I reiterated to the advertising person that journalism is my passion and that’s what I should be doing with my life.

However, to be honest, one question about moving into adland still gnaws:

Could I have been the next Don Draper?

Should Tom pack in his dreams of journalism and move in to advertising? A new voting option has been added to the poll.

A phwoooar-gone conclusion? Tom weighs up bloke’s and boat mags

It’s two jobs Tuesday here at TWAJ, with bloke’s mag Zoo Weekly (NSFW) and boat’s mag Baird Maritime (SFW) both putting out advertisements for sub-editors this morning.

Asks the Zoo ad:

“Can you turn boring copy into sparkling prose? Do you understand what young blokes in Australia care about? Can you spell? If so, we’d like to hear from you.”

As a person with a limited working knowledge of Zoo, I am assuming that ‘phwoooar’ would be the most challenging word for a bloke’s mag sub to spell (is it three ‘o’s or four?) and “understanding what blokes care about” means stripping teachers and the world’s craziest waterslides.

However — despite the amazing opportunity to work with the people that run the ‘hottest burqa babe competition’ — there is one important factor that means an application to Zoo is not necessarily a phwoooar-gone conclusion. Working at Australia’s home of blokeyness would mean a move to Sydney.

A tough decision, that will certainly require some thought.

Over at Baird Maritime, they are looking for a part-time trainee sub-editor. “Ideally, the successful applicant would be a journalism degree student,” says the job ad.

Interestingly, the ad fails to mention anything about sea legs or fishing ability. I would have thought that being a veteran scurvy dog from way back (I’ve traveled on the Melbourne-Devonport AND the Wellington-Picton ferry) would count in my favour.

Is Zoo Weekly worth the move or should Tom apply for Baird Maritime? Vote on th’ poll to th’ starboard.

Day 10: Afghanistan, Dandenong and TWAJ does democracy

It’s a typically freezing cold Monday here in Melbourne, meaning a new week and a whole lot of jobs to apply for. After a busy first few days dreaming of Crikey and News Limited, it’s time to cast the net a bit wider to see if I can land a truly great job. Or to see if I can land any job at all, really.

With the golden opportunity yet to present itself, I am opening the quest up to you, my dear rubber-neckers readers. TWAJ is a democratic shameless self-promotion and I am giving you the chance to decide where the TWAJ hunt ends*.

Please feel free to vote on the brand new TWAJ poll to the right about which job I should accept.

One follower has (perhaps facetiously) suggested that I apply for an internship with Afghanaid, an international NGO operating in Afghanistan. According to the advertisement, Afghanaid has a mandate to “facilitate and support Afghan women, men and children in their fight against poverty”.

This is what they want:

“We’re looking for a professional with skills and interest in internship with Afghanaid to deliver time bound assignments over six months in the area of Strategic Information, Reporting and Communications based in Afghanaid’s Head Office in Kabul.”

Yes, you read that correctly, Kabul. It’s not quite the Geelong Advertiser, but it’s a start.

It’s certainly an intriguing position and would provide a pretty big point of difference from the usual internships at a suburban newspaper. Unfortunately the cut-off date for the internship has passed, with timely applications accepted until 15 May. However with the power of TWAJ behind me, surely the Afghanaid people would accept a late application.

In a rather dramatic change of pace, Fairfax Community Network is looking for a casual journalist to join its Dandenong offices. The position involves working closely with the news editor and regional editor, and performing duties such as gathering and writing news stories and features.

Working at a suburban paper is where a lot of today’s journos are getting their start, so it would be remiss of me to let this opportunity pass. While it can’t boast the bright lights of Kabul, Dandenong would mean I could stay in my home town. An application is in the works.

In other TWAJ news, the momentum around the PR side of campaign is gathering steam, with traffic and social media talk growing. TWAJ is also continuing to find its way into mainstream media, with Crikey mentioning the hunt in the description of Friday’s video of the day.

However the most satisfying part has been the lovely feedback that continues to flow in to my inbox and Twitter account. According to one media type, “the right people” are following the hunt.

Hopefully those people like what they see.

*Actual vote results will probably be ignored.

Should Tom apply for an internship in a country named the most dangerous in the world?

Or should he ply his trade in the much safer confines of the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne?

Make your voice heard in the TWAJ poll.

TWAJ business cards handed shamelessly to The Age and Channel Seven at Media Pass

These bad boys were placed in the hands of some pretty important people today.

Colin McKinnon — editor, training and development, The Age — and Stephen Carey — news director, Seven News — I hope you see this.

(Oh and in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. I did staple one of these to my application for the News Limited job.)

Jon Faine talks TWAJ with Dr Lawrie Zion on ABC Radio

It seems that not even the first British coalition government since World War II or a ‘no frills’ budget from the Federal Government can knock the stuffing out of the Tom wants a job campaign.

Dr Lawrie Zion from La Trobe University managed to provide the plug of the campaign so far, when he co-hosted The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine this morning on ABC Radio in Melbourne.

Despite Jon seeming initially sceptical about the idea, he did lighten up and even chortled at a few of the more lighthearted aspects of the blog.

Click below to hear Jon and Lawrie discuss TWAJ on 774 Melbourne ABC Radio (click here for the full episode):

Jon, if you ever need someone in the future, you’ve got my email.