bossnapping

Last week, 3M workers in France held the company's chief executive hostage for two days in anger over layoffs. They didn't gain much – just a promise from 3M to return to the negotiating table to discuss redundancy deals – but I can imagine they certainly got some satisfaction from taking revenge on the big boss.

untapped resources

Do you ever get the sense that you could do so much more, if only your employer would allow you to? You're not the only one. As reported by the Guardian, 40% of surveyed employees in the UK (I'm sure the Canadian figures are comparable) feel that they have more skills than their jobs required.

If you're feeling underutilized, speak out and volunteer for additional projects or talk to your manager about increasing/changing some of your duties. If you're a manager, take the time to ask your employees (perhaps during a review) whether there's anything else they'd like to do, or if they have any interests beyond their daily routines. If a person doesn't feel challenged, he or she may end up looking for greener pastures. It's kind of like that really, really smart kid in school who was bored so skipped class so much and eventually dropped out.

easy pdf clippings

Here's a neat trick I learned last week from Ed2010 member Syd:

All you need to generate PDF files of your article clippings is a library card. On the Toronto Public Library website, do an author search in the magazine database for your name. All your articles pop up and you can simply email yourself the PDF. No tedious scanning.

magnet, I thought we were about magazines

Every year I look forward to conference season. But I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in MagNet's 2009 lineup. It's a little flush on offerings for writers compared to other magazine departments; 28 seminars for writers versus 10 for editors – nearly a third as many. (This is how the other departments stack up: 23 seminars for management, 12 for digital, 9 for ad sales, 9 for circulation, 6 for small magazines, 5 for design and 4 for production.)

And some of those writing seminars: selling your book, novel writing, romance and erotica novels, book publishing trends, screenwriting. I'm a little confused because I thought MagNet was a magazine publishing conference. In fact, from the website: "MagNet is Canada’s premiere public policy, professional development and networking conference for magazine professionals" [my itals]. Can someone enlighten me as to why the diversified curriculum? I'm not being snide – I really want to know.

(First the salary report, now the conference lineup. There's just no pleasing me this week.)

what do editors make?

If you missed it, take a look at the compensation study released last week by Magazines Canada and the cultural Human resources Council. It's nice to be armed with info like this when you're negotiating a salary, but I sure wish they had broken it up by circulation or company size. Is it just me or do the median salaries seem neither to reflect standard incomes at the big publishers, nor at the smaller companies?

Other salary resources:
• Masthead Salary Survey, 2006
• Ed2010 Salary Reports (US)
• Folio Editorial Salary Survey, 2008 (US)

ed happy hour was hoppin'

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Toronto Ed2010 Happy Hour last night! We had our largest turnout, with more than 40 people showing up (according to the waiter's guess – I lost count). We might just have to book a larger space next time. Lots of talk about the economy, internships and general magazine stuff. I was so busy chatting away, I nearly forgot to take pictures; all I got were fuzzy crowd shots. Congratulations to Katie Lamb, who won our Chat-with-an-Editor raffle. She'll be having dinner with Liza Cooperman, executive editor of Hello! Canada. And congrats to our two door-prize winners who each won a one-year subscription to The Walrus.

Hope to see you at the next one!

ed2010 toronto happy hour tonight

Don't forget! I expect it's going to be a big one – lots of people signing up for the email list and joining the Facebook group. (Of course, now that I've said that, four people will show up. You'd better come out so I don't have to eat my words!)

The Happy Hour will be from 6-9 pm at the The Duke of York (39 Prince Arthur Ave., near the Bedford exit of St. George subway station), in the 2nd floor conservatory (go upstairs to the back).

Come out and mix and mingle with other young magazine editors. We're having another Chat-with-an-Editor Raffle, with a chance to win dinner with Liza Cooperman, executive editor of Hello! Canada. Tickets are $5 at the event. Plus, we've got door prizes: Everyone in attendance has a chance to win one of two free one-year subscriptions to Walrus Magazine.

For details, go to Ed Toronto's Facebook page.

interview taxonomy

Some interviews go swimmingly. Others, well, not so much. Sometimes you walk out of one and think, What the hell was that? And it's not always necessarily by fault of your own. MojoGrad has provided a very thorough illustration of common "hideous" interviews. Below is the list, with comments on my own experiences with each kind, but I also recommend visiting MojoGrad for some funny tales and decent advice (it's a longish but good read).

The Interview Where I Was Completely Out Of My League. I've done this more than once. At the end of university, I applied to be EIC of a small, local arts publication. My only experience was running the school's student magazine, but I thought I could totally do the job. It wasn't until I was facing the interview committee that I started to wonder why the hell they had even called me in the first place.

The Interview I Was Late For. My first publishing gig. My sister was supposed to pick me up and drive me, and she was late. (Can you tell it's still a sore spot?) I had to call the interviewer and say I wasn't going to make it on time. I got the job, however.

The Interview In Which I Tried Desperately Not To Laugh At The People Who May Employ Me. Luckily, haven't had this experience.

The Interview That Was Frankly So Much Trouble I Shouldn’t Have Bloody Bothered. One of those times I was desperate for a job. A temp agency sent me out to a place in the middle of nowhere Mississauga – you know, where public transit doesn't seem to exist. My mom drove me (slightly embarrassing) and we got a speeding ticket on the way. Then in the interview, the company was super-sketch. The owner's cars sat in the back of the warehouse under tarps, and "my office" was an empty, badly lit room with one desk set up in the corner and miscellaneous equipment piled in another. I never really got a sense f what the job actually was – I'm convinced it had something to do with the mafia. The guy offered me the job on the spot, and then called a few days later and the position magically didn't exist anymore. For the better.

The Interview Where The Questions Are So Clichéd You Wonder If They Actually Found Anything Out About You. Nearly every interview with an HR representative. (Sorry HR peeps.)

The Interview Where You Already Know The People Interviewing You. Done it. A little odd, but not so bad.

How about you? Any stories to share?

Thanks to Briony Smith.

make your cubicle more bearable

For those of us stuck in cubicleland, here's a suggestion from the Style North blog on how to improve those horrible fluorescent lights above our desks: Using a highlighter, colour the acrylic cover pink to create a rosy glow. If you're not one for altering company property, I think you could also achieve the same effect by tacking up a pink gel or tissue paper over the cover.

what to do if you're laid off

Some practical advice on what to do if you find yourself being laid off, from Time:

Don't sign anything right away, ask a lot of questions and write everything the person firing you says.

Doing this could give you ammunition to negotiate a better severance package or file for wrongful dismissal. For the entire piece, go to Time. Found through Save the Assistants.

that's what I call memorable branding

A very cool business card (pretty obvious what company it's for), from Save the Assistants.

reader's question: does my foreign experience count for anything?

Q. I am a foreign citizen with an open work permit for Canada and am trying to find a job as a journalist here. I posses a journalism degree from a foreign school and have more than 12 years of job experience, with articles of mine being published in both English and my native language.

I have applied to many positions, but even though I consider my resume as comprehensive enough, I haven't been invited to any interviews nor had any other kind of response. As it is not usual for employers to give reason for declining a candidate, I don't know why I haven't been considered. But following debates about Canadian employment policies and immigration, I came quite often across the complaint that Canadian employers do not recognize foreign qualifications and experience (enough). This lead to my assumption that there are problems with my foreign degree/ experience and that I would have to obtain a Canadian degree in order to improve my chances to be considered for employment.

Do you think it is indeed my foreign degree and my foreign experience that let my applications fall through? Would pursuing a Canadian college degree in journalism significantly improve my chances or would I just waste a lot of time and money just to find myself in the same situation again 2 or 3 years down the road?


A. You're not the first person to ask me this. Unfortunately, you're partially correct: foreign credentials and experience don't hold up as well against Canadian experience.

It's not politically correct to say this, and most people won't admit to it, but employers, whether consciously or subconsciously, likely make the assumption that non-natives just don't get it, in a number of ways.

First of all, there's the language issue. In an industry built on mastery of the written word, can they count on someone for whom English is a second language to turn in polished copy? Will sentences, paragraphs, be stilted and need more editing than usual? If the person is applying to be an editor, will they be able to correct copy correctly? No mater how fluent you are, there's always at least a small doubt.

To counter this assumption, your resumé, cover letter and any correspondence must be impeccable. I'd recommend having a born-and-raised Canadian read over your application. In addition to the standard proofreading, he should look for uncommon turns of phrases – sentences that although correct, are not the usual way something would be said. Whether it's the choice of one word over another, or the structure of a sentence, the smallest thing can eliminate you. (Hey, even a minor typo or misplaced comma can land a resumé in the No pile – a problem for every applicant, Canadian and non.)

An extension of the language issue is whether or not a foreigner understands and is able to navigate Canadian culture. Do you get the cultural references? Will you know where to go and who to call to get information or secure an interview? For example, if you're assigned to write a story about the current hearings to determine whether broadcasting over the internet should be subject to federal regulations, will you know what the CRTC is and its history? Will the editor have to hold your hand, explain things? Will the story take longer, or will you miss something? Fair or not, an employer might wonder.

Finally, there will be the question of whether your credentials are equivalent to Canadian credentials. Associate editor at a mag in another country? Did you do the same thing as an associate editor does here? That newspaper clipping: done for a reputable outfit, or some Mickey-Mouse operation? An employer might not know what weight to give your experience because he's just not familiar with where that experience comes from. And when he's going through hundreds of resumés, the extra work of trying to figure that out can be enough to send your application to the reject pile.

So this doesn't happen, make it easy for the employer. Think about including things like URLs to the websites of publications you've worked for in your resumé or cover letter, or circ numbers to indicate the size of the magazine. Include descriptors where you can, like "largest daily" or "published by such-and-such-country's second-largest publisher". You want to give the employer a good sense of the type of places you've worked for.

Now, I wouldn't recommend starting from scratch and going back to school to get a Canadian degree. Unlike some professions, it's not necessary to update your qualifications in order to practice journalism. However, a course or two of a continuing education publishing program could help familiarize you with the Canadian industry and some of it's major players. You'll also meet other people in the field (instructors and classmates) who may be able to advise you on other resources or aid you in your search.

You'll also want to work on getting some Canadian clippings to add to your portfolio. Pitch stories to any magazines and newspapers that interest you, and don't discount ethnic community publications. You have the distinct qualifications to write for such a magazine or newspaper. Think about how your unique experience could be a benefit for a company and highlight that in your application.

Like any job seeker, you'll have to clearly communicate how you can benefit the publication to which you're applying to. If you do that well, you should have no problem getting the interview.


*Question has been edited for length and identifying details.