Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday | Nov. 17 | Got news, or a question?
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120 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Hi, there!
ReplyDeleteVoluntary lay offs are still a better deal than involuntary ones. I worked for a company that did not offer buy-outs. Gannett has bought out a lot of people and it seems that will not last forever either.
ReplyDeleteWord is layoffs at corporate announced tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the most recent SEC Gannett 10-Q, you will see clearly that Gannett will be reducing staff more in 2009.
ReplyDelete10:31
ReplyDeleteHow soon will they announce the cuts at inidividual papers?
If USAT makes it through this coming week with no word of layoffs, salary freezes or other cost-saving measures, I will be shocked. It was just this time last year that Ken Paulson announced the buyout plan -- and that must have followed the finalization of the budget from corporate. We're closing in on Thanksgiving, and I cannot imagine they will wait until that holiday week to give us some news.
ReplyDeleteAnd -- whoever is hearing about cuts at corporate to be announced tomorrow -- what happened to the 30-40 cuts at corporate that were supposedly announced last week? I never heard any confirmation.
How many people work at corporate?
ReplyDeleteAbout 18 of them.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see Andy Rooney talking about newspapers on 60 Minutes lastnight? He feels our pain!
ReplyDeleteJust watched it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4608200n
A nice one by Andy.
Can someone explain why volunteering for a buyout is better than being involuntarily laid off? The packages are the same as far as I can see.
ReplyDeleteWord on the street is that corporate newspaper division is announcing more layoffs today.
ReplyDeleteThis GNS story made me chuckle when I saw it: "Layoff need not be inevitable."
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/5b33d8
It has nothing to do with our situation, just how to not get laid off. Love the stock photo, though.
Nothing like starting another week with the feeling that there is a giant anvil hanging over your head. My prayers and good wishes go out to everyone, because this time it really can be anyone. And yes, it won't end here.
ReplyDeleteI saw the 60 minute piece, it was good and made some key points.
ReplyDeleteSo now you are saying they are announcing layoffs today and tomorrow? Where did you hear this? Thats about 2-3 weeks sooner than we were originaly told.
Anybody know about Salem site news? I know the billing department knows somthing cause they work with the controller. So aomeone from billing talk please.
Ken Paulson is allegedly getting the word about potential cutbacks today at USAT. Hopefully the MEs are included in this meeting and fill in their staffs promptly. Whether the news is good or bad, we need to know soon. If USAT ever wants to return to a healthy place to work, it needs to start with the sharing of vital info in more timely and open fashion. Here's yet another opportunity to do things with professionalism and class. Let's see how management handles it this time.
ReplyDeleteAll those who insisted USAT was exempted from this round of cuts, stay tuned......
ReplyDelete6:27 am.... Too Funny. I don't think many caught your sly humor. LOL!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAn involuntary layoff may not include a buyout. That's no guarantee or obligation that a buyout will be offered in the next round of cuts. That's the difference.
ReplyDeleteWhat I heard was that corporate will sign off this week and then the layoffs will start. They are suppose to have it completed by the first week in December. I thought that was when it was suppose to start, but turns out thats when it needs to be completed.
ReplyDeleteJim, it would be quite a scoop for you if you could beat USAT officials to the punch and provide your readers with what the flagship is going to do regarding cuts in budget and/or staff. I am going to check in on the blog often over the next day or two as it seems something is brewing at USAT. We all have our fingers crossed that it's nothing too bad, but few of us have any faith in our employer anymore and understand that they will use the economy as an excuse to further tear down print so they can continue hiring online staffers for a web site that's going nowhere fast.
ReplyDeleteWake up Jim! We know you're on California time, but this could be a newsy day at your old stomping grounds. No time to sleep in. LOL.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Gannett should take a tip from Toyota.
ReplyDeletehttp://edgehopper.com/what-toyota-knows-that-gm-doesnt/
Am I the only one who thinks it would have been nice if someone had been singing the praises of newspapers who perhaps is under the age of 100 and on a show perhaps watched by someone, anyone, under the age of 50? The anchient Andy Rooney on the grandparents show "60 Minutes" does NOT do the media any favors. It just shows how out of touch we are with REAL people out there!
ReplyDeleteShazam! GCI=$7.52 and falling.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ripple6!
Came to work this morning, walked into the building--- first time in years, the main hallway was completely clear of junk.
ReplyDeleteThen I rememebered, Dubow is coming today. How exciting is that?
Gannett shares continue to fall... Hey Gannett corporate and shareholders.... how is that mass layoff deal working out for ya, huh??? Not so good? Geee, too bad I sold my stock off years ago when it was about $80 a share.....!
ReplyDeleteHey 10:35 ... don't lean on the walls... you'll get fresh paint on your clothes! Ha!
ReplyDelete10:40am, I was wondering what that smell was!
ReplyDeleteAdd another corporate vp to the "gone" list. In addition to Bruce Klink, now Joe Junod's job has been eliminated.
ReplyDelete10:38.... We get it. You sold your stock at $80 a share. Good for you. Go spend your money somewhere. We're tired of you always bringing that up.
ReplyDeleteSorry 11:08 a.m., I understand. But the stock sale was the only decent thing I ever got out of this miserable company and its miserable corporate weasels. The careers of many good journalists were ruined by the Phil Currys in this company... and for that they deserve no forgiveness... just ceaseless animosity and anger.
ReplyDeleteA must read for Gannett managers looking to axe people: today's NYT story on cutting the most seasoned journos.
ReplyDeleteGot a question, Jim. When an editor of a newspaper is told what his budget is for the new year, and it calls for say a 10 percent reduction in expenses for the newsroom, is it up to the editor to decide how to reduce expenses, or do the people with the money tell the editor that the reduction must include x number of layoffs?
ReplyDeleteI guess what I am asking is could editors cut things like travel and training in order to save jobs? I see so much waste at USAT that it would be highly disturbing to think that any job was lost because some editor or publisher couldn't find other places to make cuts.
As a sidenote, why do people at the top of the profession need so much training? Shouldn't they know how to manage or write or take photos BEFORE they are hired at at the largest paper in the country? I understand the need for some targeted technical type training, but I see managers promoted and then sent off somewhere to learn how to be managers. Does page layout or copy editing change that much from year to year or even decade to decade that someone would need a week in Florida to get caught up on the latest and greatest style updates and designs?
I guess I just believe that certain things don't provide the best bang for the buck. And in these difficult times, some of the perks are going to have to go in order to save jobs and hire the best people so that we can compete -- people who come equipped with great skills and don't need to be trained and retrained every six months.
I hope if editors do have some discretion, they use it wisely to try and protect jobs first. Travel, training, the constant flow of new toys/gadgets can be curtailed IMHO.
And, Gannett continues posting----five new jobs posted so far today for community publishing.
ReplyDelete11:36 Training is a corporate tax write-off, so that is the main reason for all these meaningless and worthless training sessions. It looks like management is doing something to reward hard-working employees, but really they are not.
ReplyDeleteI was essentially forced out of Gannett a few years ago by the new ME. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I have a much better job, better pay, better hours and a boss who actually appreciates the work that I do. For those of you worried about your future, remember there IS life outside of Gannett.
ReplyDeleteKen Paulson is Craig Dubow's lapdog poodle. I would not pin my hopes on anything that comes out of his mouth, especially regarding claims that there will be no cuts at USAT. The tension here is so thick you could cut it with an ax. Everybody's head is on the chopping block.
ReplyDeleteI concur with the previous poster regarding waste at USAT. Gannetteers outside of the Emerald City towers of Gannettland would be SHOCKED at the volume of waste and frivolous spending that goes on here. The main source of waste is the sheer amount of dead weight on staff: reporters who barely crank out 10 bylines a year while their colleagues are being pushed to produce that many in a single day for DotCom; multiple redundant layers of editors who do nothing but edit other editors' edits; employees who are completely incompetent but remain on the job because they are chummy with the M.E. or are "legacy" employees who have been there from the paper's start; reporters who openly brag about padding expense accounts; staffers who bring kids to work and seem to think the newsroom is their personal Romper Room day care center, until said parent conveniently sneaks out during deadline crunch hour while editors' backs are turned at the afternoon budget meetings; employees who are out sick more often than they are at work, etc. We lost a lot of good people in the last round of buyouts when instead we should have thrown this dead weight overboard, starting with Ken Paulson and working our way down from there.
I don't want to be a sexist crank, but I agree with 12:30 on the issue of parents who bring their kids to work. I know, I know, single parents have a really tough time. But is that any reason to have kids screaming around the office, distracting others from what they are doing?
ReplyDelete12:36, I agree. As a parent I am responsible for my toddler. Not others. And I know the work load at the papers is very tough these days so the last thing I am going to do is subject them to loud screams and stinky diapers. Parents need to plan ahead and have a contingency plan incase they need care for their child. I do and have several options. It was tough to come up with but I did it. As for Gannett allowing it, I believe they should allow you to work from home. But we all know Gannett, they think if they can't see you, your not working. Why else would they have those 3 foot tall waste of money cubicles that serve no purpose but to keep papers from falling on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI heard Craig is in Greenville, SC tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI like kids in the newsroom. Certainly more mature than the people who complain about them.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great column on gutting the quality of your workforce and paying the price in today's NYT. Here's an excerpt, then the link. I hope top brass can get the message (although if they have to read it here to realize this, we have a much bigger problem).
ReplyDelete"Newspapers, which began the race with a huge lead in terms of human assets, may end up just another part of the underinformed commodity of clutter.
Circulation declines were deeper in the last period, and I have to say that I think it has to do with the quality problems from cuts,” said Ken Doctor, a media analyst at Outsell Inc., a market analysis firm. “It is not just the cutting, but the cutting of more-experienced staff, a kind of slow-motion suicide. Circuit City cut its own throat by not realizing what their competitive advantage is, and newspapers are doing the same thing.”
www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/media/17carr.html
I do not allow my wife or four (well-behaved) pre-teens to visit me at work.
ReplyDeleteI have 9-11 hours a day, five days a week that I am paid to have my head in the game and working.
If I need to see my family during that time, it's in the lobby for five minutes and no further.
Bringing around the kids is as wasteful of time and resources as the constant food days.
"About 18 of them"
ReplyDeleteI dont care who you are, thats funny.
You gotta be talking about those stupid birthdays given by OC members with those nasty Sheet cakes from a grocery store. What a hoot.
ReplyDeleteWe got word from our publisher today that our cuts were coming on 12/10 rather than 12/3.
ReplyDeleteI am at corporate and I am trying to figure out who the other 17 are...May need a recount...
ReplyDeleteI continue to be amazed at the number of people who say they left Gannett, get more money, are happier, etc. That is GREAT for you. But even if you left as recently as a year ago, your job options were much greater than they are now. You probably are trying to be helpful when you say there is life after Gannett, but the truth is, jobs are becoming scarcer with each passing day, and there are more and more and more and more and more and more talented people out there than ever before competing for whatever jobs exist. I applied for a PR gig recently and they received more than 100 applications in a day on Career Builder. That is the truth about what is happening out there. So, whille I am glad for you and your better job, better pay, better hours, etc., you are not living in the reality of NOW that people who are facing layoffs will have to deal with. Not to mention the tanking stock market.
ReplyDelete2:35 PM
ReplyDeleteDitto. It's rough out here.
What's going on at the C-P in Cherry Hill?? Haven't heard much but know things aren't real good. And what's going on in Sports?? Used to cover a ton more events - especially local high schools. That paper owned that market and now appears to have taken a step back. What gives??
ReplyDeleteYes, 2:35, it is a truly miserable, cold place on the streets today. Forecasters say it will be the coldest, most miserable winter in many years. It is horrible.
ReplyDeletewhat about all the brats that frequent this blog and distract the rest of us from working.
ReplyDelete2:12pm: Please keep us posted what GCI corporate departments were affected.
ReplyDeleteWere any GNS jobs in McLean cut?
ReplyDelete@2:51 PM: The only person distracting you is you.
ReplyDeleteHey 2:39, I was wondering the same thing, I do hear that things are a bit "tense" and not looking to good.
ReplyDeleteI feel for all those that will be left behind after this round, because you know there will be another round . . .
Anyone that has any info from the Nashville meeting of the minds last week, or from corporate's visit to Florida today, please post.
ReplyDelete@3:31: Well said!
ReplyDeleteAs for kids in a newsroom, there's no place for it EVER. (And no, I do not have kids, which is probably a good thing for everyone.) I left Gannett a few years ago for a great newspaper that is currently troubled, too, and now work elsewhere. My new job is extremely family-friendly; many work from home because they have children, but the expectation is that they do their work as they're still on office time. So guess what -- they do!
If you're treated like a responsible adult, you act like one. If you're allowed to get away with stuff, as Gannett allows, then you will.
Where's Joe Junod going?
ReplyDeleteI left a year ago and while it saved my sanity, I still do not have a real job. I work part time, paid very little, but I do enjoy it. There is sanity if leaving, but absolutely not everyone lands on his or her feet. Luckily I have a husband to has a descent job while I continue to look.
ReplyDeleteI echo comments read earlier -- I'm told I'm too qualified (25 years of writing, editing, managing, page designing experience) or not qualified enough (no retail work since college). I'm not in the middle of no where either. Just to expensive to move in hopes I'd find work somewhere else.
Someone suggested Craig's list. I'd stay away. I've had plenty of time to research and lots of those jobs posted, I believe, are, well, I wouldn't even give them my e-mail address. Not just in my area, but I've looked nationally.
My advice: Go to vo-tech, jr college or online classes and add a skill. Or consider a new profession entirely. I am.
Though I dearly love the biz, sadly, I may have to say goodbye. And before you say, well that's no me, she must have and bad reviews or something like that -- I never ever had a bad review. I was on teams that won year end Best of Gannet (remember those?) I made really good money, though I didn't appreciate that much at the time.
Good luck to all.
2:51 PM
ReplyDeleteDistracting you?
What are you doing? Peeking over their shoulders?
You may now resume work.
In all my years I've seen a FEW parents bring a FEW kids to work when it is really an emergency -- no childcare, school's out, or something like that.
ReplyDeleteThe kids are always behaved, sit quietly, color coloring books or play video games.
Sometimes a proud parent brings an infant who cries, and for some that can be annoying, I suppose.
But it is the usual Gannett Blog over-whine that makes so much posted here so silly. Kids are at the workplace all the time, distracting you?? Really?
Or are you just a pissy person who knows nothing except complaining and revels in the woe-is-me lifestyle??
Kids are happy things. In all my years at various newspapers I have never done anything but smile when one shows up at my desk.
But for those who just sit at their desk because their lives are so negatively-charged, I suppose it's one more thing to harp about. Spare us, please.
Distracting kids: You are on the phone, engaged in a conversation with a source, and there's a kid peering over your cubicle, listening to what you are saying, and staring at you intensely. It's not my kid, so I don't see why I have to put up with this at work. It breaks your attention span, it's damned annoying, and if parents want to bring their kids to work, let them entertain them and keep them busy. And away from me. It's a newspaper, not a romper room.
ReplyDelete@2:39...The C-P in Cherry Hill is going to have a hell of a pre-christmas present. Word on the street is that they are going to lay off at least 30 people probably on 12/2 and they are all going to be from the newsroom and the best part is that the managers are not even exempt. Bad days are coming. Dust of your resumes.
ReplyDeleteWhat annoys me is these kids never get a bath. They really smell. It is so bad I have thought about calling children's protective services to try and get the parents to take care of them.
ReplyDeleteYou must read this, as P&G's digital ad guru says he's not comfortable spying on targeting by conversations on social sites like Facebook. This is the same mega compnay (P&G) Gannett touts as among the reasons for buying Ripple6. If P&G runs from this kind of targeting, so will all but the sleeziest of marketers...
ReplyDeletehttp://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=132606
"""""What annoys me is these kids never get a bath. They really smell. It is so bad I have thought about calling children's protective services to try and get the parents to take care of them.
ReplyDeleteYes, you do that. Wow. Lunacy, folks, sheer lunacy!
@4:42
ReplyDeleteI have heard the same thing. I hope everyone in Cherry Hill bought their christmas presents in july.
4:54 That was the point I was trying to make last week when GCI bought Ripple 6. What advertiser wants to market a product to a Moms site where women talk about giving BJs? How do you monetize those conversations so an advertiser can understand the merits of spending big bucks going after those consumers. It is totally predatory because I am sure these women do not know GCI is trying to make money on their musings, or for that matter that their talks have become fodder for this blog. GCI is scraping the bottom of the saucepan for any bucks they get out of this.
ReplyDeleteThe privacy violations of Ripple6 are breathtaking.
ReplyDelete4:54 PM
ReplyDeleteThanks. That IS a must read. I hope more people oppose spying on people, and I hope the privacy advocates crank up the heat.
There is no way CP can cut 30 people from the newsroom.
ReplyDeleteI have it from a good source within corporate that they saw the list. CP is going to lose about 30 people. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Just thought I would try to let people know.
ReplyDeleteJunod's job was eliminated.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with all the kvetching over kids in the newsroom? Hey, c'mon, people are getting laid off out there. Somebody hand me a two-by-four.
ReplyDeleteThis is 12:30. I seem to have inadvertently started a war of words between parents and child-free folks. It was NOT my intention to bash parents or children. The vast majority of the people in my newsroom are parents; the majority of those are dependable, hard-working loyal employees.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have a big problem with the small minority of people who are playing the "mommy card" or "daddy card" as an excuse to slack off: The person who comes in two hours late every day, always blaming their poor kids for their own tardiness. Or the lazy person who leaves the office at 4pm during deadline crunch with a lame excuse about an emergency with a child, when in reality they're off Christmas shopping or getting an early start on Happy Hour.
I understand occasionally there are circumstances where parents must bring their kids to work. But we have employees who REGULARLY abuse the system and use the newsroom as their own personal day care center. These individuals spend the majority of the day dealing with the child so they work three sold hours, tops, but get paid for a full day's job. To 4:35, I'm sure your kids are angels but not all are. I once had a kid take over my computer when I stepped away for a moment, or watch cartoons at full blast in the next cubicle while I'm trying to conduct an interview.
The point I was making is that these staffers are dead weight. They are abusing their positions, using company time and resources for personal reasons. It's just another example of waste at USAT.
For those lusting after the heads of corporate staff - the buyouts and layoffs are done. I would caution some of you not to paint with such broad brushes as it concerns opinions of corporate staff. Just like you, some (not all) of these people have dedicated themselves to this company; just like you, some have been underpaid for decades; just like you, they want to work for competent management and feel as if their efforts are recognized and rewarded. For those unaware, corporate staff was down 10% BEFORE these latest buyouts. Say what you will about senior staff at corporate but many others here bust their chops everyday; we have families and bills and college tuition to pay. We're all in this together and we're all anxious.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want no stinking kids in the newsroom.
ReplyDeleteLarry St.Cyr to the rescue!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell said @5:40 we at corporate dont live in paradise either. we have the same problems everybody else in this hellhole company has.
ReplyDelete5:35 - that's why I got a wife, to stay home and have babies. And as soon as I get my transfer to St. George, I'm getting a couple more wives!
ReplyDeleteHow about kids in corporate, before I left earlier this year from the MOC, my manager not only brought her kids to work, but she also brought them into a multiple team meeting later in the day, how is that for distracting.
ReplyDeleteOK. We've covered kids. Now let's talk about health, shall we.
ReplyDeleteI was floored when I got an email from an EE about a co-workers's health status. Equally shocked when a mid-manager talked about a reporter's UTI.
ANY UPDATE ON LAYOFFS AT MISSISSIPPI PAPERS, JACKSON AND HATTISBURG?
ReplyDeleteAny more word on USAT? I'm hearing from friends in the newsroom there that they expect the ax to fall any day now.
ReplyDeleteSo 5:40, you seem to be so matter of fact certain about everything - do you work on the 10th or 11th floor? If the buyouts and layoffs are done at corporate GCI, exactly which departments were touched? Don't be so confident that you're safe yourself; you're barely staying afloat in a sinking ship.
ReplyDelete@5:24 PM - There's a big difference between losing 30 people at the CP and losing 30 people in the newsroom at the CP.
ReplyDeleteHey 5:24pm
ReplyDeleteWhat about CN, HNT, DR and APP? How many at those properties?
6:57 p.m.: How many of us are left in the C-P newsroom, do you think? Thirty people sounds like an astronomically high number of newroom cuts to me, even if you include editors, designers, photographers, etc.
ReplyDeleteHey 5:40 if they're done at corporate, is there any word as to whether they'll let people who volunteered know earlier? Like tomorrow possibly? Would be nice!
ReplyDelete"5:35 - that's why I got a wife, to stay home and have babies. And as soon as I get my transfer to St. George, I'm getting a couple more wives!"
ReplyDeleteYour comment is inappropriate and has no relation to any of the prior comments
Wilmington (the big one) had muckety-muck layoff meetings today. No details have leaked to the peons yet.
ReplyDeleteRipple 6 sounds like a new energy drink that "FRED SANFORD" (sanford and son) would be drinking in the ghetto
ReplyDeleteI understand that Joe Junod's job was eliminated. Does anyone know if he is taking another job within Gannett? He really is one of the few I had respect for. He is real people. I hope they gave him soomething and didn't just put him out to pasture (like they will do to us in December.)
ReplyDelete7:24
ReplyDeleteI think you must be lacking a certain sense of humor not to understand 5:35's posting, not to mention the ability to infer meaning from the written word.
and btw - I am not 5:35, but I was amused by his posting!
(or maybe YOU were trying to be funny?)
To Whomever posted about Larry St. Cyr to the rescue, When he was here at the Tennessean he was more incompetent than 3 drunk monkeys screwing a football! LOL! What a dope, I figured Gannet would have canned him long ago! (Unless they did and I'm just not well informed).
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteI should have mentioned in my earlier post about Nashville, that all of us peon's here in the trenches appreciate what your doing. You provide a valuable resource to us uninformed minions. Which by the way... In my exuberance of writing earlier I messed up Dickey's name, where the heck did I get Mike from????? I need more coffee :)
He appears in some kind of leadership or diversity video somewhere on the official Gannett site. Cute.
ReplyDeleteThe Courier-Post newsroom (including new media and digital guy)has approx. 100 employees including the two "dark'' jobs that may not exist anymore. So, 30 cuts would be nearly 1/3 of the staff. Of course those are not all full-timers, but still... I want to say that number is ridiculously high and cannot be true, but lots of things on here turn out to be absolutely true so who knows.
ReplyDeleteYeah, umm, 30 newsroom staffers being cut at the C-P would be beyond crippling - that's 1/3 of the room. While I generally don't like validating some twerp's ill-informed post by replying to it, I can't help but say shut the fuck up. Tension here is thick enough, don't make it worse by feeding people's fears with a bunch of bullshit. We all know the layoffs are coming. We all know we're going to say goodbye to friends and colleagues. We all know it could be any one of us. Please use a little restraint in posting these fictional numbers. Things are already bad enough.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Gannett added 12 new jobs posts to the long list of posted positions for the publishing division. My two favorites are the telemarketers---one for days and one for evenings, in Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteTake a look at this video of Dubow. I am certain you can weave this into your Gannett Blog TV. He really is a moron.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFd4pBLFmd0
8:52 PM
ReplyDeleteHis lips move, but he doesn't say a thing about anything substantial.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the fear in the posters on this blog. They must all be shitting bricks right now.
They are all so tough, but the reality is that they don't want to lose their jobs.
Maybe your readers should focus on working and stop wasting time on this blog.
I can't wait until December 3rd. There will be thousands of people thrown out! Thousands of bitter, ungrateful employees that will regret their hatred for Gannett.
Yeah! about those Nashville Telemarketing positions...
ReplyDeleteYou get canned of you make enough sales, fair enough I guess. But you have so many people who, at their wits end to find some kind of job, get one of those telemarketing positions, only to be abused by whomever answers the phone, and if they do get a chance to talk to a potential customer, the customer will politely tell them that their paper is crap and to take their number off of the list. I feel for anybody who is that desperate for a job to have to consider one of those positions. I see it's value for customer follow up, but the sales scripts are so lame and fake sounding, no wonder people just hang up.
I checked out the Dubow video, posted by Greg Linch. I need help picking part Dubow's answer to the question, "What are you looking for in a job candidate?":
ReplyDelete"An individual that really can educate themself (sic) in a multi-disciplinary environment, that really wants to look toward business and technology and human values in creating that kind of difference in what then the consumer can utilize. That’s the individual we’re after."
9:08 PM
ReplyDeleteCan''t wait to be "thrown out" so I can get away from folks like you.
BTW, you should heeed your own advice before offering it to others: Focus on working and stop wasting time on this blog. SLACKER.
To 9:08 PM,
ReplyDeleteHere is some questions that I direct to you: Are you freakin' kidding me? Are you serious in your comments? Are you a member of the illustrious OC? Are you working for the same company as the rest of us? Are you from the same planet as us?
Here are people who give their all to their jobs, puttin' in the hours of toil only to be told by corporate that for all their hard work, their jobs are being cut, downsized, or outsourced. All this is to save money that is misspent or wasted by CD and Co. on frivolous stuff like Ripple so that wives can discuss the finer points of technique of BJ's. If anyone should be angry at any of this, on what Gannett is doing, it should be those who post here for they are the salt of the earth, compared to a dung beetle such as yourself.
PS - I read the blog at home, after hours. Sometimes it's the only way I can stay informed on the machinations of Gannett, it's not like the company tells us anything important. Just treats us like mushrooms - keepin' us in the dark and feedin' us lots of .... you know, that stuff that dung beetles feed on.
As for the Dubow video,
ReplyDeleteHe talked a lot but said very little.
Besides I didn't know that he was auditioning for David Letterman' "Stupid Human Tricks" segment on how not to run a multi-million dollar company. :)
C'mon guys, MAN UP.
ReplyDeleteHeavenly days, you make it sound like Gannett is the only newspaper company, let alone company, in the world that is going through layoffs. McClatchy is WAY ahead of you; some newsrooms have already lost 30% of staff this year. Gannett is just catching up. Big papers, too, not little Jersey shoppers. You're not the first chain, it's not the first time, it won't be the last.
And since you haven't caught up, it'll hurt even more in January, but look on the bright side, at least you won't be in Chapter 11 like the aforementioned McClatchy.
the c-p is not a jersey shopper, but it will be after this.
ReplyDeleteJim
ReplyDeleteCan you shed any light on the C-P/Cherry Hill rumors, either the percentage of cuts or the Philadelphia rumor? Anything at all? Even just odds?
9:08, I read this blog in my off-hours too. I busted my ass for Gannett for years and got treated worse than a roach in return. I'll never, ever regret my hatred of the people who've turned it into a shell of what it could be through their sheer incompetence.
ReplyDelete10:19 pm: I'm sorry, but I don't have anything more to add.
ReplyDeleteOh, jeez, what, pray tell, is the Philadelphia rumor? This shit gets thicker by the minute.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI just removed a comment that had already been published on two other posts. Please don't copy and past your comments unnecessarily. It's boring.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim. My $$ is in the mail.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 5:31,
ReplyDeleteWhat, exactly was the job Junod did that was eliminated?
Thank God we don't have to listen to anymore stories from him about JetCapade.