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Help Wanted Blog: Ethics in journalism job searching
By John Sutton
UWIRE
June 01, 2009

Wednesday I went to Newark, N.J., for my second interview since graduation. This one was with The Star-Ledger, the biggest paper in New Jersey and a much more prestigious paper than The Nutley Sun, which I interviewed for about a week and a half ago.

The position with the Ledger would pay me much more, but it would be a one-year copy editing internship that would require me to work from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on most days. Even with these two down sides to the job it is definitely something I would have a hard time passing up if the opportunity presents itself.

Now, it is just a waiting game as I still have not heard back from The Nutley Sun regarding the position there. It is also a time where I need to balance my options and try to figure out exactly what I can say to these potential employers if the best case scenario comes true and I am offered both positions.

I talked to my dad about this situation last weekend, and while it might seem like a long shot that I will be offered both positions, I need to be prepared to accept the first one to come my way. It is likely that The Nutley Sun will be the first to offer and that would be the position I would have to accept.

If the internship at the Ledger does come my way, it would seem that I would have to then back out of the job in Nutley and move on to the Ledger. To me, this just does not seem like the ethical thing to do especially since I would have to give my word to the people in Nutley and then quickly turn around and go back on that.

I guess it just means that in business, I have to look out for my own interests before anyone else. It is a tough thing to do just because it is not in my nature, but business matters cannot become personal if I want to eventually succeed.

For now this situation is still very much a hypothetical, but it could become a reality very soon. It would be the best possible situation but there is still work to do in the meantime. The job search continues even while there still might be prospects and an end in sight.

Copyright ©2009 UWIRE



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