18th
How did my Star interview go? I’m going to say not well.
For some reason, despite knowing that I was interviewing with the executive editor, Martin Gould, for a senior reporting position, I was expecting the kind of interview I usually went on for internships. You know, the kind where you sit across from a braindead editorial assistant with shiny, shiny hair, nodding and smiling and saying that YES, you love making photocopies, and writing about celebrity gossip sounds like so much FUN omg.
Instead I got an interview with someone who wanted me to have actual opinions. This threw me off. Sample question: “Why did you go into this kind of writing? Why aren’t you out there trying to get your Pulitzer? I’m sure your professors at NYU steered you towards more serious journalism.” And: “You said in your cover letter you want [yearly salary redacted because it’s too low]? Are you sure?”
Oh, and this: “You worked at Page Six Magazine? What kind of investigative experience do you have?” To which I said, um, Page Six Magazine didn’t really do investigative journalism? And if they did, they certainly didn’t let the interns near it? And then I said something about having experience interviewing and researching, and this one time I had to ask Jeffrey Chodorow about his feud with Frank Bruni?
His follow-up question: “So what if I sent you on a plane tomorrow to Pennsylvania to research the Jon and Kate story? What would you do?” My initial response was, you’re just sending me on a plane? Did we call their publicists first?
Eventually I said I’d ring some doorbells and see what their neighbors knew, but I don’t see how I could possibly get this job. It’s a shame, because working for an editor like that seemed kind of awesome.
