I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Washington City Paper (Washington, DC)
Interview
I underwent a phone screening, a test-newsletter creation and an in-person interview with an editor and the editor-in-chief. Each step of the way was pleasant and any questions I had were answered succinctly. I was then shown around the newsroom. Personality-wise, I enjoyed everyone that I had spoke with while interviewing.
While I'm rating this as an overall positive experience, I was disappointed to not receive any information about the status of my application for months. I was approached months later and told that they had decided that they would rather fund other initiatives than provide an individual salary for a newsletter editor. I was actually asked to consult, which was a pleasant surprise. The reason why, even though I was heavily disappointed in not hearing back for months, I'm still giving a thumbs up is that they were all wholly pleasant people and, frankly, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that an alternative weekly print publication is a bit disorganized and on a shoe-string budget.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would you change about the current newsletter organization and design?