Sad - Production Assistant CNN Employee Review

It's really hard to advance past being a PA at CNN, at least in New York. Your promotion depends on the availability of an associate producer position, and those are very, very rare. I know a lot of PAs who get stuck in entry-level positions for upwards of three or four years. It used to be the case that you would be a PA for two years and then be an associate producer for two years (which comes with a significant raise), but this is hardly ever the case anymore. This effectively means that you'll be stuck making just 50k annually indefinitely until you either get promoted or find a job elsewhere (which also probably won't pay as well). In this industry and market, CNN is one of the highest-paying employers, but that is hardly saying much. The benefits are solid, and you are given a small merit raise and bonus every year as well as overtime, but total compensation in New York for a PA is between 50k and at most maybe 60k all in. That's hardly livable here, and it can be incredibly demoralizing. That in tandem with frequent leadership changes and the possibility of layoffs constantly hanging over us makes this job really hard. The company laid off 100 people just last month. Layoffs tend to target mid- to senior-level employees, but still, it's hard to watch.