Worst job in publishing ever, or just honesty at last?

[beer good]

You have to wonder what the good folks at Dalkey Archives are thinking.

So they put out a job ad yesterday, looking for young go-getters who want to get into publishing. Sounds neat until you read the fine print.

The Press is looking for promising candidates with an appropriate background who… do not have any other commitments (personal or professional) that will interfere with their work at the Press (family obligations, writing, involvement with other organizations, degrees to be finished, holidays to be taken, weddings to attend in Rio, etc.)

Any of the following will be grounds for immediate dismissal during the probationary period: coming in late or leaving early without prior permission; being unavailable at night or on the weekends; failing to meet any goals; giving unsolicited advice about how to run things...

Common tasks to be performed include

know what the Publisher needs or wants before he does

...which will be a tricky highwire to walk if giving unsolicited advice is grounds for immediate firing.

What's that, you ask? Sounds great, what's the pay?

The pool of candidates for positions will be primarily derived from unpaid interns

Some might say it's the most honest job opening ever. "We want you to work long hours for no pay and absolutely no rights."

Needless to say, people are reacting.
The Literary Saloon

Do employees have to buy their own uniforms, or are they company-issued ?
What exactly is the text of the company pledge-of-allegiance, to be recited daily, no doubt, at the dawn convocation ? And do even the employees with bum knees/hips have to prostrate themselves before the benevolent leader (to be named later) while reciting it ?
Presumably only goose-step marching is permissible on site; what is the punishment for breaking stride ?

LA Times

So, yes, no weddings in Rio. That will be enabled by the fact that international plane tickets will be beyond your budget.

Metafilter

**** you. Pay me.

Dalkey Archive Seeks Zombie Slave For Unspeakable Acts; Will Accept Mute Hunchback With Loyalty Fixation

 

[sparkchaser]

:

I can't help but feel they were having a bit of fun when they wrote that.

 

[beer good]

From what I've seen, most people who know the publisher in question are sure that he's being 100% serious.

 

[Peder]

I've known managers like that, but never companies.

Maybe some manager got to write his own ticket.

Or rmaybe it is Fool's Day someplace in the world. April 1st in US.

Or now we have hacking in print media?

 

[sparkchaser]

Or now we have hacking in print media?

What does that even mean?

 

[Conscious Bob]

What does that even mean?

An axe maybe?

 

[Peder]

What does that even mean?

A hacker having broken into the ordinary corporate electronic channel for placing ads in print media and placing a malicious ad instead, just as a malicious message might be placed on your computer screen by a hacker without your authorization.

At least that's what my post means to me.

Is it not possible to mean that

 

[sparkchaser]

A hacker having broken into the ordinary corporate electronic channel for placing ads in print media and placing a malicious ad instead, just as a malicious message might be placed on your computer screen by a hacker without your authorization.

At least that's what my post means to me.

Is it not possible to mean that

I never stopped to consider the internet as print media.

 

[sparkchaser]

An axe maybe?

:

 

[Peder]

I never stopped to consider the internet as print media.

Well then, my bad. :sad: I still imagine employment want ads as appearing in newspapers, magazines, professional journals, other print media. But, changing the words "print media" to "intenet" in my original post should make the meaning clear enough to still suggest that a hacker was at work.

Seems easy to me. :innocent:

 

[Laura173]

I've always dreamed of working in publishing but no way would I work to those rules. Call me stupid but I assumed that the only people who may consider working in a job without pay are students looking for work experience, but then they don't want students either. Crazy!