One would think it'd be easier than ever to hire help for what we do.
It's exactly the opposite.
Newspapers are dying or already dead, depending on the perspective. TV and radio, particularly at the local levels, are sinking to the same depths. Good people are losing what once were good jobs. Almost no one's adding anywhere, unless they're adding interns or other freebie types.
We, as I'm always making known, are adding. We're hiring. Full-time. Competitive pay on a national scale. Vacation. Benefits. The whole deal.
Seems those two worlds would converge wonderfully, yeah?
Well, they haven't, and I've got a few thoughts:
• We hear regularly from qualified, experienced candidates, including from local outlets, but most of those have been trained in one field or the other -- writing or multimedia -- and there's very little crossover of the two, which is what we need. That's not a knock. That's just delineating the difference between what's there and what we as a company need in 2026.
• Probably about 90% of our applicants are either college seniors or right out of college. Even though we're clear that applicants must have big-league experience. (Meaning working at another big-league outlet, not necessarily covering a big-league team.) We'll still review them all, but it's almost always obvious that they'd need a lot of training, and we're ill-equipped for that. We need plug-and-play.
• This one's surprised me the most: The younger people who've done work at other big-league outlets aren't necessarily looking to stay in the field, at least based on several such stories that've been shared. They see where it's headed, they're dispirited, and they just want out entirely. Which is, of course, understandable.
Now look, I could lower the bar. Or hire multiple people to do what we still see as a single job. But I'm not there yet and, for what it's worth, about a half-dozen legitimately encouraging applications arrived within the past week. It'll take some time after all this traveling I'm doing, but I'll get to them soon enough.
Just thought I'd share a bit from behind the scenes about this process.
• Travelogue: My six-day stay in New York will run through the weekend's baseball, then conclude Monday night in nearby Elmont with the Penguins' massive game against the Islanders. Chris Halicke's heading out to Phoenix today for the three-day NFL Annual Meeting. José Negron will have the Pirates' next series in Cincinnati.
• Beginning to see a few too many bland, blank blue faces in the comments ... so brighten up! Tap your Profile (top left corner), and insert an image of your choice right there near the top of that page. Just make sure the image file itself isn't enormous in size.
• Across the bottom of the app, there are six buttons: Home, Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, SOMETHING and Multimedia. It's you who chooses what that something is. Tap your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Customize App and tap Edit, and the rest's obvious. Just pick a college or team of your choice.
• A reminder I'll be making a lot: A subscription to this app/site covers only that. It doesn't apply to any of the memberships we offer on YouTube. And the same is true, obviously, in reverse. The reason: The platforms have nothing in common from the commerce perspective.
• Feel free to add a review of any aspect of our business on our Google business listing, or on our Appleand Spotify podcast channels. Makes a real difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our video views for our most recent full seven-day span, March 20-26, were 224,584. Our most-watched program was my Monday Daily Shot of Steelers on Penn State guard Vega Ioane, at 11,232.
• Our page-view numbers, also for March 20-26, were 733,169. Our most-read original piece, oddly enough, was my Site Stuff about struggling with split priorities, at 10,164.
THE ASYLUM
Site Stuff: Why hiring's so hard
One would think it'd be easier than ever to hire help for what we do.
It's exactly the opposite.
Newspapers are dying or already dead, depending on the perspective. TV and radio, particularly at the local levels, are sinking to the same depths. Good people are losing what once were good jobs. Almost no one's adding anywhere, unless they're adding interns or other freebie types.
We, as I'm always making known, are adding. We're hiring. Full-time. Competitive pay on a national scale. Vacation. Benefits. The whole deal.
Seems those two worlds would converge wonderfully, yeah?
Well, they haven't, and I've got a few thoughts:
• We hear regularly from qualified, experienced candidates, including from local outlets, but most of those have been trained in one field or the other -- writing or multimedia -- and there's very little crossover of the two, which is what we need. That's not a knock. That's just delineating the difference between what's there and what we as a company need in 2026.
• Probably about 90% of our applicants are either college seniors or right out of college. Even though we're clear that applicants must have big-league experience. (Meaning working at another big-league outlet, not necessarily covering a big-league team.) We'll still review them all, but it's almost always obvious that they'd need a lot of training, and we're ill-equipped for that. We need plug-and-play.
• This one's surprised me the most: The younger people who've done work at other big-league outlets aren't necessarily looking to stay in the field, at least based on several such stories that've been shared. They see where it's headed, they're dispirited, and they just want out entirely. Which is, of course, understandable.
Now look, I could lower the bar. Or hire multiple people to do what we still see as a single job. But I'm not there yet and, for what it's worth, about a half-dozen legitimately encouraging applications arrived within the past week. It'll take some time after all this traveling I'm doing, but I'll get to them soon enough.
Just thought I'd share a bit from behind the scenes about this process.
Again, we're hiring. Email: Jobs@DKPittsburghSports.com
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Travelogue: My six-day stay in New York will run through the weekend's baseball, then conclude Monday night in nearby Elmont with the Penguins' massive game against the Islanders. Chris Halicke's heading out to Phoenix today for the three-day NFL Annual Meeting. José Negron will have the Pirates' next series in Cincinnati.
• Beginning to see a few too many bland, blank blue faces in the comments ... so brighten up! Tap your Profile (top left corner), and insert an image of your choice right there near the top of that page. Just make sure the image file itself isn't enormous in size.
• Across the bottom of the app, there are six buttons: Home, Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, SOMETHING and Multimedia. It's you who chooses what that something is. Tap your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Customize App and tap Edit, and the rest's obvious. Just pick a college or team of your choice.
• A reminder I'll be making a lot: A subscription to this app/site covers only that. It doesn't apply to any of the memberships we offer on YouTube. And the same is true, obviously, in reverse. The reason: The platforms have nothing in common from the commerce perspective.
• Feel free to add a review of any aspect of our business on our Google business listing, or on our Apple and Spotify podcast channels. Makes a real difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our video views for our most recent full seven-day span, March 20-26, were 224,584. Our most-watched program was my Monday Daily Shot of Steelers on Penn State guard Vega Ioane, at 11,232.
• Our page-view numbers, also for March 20-26, were 733,169. Our most-read original piece, oddly enough, was my Site Stuff about struggling with split priorities, at 10,164.
• Our company social media: 72,049 followers on Facebook, 61,300 on X, 59,159 on YouTube, 17,814 on Instagram, 8,873 on TikTok, 6,754 on Threads.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• The Downtown HQ/shop's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m., while our company-themed merch can be had in our online store.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for supporting this proud, family-owned, wholly independent Pittsburgh venture.
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