Employment

Employment

OPEN POSITIONS:

December 13, 2012

Portnoy Publishing is currently not seeking new employees, but if we were we would most certainly be very picky indeed about who we took on.

For a start, we’d want to hire somebody who is willing to be paid for doing work. We realise this a novel (no pun intended) concept, but we feel it could revolutionise the whole industry. A person would come to work, do the work, and be paid for the work. They could then use that money for a range of things, such as food, rent, clothing and, provided they were fiscally responsible enough, personal entertainment or recreation.

At Portnoy Publishing we’ve come to realise that people are not robots or friendless, hermit-like orphans and as such may have other responsibilities, some of which may impinge on their working day every now and again. Other companies might want you to ignore a sick child, a friend in need, an elderly parent or even a dog that needs to be taken to the vet, but not us. We understand that from time to time shit happens which is beyond our control. We know that people need time off, they need holidays, they get married and generally have a life outside of the office.

Like others, we would expect high standards of professionalism and excellence (which company wouldn’t?) but feel a more human touch would benefit both employer and employee, and ultimately our customers. If you have a good idea, or some unsolicited advice, we want to hear it. If you’re not available for work at night or over weekends, well, that’s our fault for not giving you the required notice – or for not organising things properly so that tasks can be completed in normal office hours. While we wouldn’t want you playing Farmville, we want people who are comfortable with and understand the benefits that the online world brings. Social networking is crucial for any modern publisher, having employees who can engage with our readers and build our online presence is important.

We’re aware that people make mistakes, nobody is flawless. If you’re willing to learn from them then that’s as much as we can ask. We do not create vague, arbitrary office rules which create an atmosphere of tension and unhappiness. It is not a primary school, adults will be treated as adults and not small children.

If we were soliciting employees, we would acknowledge receipt of all applications, and we would communicate with applicants even if they were unsuccessful. It’s basic manners. We know what it’s like to apply for a job and not hear back. In our opinion it’s rude and unprofessional not to let people know their application hasn’t gone through. If we can provide feedback to our decisions, we’ll always do that too. Please feel free to contact us at any stage, we’re not that special that we can’t be emailed.

Candidates, if we were looking for any, would be asked to send a CV and a cover letter as is standard. We’d obviously like to hear why you think you’re suitable for the position and if you had any objection to being paid a salary for doing a job. We don’t want a zany 5 page spiel which is supposed to ‘wow’ us into hiring you for nothing.

Portnoy Publishing believes that people who exploit those desperate enough to work for free just to get a foot in the door, regardless of the industry in question, ought to be ashamed of themselves.

We don’t give away our books for free, why should we expect people to work for nothing to help us make those books?

Portnoy Publishing – Dec 2012