You finely honed your resume and cover-letters to the jobs you really wanted. You made it through the recruiter interview (whether in-house or independent). You also met with your potential new colleagues, the boss, and the boss’s boss. Whew!
After all that, they made you an offer of employment. Now what? You might just think to jump right in, do the onboarding paperwork, and you’ll find out everything you need to know later, right? Not so fast, you can’t make an informed decision without asking the proper questions of the recruiter or HR manager.
1) Health plan: Is there a waiting period before it is available to me? Are there different plan levels? What is the employee contribution (full contribution or a percentage of the plan premium or a set amount)? I assume any employee contribution would be on a pre tax basis.
2) Dental & Vision: Same questions. Is there a waiting period? Are there different levels? What is the employee contribution? Full contribution or a percentage of the plan?
3) Is Pet Insurance offered? If so, at what cost?
4) I understand it’s a 40 hr work week. Is there overtime? How is overtime paid ? After 8 or 10 hours, is that straight time, time and a half, or double time after a certain amount of hours have been reached? Also, how long is the contract for (if going through an outside hiring agency)? 12 months to convert contract – or extend. Will this position convert?
5) Is there a retirement plan? A 401K ? If so, is there a company match up to a certain percent? What is the waiting period to join the plan ? What is the vesting schedule for any company contribution if any?
6) How many vacation days are offered per year? How many sick & personal days are allotted? What holidays are offered?
7) Working on holidays (which I personally love working). How is that compensated (i.e. Payback day(s), regular pay, 1.5 pay, 2x pay, or something else)?
8) Personal growth: Is there reimbursement for courses for skills to enhance training for the growing skillset?
9) Commuting, tolls, parking reimbursement to defray the cost. Is there a commuter plan (if you’re not working remotely)? Is there Transit checks, or Wageworks? If there is a plan, how much is that every month? Do you offer a pre-tax transit plan if the employee has a contribution they must make?
We all have to think beyond the initial offer to really see what the full compensation would be. It varies wildly from company to company. So, do Post offer research questions, before you sign anything. It is merely outlining everything for you so you can make an informed decision.
The 5th Green at Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.“ – Albert Einstein
If you read my post on “How it all started: My First Unpaid Production Runner Experience in Sports Broadcasting”, this is my first paid job for sports broadcasting. I was directly asked “Do you want to do golf”? Of course I did! But, I had no real idea what that really meant yet, but there was travel and adventure ahead! I kept in touch with the Senior Production Manager at the alphabet company via a pay phone for the entire floor in my dorm, not easy when my peers would tie it up for hours talking to family, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. I didn’t have email yet, no in-room phone, much less a cell phone (brick) yet. I called between classes during business hours to check in about every week. Most of the time I was leaving voicemails because I didn’t realize at that time that the SPM would be traveling to remote sites, and not at his desk most of the time. So I just kept checking in. Hmmmm, maybe I’ve been forgotten already. I didn’t even hear back from the more junior PM.
Then finally one afternoon, someone picked up the phone. The secretary to the Sports team, she put me through to the junior PM (who is now the VP of Operations at a Giant Baseball network). We spoke for a few minutes setting up a plan of action, and what was expected of me, and how I could plan to “make this work”. I was booked to fly to California to the Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Tournament during my spring break. I would miss some classes because of it, so I approached all my professors and let them know I wouldn’t be in class the days after spring break and why. All where just fine with it, except for my chemistry teacher since one was a lab day. I made it up though. So, off I went, excited, nervous, what do I pack? OK, a White collared shirt and khakis, no jeans. Pens, paper, and an old school personal handwritten phone book with my family, friend’s, and now business contacts information in it.
My first time on an airplane. A friend drove me to the airport, Trembling with enthusiasm I checked in, checked my bag, I was going to be there for 12 days after all not really knowing most of the 60 person crew. Hours later I landed in California, right on time. As instructed, I picked up a rental car that was set aside for me, and off I went to check into the hotel. Wow! What a beautiful place sunny, warm, expansive, then I looked up at the nearby mountains and there was snow, yes snow on their caps, it was unreal. I got to stay in a five star hotel in Indian Wells, CA! I shared the suite with 4 other young women production assistants. There were 2 beds, a roll-away bed, and a sleeper sofa. Hmmm, that’s 4, since the hotel only allowed 1 roll-away bed, and I was the newest member of this crew, so I just put the cushions from the sleeper sofa on the floor and slept there. I did just that every night, and even when I was a more senior member of the crew in the coming years, I still slept on the sofa cushions on the floor. All was set, we all unpacked and went to the work site.
What a beautiful worksite it was in Rancho Mirage, CA. I GET to “work” here for almost 2 weeks, this is a dream I thought. And, it was.
We took care of the golf carts, helped the tech managers track equipment and cabling, learned more about wiring from some of the Tech Managers, and then the tech records folks came in to onboard the crew and track hours. My first paid Sports Broadcasting job, I was paid $50/day and worked about 16 hours a day, no overtime but I didn’t care. It wasn’t hard work, I started to learn the union rules, and was told to make sure I knew about meal breaks, what was required for them, and to ensure every piece of the contract was fulfilled. The SPM left that to me, and luckily the junior PM was the same one from the NYC marathon so I knew how they operated, at least a little bit by then. I poured over the rules, showed up early, stayed late to ensure all the rules were followed including driving back to 2 other hotels to make sure the crew schedules were posted in-time for the next day.
Socializing. I didn’t go out with the crew of other production assistants after work, they were all a couple years older than me, they went to the bar, I went to the luxurious hotel gym. They did that every night, and so did I. I wasn’t old enough to drink legally, and I didn’t wish to either, but that didn’t win me any friends with some of the staff.
A few days into prepping the event, one of the young female production assistants accused me of stealing her favorite T-Shirts. She went to the SPM and JPM with her accusation. She made sure I was in the production truck when the accusation was announced, I had no idea what she was talking about. But, by this time, I had already proven myself to both managers, and both began to laugh at the statements being made against me. They both said “You don’t know who you’re talking about, she wouldn’t even take a pencil off-site”. Absolutely true.
Later that evening after we all returned to the hotel. The young woman who accused me of stealing from her found her favorite T-Shirt in a drawer she forgot she used. She never actually apologized, but we were on ok terms again. I let the whole thing go knowing I did nothing wrong, and also knowing holding onto that kind of grudge would never create a fluid working environment. I never even worried about the accusation, because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong. So, instead of insisting on an apology, and knowing I was “in the right”, I decided to be happy instead. I didn’t need to be right, I knew I was, the bosses knew I was, and all was well in my first dream Golf-tastic job.
Yes, $50/day wasn’t much but, they paid my airfare, car rental, we had gas cards, they fed us meals, we were trusted with petty cash, turning in receipts and change, charging the golf carts, making hundreds of copies (sorry trees), and then making sure all the union rules were followed so work would start and continue on-time throughout the day.
We had one day off during the event, so we went to the pool, ate free apples from the spa, and went to the gym. I was finally really hanging out with all the other production assistants, yes All of them including my accuser, and we had a great, fun, and relaxing day together. It was back to work as usual the next day, but no matter what we had that day together. Thank you Universe!
When it was tournament time we faxed directions to the Execs coming, greeted them at the airport, and made sure everything they needed was in-place when they arrived, and it was. We got to the final day and wrapped, bringing in thousands of yards of tri-ax cable, packed up trailers, then we all departed the next day. “Until the next one, see you soon” was heard over and over again. It was an amazing experience with an amazing group of people. I had already learned so much, and I was thirsty for more. More was to come in many other golf and a multitude of other sporting events which I will share in future posts.
I returned to the University, studying all they way back on the plane so I could make up that chemistry lab, which I got a 98 on, so all was well in the world. I told my broadcasting professors about the experience, and low and behold I made a co-op out of it. By graduation I had gotten paid to work in the industry I wanted to work in and gained 16 credits as well for the experience and writing it all up in a few papers. A win-win!
So, anyone looking to break into broadcasting, I say go for it! Be persistent but not stalker, don’t give up on your dream. Be curious, honest, humble, and willing to take on tasks outside of your “job description”. To this day, I will still be the first one in, last one out, sweep the floor, and take out the garbage whenever I need to, I will never be so “big” that something is below me.
That's News To Me 