One job listing you should not apply for

Today I’m posting a gig that’s annoying right off the bat:

Green blogger – NOW while I’m sure some of you will apply for this gig, I’d rather you didn’t, I’m posting it to show you an obnoxious job. If you’re hired the pay is good per post, but they’re asking for a lot for free. Too much. Here’s what they want you to do…

“To apply, follow these simple 3 steps:

1. Browse our site and see if you connect and resonate with it. Start with the About Us page and check also the other links in the bottom, like the Alternative definitions.
2. Apply for an account here.
3. Upload your sample blog on a topic that is relevant to AltGlobe’s Alternative subjects and categories.
4. E-mail us with the title of you blog to let us know you are interested in becoming a team member.

After your sample blog post is published on the site, we will allow one week to see how our readers react to your writing and how you integrate in the community. We encourage all our bloggers to be active participants by connecting with other members on the site and commenting on other bloggers’ posts, as well as answering questions people had to ask about your own blog post.”

Here’s why this is an obnoxious gig…

1. If you’re an actual writer/blogger you likely have a collection of links and past work to share. A new sample is unnecessary. If a client can’t tell how you write from a collection of past posts you’ve done, if they really need a NEW one, in my opinion there’s something wrong with the client. They’re just lazy and don’t want to sort resumes or they’re looking for page views at their site.
2. Their “simple 3 steps” to applying are actually a little involved. It could end up taking you up to an hour to do all that; an hour in which you could have been making money elsewhere.
3. AFTER you do the three simple steps, you have to hang out doing other stuff – answering comments, making sure you promote that new post, and social networking – all for free. You’re helping them build a community for free. Lame. PLUS it can take longer than a week for a post to get decent traffic or responses, which tells me they expect unrealistic things right off the bat.
4. After you do all of the above it’s highly unlikely you’ll be that one blogger to get hired. According to the ad, they’re looking for “A” green blogger. Your odds of getting hired when hundreds of writers have no issues applying for a lame audition gig like this – NOT GOOD.

Why would I post a lame job ad – as an example. If writers and bloggers apply for gigs like this, if we offer up free content and time without batting an eye, potential clients will go right on expecting that they can hold obnoxious job application processes like this.

Do you need to do the above?: Heck no. All my current jobs had no audition process. I’m making enough $ to live on through my blogging gigs, and not one of my clients wanted me to do all this crap above. I sent an email bio, cover letter, and past samples of my work, had an interview, and was hired. 20 mins tops from applying to job. In general, I don’t do lengthy audition processes for gigs and you shouldn’t either. Our time is worth more than this, don’t you think?

Coming up in a little bit, the actual job listings of the day.