From London, Without Love

Here’s a job I won’t be getting. Mostly because I did not apply before the recent deadline. And maybe because of the punch line offered up in the ad itself.
The job in question, U.S. reporter for The London Times, sounds fantastic. “The successful candidate will be expected to cover a wide variety of news from within the United States, with particular emphasis on politics and business,” according o the posting, which I found earlier this month on the site for Columbia J-school grads. “He or she will have the capacity to write accurate and authoritative rolling news copy and leads, but also possess the imagination to pitch ideas to both the website and the newspaper.” There’s a re-launch of the U.S. blog coming, too, evidently.
Sounds great. And the job is based in Washington, D.C., a city where I went to college and where I would not mind spending some time.
What’s the problem? Well, the ad concludes with this little gem: “Given the breadth of talent within The Times, it is our intention to appoint from within.” Do we give these people points for honesty? Or do we go ahead and wonder aloud why the hell this ad was posted to begin with?
As if it’s not hard enough looking for a job in this economy without a fake-out like this. Thanks for nothing, London Times.