Thanks to a friend, I became aware that a broadcast engineering position would open up at the Sinclair station in my town. I had interviewed with the station in the past, so I personally emailed the hiring manager who is the chief engineer and had met with me about a year earlier for an assistant chief position that I didn’t get.
What followed was a brief phone call with the chief. We discussed what I was looking for both career level and salary. He was mostly surprised that I had left my previous station knowing of my existing TV experience. Fortunately, the position was Broadcast Engineer II and thus was able to meet both my career level and my salary expectations.
Next, I visited the station, toured the studio and technical areas, and also met with their IT Engineer who gave me a nice overview of daily IT and engineering operations. It was also a great opportunity to understand who I’d be working with on a daily basis.
I liked what I saw, went out to lunch with the chief, discussed a delayed start date due to a crucial business trip with my existing company, and within a couple of weeks, I had accepted the offer and proceeded with a drug test and background check. I would say the drug test feels a little unnecessary as I am a responsible career focused person, but I see a lot of potential in the station I’m going to work for, so I’m willing to look past it.
Overall the process was smooth and easy and communication was consistent. I felt like the hiring manager and HR went out of their way to respect my desire for a delayed start and for meeting my career level and salary requirements with the position.
