UncleThursday

Not necessarily. All it means is that said person would not be allowed to write any preview or review content on that particular game. There would only be a conflict of interest if they were making said game, then also previewing/reviewing the same game in an editorial capacity.

Sorry, mouse slipped when it said the post was flagged, any mods, disregard (the mouse at work sucks).

Anyway, yes, it is a possibility that they are looking more towards someone who has current or previous small press/freelance/big site work. My own writing samples were from when I worked from a now defunct small press site... but I had to link to them on the Way Back Machine because the site no longer exists.

And, you're right. It would make for a cool underdog story, but I thought that was pretty much already done with Patrick. But, at this point in the site's life, it would probably be better to be bringing in people with at least small press experience.

The requirements don't necessarily have to change, though. The Bungie example is one where they did change because Bungie made the mistake of literally posting they were hiring in the matchmaking screen of Halo Reach, so every Tom, Dick and Harry who through they could easily have a career at a game developer, despite their obvious inability to understand what the job would entail, applied.

But, by making it a Sr. Editor position, it becomes something where internally, CBSi's HR department can become a bit more picky in which resumes they forward to the Giant Bomb people. It doesn't mean that now a degree or previous journalism is required, but it will probably make that become a bit heavier in weighing which resumes to forward. However, someone with no degree and no previous journalism experience, who just happens to be an excellent writer and submitted exceptional writing samples, would have just as much of a shot.

Two reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

1: Enough people with enough experience to be considered senior editors have applied, so they changed it to fit that.

2. Too many unqualified applications came in, so they are upping the ante, so to speak, to make it easier to wade through the applications. Bungie had to do this when their job posting for achievements/trophies designer went up after Halo Reach and, as my friend who works there said, 'so many 16 year old kids applied, we needed to change it from no experience to 5 years experience.'

A lot of people pull multiple duties on the videos they make, now a days, especially in the amatuer/YouTube scene. Some review sites have people that just record footage, someone else writes and maybe performs the review on or off camera and someone else edits it. But for those of us not working for a big media company, we often pull all the duties ourselves. I, for example, record my own footage, write my review, do the voice-over, and edit the video (which, can take literally HOURS for a 5-15 minute video). If I had more than my webcam and if I had a chroma key, I'd also do things on camera and edit everything together with that, as well. And I'm all self taught.

Granted, being a one-man operation is time consuming. It also means I do everything out of my own pocket. So it's not like I could put out a video a day, especially when working 40-80 hours a week. Plus, my iMac is getting long in the tooth, which means it takes forever to export videos... though when I get the new PC rig I'm planning, well, it's going to be a beast for video editing without being a full on work station.

So, one would hope there would be a bit more leeway in what each person would have to do in the positions at GiantBomb, but, we never can tell. Maybe they're trying to push for more potential employees to the higher ups at CBSi, as well, to try and cut down on the stress and workload on each individual person.

They also sort of need to ensure that it looks like they're advertising the position. After all, how many people actively watch for positions on the CBSi jobs website? Even if for the editor position they already have someone in mind, by law they have to be able to show that the job posting was easily noticeable and accessible to any interested party.

You have to remember, though, that some of the YT crowd do have experience outside of YT. Some of them worked for small press/enthusiast sites (often for free) before deciding to do their own thing on YouTube.

I've been putting my own stuff up on YT or the past few years, but I worked for a small press site (that is now defunct), did interviews, editorials, news and reviews, went to E3 a few times (for the PS3 pricing reveal press event I was 6th row, center stage, pretty much looking up Kaz's nose, for example), etc. while working for the site.

Granted, not all of them have experience, and it shows in how their reviews are written/done, but some do. So, don't discount everyone who puts up reviews on YT simply for that... but also don't just assume any Joe Blow from YT actually knows what they're doing, either.

My brother had that problem. College degree, but all the jobs wanted a degree plus experience in his field. But no one was hiring as 'entry level' without wanting 5+ years experience (which, last I checked, was not entry level). It's a problem you find with a lot o jobs. They want to pay as little as possible for 'entry level' positions, but don't want entry level people... they want people who already know what they're doing without having to pay them for that experience.

But, it's an employer's market right now, so they can get away with it.

Not likely. Associate editors are generally the lowest man on the totem pole when it comes to positions at publications, just above interns. They get paid, but they get very little say it what they have to write and get practically no say in what gets handed to them to review.

Ryan was much higher on the totem pole.

I would agree that it is most likely going to be part of the screening process to look for a journalism degree. Then again, when looking at the way some people write for some sites (and get paid for it) it's amazing that they even graduated high school.

I'm hoping my over a decade of experience in the games journalism sphere as a small press and independent writer/editor will help alleviate the fact that I don't have a degree; but I also have a feeling they'll really be looking for someone much younger who is far more willing to jump at the lowest possible offer.

Application submitted.