American City Business Journals Reviews

Pros

I worked for a smaller division of ACBJ (a trade magazine) so we had the feeling of working at a small company even though we operated in a larger one. Work-life balance was not necessary promoted, but most everyone left at 5pm.

Cons

No communication/movement between divisions. ACBJ is headquartered in Charlotte so NYC employees are really removed from the larger company. Specifically the magazine I worked for was not innovative and very far behind competitors. There was little effort put into competitive analysis, digital/new media or anything that could take the company to the next level.

Advice to Senior Management

See cons.

Pros

* Small and entrepreneurial culture focused on getting scoops and beating the daily.
* A team atmosphere.
* Great access to powerful and dynamic business people.

Cons

* The weekly model is dying -- consumers of news want it immediately. I feel like ACBJ is extremely slow in embracing the trends (online, blogs, Twitter, etc.).
* Two-day deadline-to-print gap leaves the paper vulnerable to getting scooped.

Advice to Senior Management

*Yes, your average reader is probably in their 50s, but in very short order their primary vehicle for getting news will be online. Have an aggressive plan to have the majority of ad revenue come from online ads and a majority of circ revenue from online within a year or two.
* With dailies cratering and ACBJ still making money, maybe it's time to take market share and cover local politics heavier to increase circulation.

Pros

ACBJ is an extremely family-friendly company, their benefits package is very good. Salary is comparable to daily newspaper competitors. They always, always have let me work my schedule around family issues when necessary.

Cons

Weak leadership at my particular paper. No career advancement opportunities. No career development.

Advice to Senior Management

Take the risk and hire some of the fabulous journalists running loose out there instead of always promoting from within.

Pros

Small staff atmosphere, work closely with your co-workers.

Cons

Little room for growth or development.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees. Be more responsive.

Pros

The job is quite simple and anyone could do it. In fact, they can ever keep this position fid because of the turnover rate, so there will always be a job available. The days are all different depending on what days you go to networking events to try and sell a subscription.

Cons

They expect you to sell 7 subs a week at a minimum. This is not impossible, but you will not make anything decent unless you sell 10 a week and probably need more and you will soon realize its not worth the effort. Do yourself a favor and work somewhere else with a better base and a better product because no one wants to be a subscriber to a newspaper anymore- they are dying out in case you hadn't noticed.

Advice to Senior Management

The micromanagement you will receive on a constant basis is borderline stalkerish. There also needs to be better communication about new products/services instead of telling one department at a time.