WEEK     JOB: REPORTER

LOCATION: VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

EMPLOYER: VANCOUVER 24 HOURS

WAGE: $31,690 YEAR [Source: BLS]

INDUSTRY IQ:

• A columnist is often not an employee of the newspaper. The columns are purchased with a first publishing right, after which the columnist can sell the same piece to other publications.

• Columnists are paid per word or a flat rate for each piece.

APPLICATION PROCESS: A reporter from Vancouver 24 Hours had interviewed me two weeks earlier. I brought up the possibility of writing a column as a One-Week Job. She went to the editor with the idea, and when I didn’t hear back, I called the following week and spoke to the editor directly. I said things like, “extremely excited” and “opportune opportunity” and “pretty please.” And he said, “Sure, Sean.”

WHAT I LEARNED: You’re not official until you get a key.

On my first day I entered the building through the public entrance. But on my second day I spotted a door marked EMPLOYEE ENTRANCE. Now that I was an official employee, a reporter with Vancouver 24 Hours, I confidently stepped up to the door, smugly glanced at the lettering on the window, and even paused to take a few photos in front of it for my website. Then I pulled at the handle. Locked. Not as official as I’d thought. I had to walk around the building to the front door with the other visitors and have reception buzz me in.