KACU

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

The current news director and their assistant news director (Andrew "Andy" Bottger) accused me, a job seeker of declining an entry-level news producer position due to financial compensation in November 2017 under the former news director at KCAU. Yes, I did applied for a news producer position and given a first-round interview in November 2017, but there was actually no verbal offer or written offer at all. I did not receive anything from KCAU at all and Andy neither interviewed me for the position nor the former news director never mentioned that Andy was present in the interview. The former news director said that he does not allow entry-level producers to be television news reporters saying "I don't think it will happen" when informing him of my career aspirations, that he was still interviewing other candidates, and will get back to other candidates for the next step in the hiring process. I sent the station in November 2017 a follow-up/thank you note for the phone interview and heard nothing from them. Even on the previous incarnation of the Nexstar career's website, the job status was "application received" or "applied" and the job status never changed on the website. Dan and Andy simply gang up on me and told me you cannot apply and be consider for any news jobs, including another news producer position I recently applied to at KCAU because of something that never even happened. It is already significantly very difficult for job seekers and college graduates like myself to find employment in this industry. KCAU could still try to deny me from applying for other television news jobs at other Nexstar local network station affiliates. Sioux City, IA and Siouxland would have been a nice place to live, but not at KCAU. For job seekers applying to KCAU or any other starter market station (or even a medium or large market station), do your research, keep all correspondences of the conversations you had with news directors, assistant news directors, executive producers, and all newsroom management personnel, get everything in writing, especially job offers and defend yourself if you come across a television news station falsely accusing you, the job seeker of something that you never did and/or never even happened.

The current news director and their assistant news director (Andrew "Andy" Bottger) accused me, a job seeker of declining an entry-level news producer position due to financial compensation in November 2017 under the former news director at KCAU. Yes, I did applied for a news producer position and given a first-round interview in November 2017, but there was actually no verbal offer or written offer at all. I did not receive anything from KCAU at all and Andy neither interviewed me for the position nor the former news director never mentioned that Andy was present in the interview. The former news director said that he does not allow entry-level producers to be television news reporters saying "I don't think it will happen" when informing him of my career aspirations, that he was still interviewing other candidates, and will get back to other candidates for the next step in the hiring process. I sent the station in November 2017 a follow-up/thank you note for the phone interview and heard nothing from them. Even on the previous incarnation of the Nexstar career's website, the job status was "application received" or "applied" and the job status never changed on the website.

Dan and Andy simply gang up on me and told me you cannot apply and be consider for any news jobs, including another news producer position I recently applied to at KCAU because of something that never even happened. It is already significantly very difficult for job seekers and college graduates like myself to find employment in this industry. KCAU could still try to deny me from applying for other television news jobs at other Nexstar local network station affiliates. Sioux City, IA and Siouxland would have been a nice place to live, but not at KCAU.

For job seekers applying to KCAU or any other starter market station (or even a medium or large market station), do your research, keep all correspondences of the conversations you had with news directors, assistant news directors, executive producers, and all newsroom management personnel, get everything in writing, especially job offers and defend yourself if you come across a television news station falsely accusing you, the job seeker of something that you never did and/or never even happened.