Looking for a job, English majors?


There’s a job opening at a magazine! Look at this wonderful opportunity:

Magazine Sub-editor or Chief Sub-editor, England – WEC International

Submitted: 25/04/12 ; Closing Date: Open

WEC’s Media & Communications team needs a clever, enthusiastic and hard-working sub-editor to work across a range of projects. Given the changing landscape of publishing, you will think multi-channel: print, web and mobile and be able subedit copy to suit each media.

Duties include: Subbing copy (news, features and marketing leaflets and flyers) arriving from various WEC UK ministries at speed and to tight deadlines, but with accuracy, attention to detail, precision and to a high and consistent standard, while also maintaining the house style and an appropriate tone of voice at all times; Writing eye-catching, snappy and accurate headlines, straps and abstracts/summaries. You will also be required to write the occasional feature.

Lots of expertise required, there…also lots of responsibilities. But…

It’s a missionary organization with the goal of seeing “Christ known, loved and worshipped by the least-evangelised peoples of the world”. That cooled your interest a bit, I bet.

And then there’s this:

This position is non-salaried as all WEC personnel look to God to provide their personal needs.

ALL WEC personnel? Something tells me that there is someone at the top of the organization who is doing just fine right now.

Comments

  1. Aquaria says

    What’s sad is that there are a lot of christers who will jump at this chance.

    I’ve known lots of them who almost had second jobs with their churches as web designers, accountants, real estate management, psychological counselors–people with serious expertise, who were doing the church’s work for free.

    This doesn’t surprise me at all.

  2. says

    Something tells me that there is someone at the top of the organization who is doing just fine right now.

    Because God provides. Not by visible manifestation–God’s too shy for that, now (not in the past, but, you know, he changes)–not ravens bringing cash or any such thing, rather at the expense of the “faithful.” It brings blessings to them, though, beyond all material value, so they get the best end of the deal, and the top dog has to settle for mere worldly gain.

    It’s the price God’s humble servants have to pay.

    Glen Davidson

  3. carlie says

    Something tells me that there is someone at the top of the organization who is doing just fine right now.

    Oh no, God is providing for their needs as well… by giving them lots of schmucks who will work for free for the stuff they’re selling.

  4. Matt Penfold says

    I just had a trawl through the Charity Commission website, and it does seem as though WEC, at least as a registered charity in England and Wales does not have any employees.

  5. Turtles says

    the least-evangelised peoples of the world

    Awww, thats really nice of them to say, I’m so proud :)

  6. madbull says

    Why can’t god just take care of their editorial needs without requiring human intervention in the first place ?

  7. Brother Ogvorbis: Advanced Accolyte of Tpyos says

    and be able subedit copy to suit each media.

    Maybe they could have had someone proofread the advert.

    “Christ known, loved and worshipped by the least-evangelised peoples of the world”.

    Whow are these “least evangelised peoples of the world” and how do I join them?

  8. raven says

    Cthulhu, even the Moonies offer a better deal.

    You get to live on the coast (and work in a fish processing plant). They feed you sort of.

    And you have the warm feeling that comes from knowing you are supporting jesus christ II in style back in Korea.

    The Mormons however don’t. You have to finance your own 2 year missions to pretend to convert 7 billion heathens to your cult. Retention rates of converts are near zero to zero depending on locale.

  9. Loqi says

    Yes, you don’t need money, because god provides. Just ask Ethiopia. They’ve certainly never had problems with food shortages…

  10. says

    Check out their web site for other jobs. They want a non-salaried CPA-level accountant to run the books for over 250 missionary. I wonder how I can sign up for such a sweet job.

  11. carlie says

    I think generally what this means is “part of your job will be going from church to church with your hand out, asking them to support you in this crucially important work for the Lord that you’re doing. Oh, and also send out mailers asking for donations. Lots of mailers. No, you may not use our envelopes or stamps.”

  12. raven says

    I’ve known lots of them who almost had second jobs with their churches as web designers, accountants, real estate management, psychological counselors…

    The Mormons are big on that. No paid clergy and large amounts of “called” volunteer labor everywhere. One of the reasons why the $hurch is so rich.

    Between volunteer labor, endless meetings, and your 5 child family they never have time to really think. Which is one of the benefits for the cult.

  13. greg1466 says

    Something tells me that there is someone at the top of the organization who is doing just fine right now.

    From the top (in my best Pathological Liar voice): No, no, no. All of this profit is for Jesus. I’m just holding it for him…yeah, that’s the ticket.

  14. says

    This position is non-salaried as all WEC personnel look to God to provide their personal needs.

    There’s an old joke about that, involving catholics, lutherans, and baptists and a collection-plate.

    Short form: Father O’Malley says, “well, there’s a percentage of the collection we use for the poor, a percentage for operations, and then 20% goes to the diocese operations fund – which is my expenses and a modest salary.”
    Then Pastor Stiller says, “What I do is throw the collection plates down the stairs. Any money that gets to the bottom goes to the poor. The money that stays in the middle goes to my expenses and salary, and the money near the top is used for building maintenance and operations.”
    Reverend Smith says “I throw the plate in the air and figure the lord’ll grab what he wants when it’s up there close to him, and everything that he lets go – well that must be intended for me.”

  15. Brownian says

    Strangely, this was the expectation of some of our volunteers back when I worked in fundraising.

    “What? You’re getting paid?”, they’d ask me, incredulously, because funding expensive medical research through nation-wide walkathons with multi-tiered corporate sponsorship would naturally be someone’s part-time hobby, I guess.

    I’d usually remind them that they could call the office any time between 8:15 AM and 4:30 PM Monday through Friday and they’d reach me, and then try to get them to take the cognitive leap to thinking about how I was supposed to pay my rent if I was spending 37.75 hours every week for four years volunteering, but that never seemed to satisfy them.

    Like we should be paying biomedical researchers with the $357.92 we raise annually through bake sales and bottle drives because God forbid someone should make a living wage with a minuscule portion of the cash donors trade for tax receipts.

    Welfare queens everywhere, I guess.

    Still, their concern was not entirely misplaced. There is mismanagement of funds among NFPs, but like is probably the case with WEC International, it’s mostly all at the top.

  16. says

    But obviously if you are strong in faith then god WILL provide… and if when that doesn’t happen it’s because you didn’t pray hard enough or do a good enough job.

    Now do it better, since it’s all your fault. God cannot be wrong.

  17. unbound says

    I know one of those people; writer of articles in her case. She is a stay-at-home mom, so the provider is the father of her children (just not the father advertised).

  18. ismenia says

    @Brother Ogvorbis: I think we British seem to be among the least evangelised people in the world. You can join by moving over here, come and join the dreaded “militant secularists” that the papers warn us about.

    As for remuneration, are they implying that God gives staff manna from Heaven? Perhaps he pays the rent as part of a housing benefit scheme.

  19. Brownian says

    I just had a trawl through the Charity Commission website, and it does seem as though WEC, at least as a registered charity in England and Wales does not have any employees.

    Maybe they do all through volunteers. It’s not impossible, especially if there are some rich benefactors behind the scenes.

    They “look to God”? What does that mean exactly? They rely on begging?

    Historical fun fact: in general, the difference between Christian monks and friars is that, while monks usually live in self-sustaining monasteries, friars take vows of poverty, live in urban friaries, and support themselves through alms.

    So yes, begging.

  20. Brother Ogvorbis: Advanced Accolyte of Tpyos says

    I think we British seem to be among the least evangelised people in the world. You can join by moving over here, come and join the dreaded “militant secularists” that the papers warn us about.

    But can I get a job doing what I love?

    God gives staff manna from Heaven?

    Or you can go one relief so you can devote full time to your volunteer position and will even have time to complain about how evil the government is.

  21. tbp1 says

    It’s one thing to spend a couple of hours of week doing the church newsletter or something. My dad mowed the lawn and did the yardwork at the non-profit (not religiously affiliated) where my stepmom worked for years. It was a small place and didn’t require more than maybe 4 hours a week, less than that during winter.

    But this sounds like a full-time job, or close to it, a very different thing.

    I have in-laws who are missionaries (I know, there are black sheep in every family). Something that I hadn’t realized, for some reason, before they started doing this, is that most (all?) missionaries must raise their own funding. My in-laws spend at least a year out of every seven in the US going from church to church basically begging for support. In the current economic climate it’s taken them much longer than usual. I’ve never quite figured out why if mission work matters so much to God, he makes it so hard–not to mention demeaning–to raise the money. That’s a conversation I’m dying to have with them, but probably never will. We see them very seldom, and have sort of a tacit agreement not to start discussions likely to end in shouting matches and spoil the occasion. We’ve come close a time or two, though.

    But I should mention that while they certainly aren’t getting rich, they actually live a better lifestyle in many ways as missionaries than they did as rural schoolteachers in the US. Since they live in a third-world country, their salaries, pretty meager by American standards, allow them to have several part-time servants, and they are provided with a very nice, if simple, house free of charge. And I think the mission organization helps with college tuition for their kids, at least at “approved” institutions. Of course they’ve all had malaria, which offsets things a bit. I don’t know what their retirement provisions are, either. Maybe, like the above, God is expected to provide.

  22. Aquaria says

    But this sounds like a full-time job, or close to it, a very different thing.

    Like I said in my first post, a lot of people in churches all but have second jobs keeping the enterprise going. One of my fellow postal workers–a job notorious for massive amounts of overtime–was her church’s “communications director”. She maintained the website (for free), the monthly newsletter that she wrote 90% of the articles for (for free), wrangled with the printers for the church bulletins, was the media contact, oversaw the mass mailings of literature and other religious-oriented media to parishioners and people their “mission” had contacted–

    She was spending 35 hours or more a week doing all that for her church. On top of the 50-60 hours a week she was working at her paying job.

    If she’d been working for a corporation, she would have easily been pulling down 80+ K a year–and have more free time!

  23. interrobang says

    Speaking as an English major, thank you, no, I already have a very good job that pays me surprisingly well, and doesn’t require the intervention of invisible entities (unless you count my direct supervisor who’s seven time zones away in Jerusalem).

    I know a lot of you science types find it hard to believe that anybody with any kind of liberal arts degree could ever have remunerative employ that doesn’t require saying “Do you want fries with that?”, but where do you think all the arts and creative-technical professionals come from anyway?

  24. Rich Woods says

    @interrobang #28:

    If you’re a creative-technical professional can you write up all my project documentation for me, please? Then I can get on with the actual technical work no-one else here can do.

    Sadly we can’t afford to employ you. As it stands, I have to do your part as well as my own.

    [Just joking. Nothing personal.]

  25. davem says

    Looks like they have around 160-170 jobs going. They could solve the unemployment problem single-handed. As to the the unreached masses, the English branch only need to step out the door…

  26. Moggie says

    Brother Ogvorbis:

    But can I get a job doing what I love?

    Sadly, openings for Carmen Miranda impersonators are rather thin on the ground right now.

  27. Brother Ogvorbis: Advanced Accolyte of Tpyos says

    Sadly, openings for Carmen Miranda impersonators are rather thin on the ground right now.

    You had to go there, didn’t you? You just had to go there. Everyone but you had forgotten, but you had to dig it back up just to make sure that everyone remembers. Thank you so very much.

    I’ll pray for you.

  28. 'Tis Himself says

    Something tells me that there is someone at the top of the organization who is doing just fine right now.

    Now I’m thinking of Father Ted and the “money resting in my account.”

  29. docslacker says

    There’s a school for missionary kids here in Spain, and apparently ALL the teachers are volunteers. They have to arrive with up to €30,000 to finance their 6-12 month stay. It’s supposed to be their ministry. Teaching degree not required.

    It’s top notch education, I tell you!

  30. kemist, Dark Lord of the Sith says

    This position is non-salaried as all WEC personnel look to God to provide their personal needs.

    Ok, that’s fine. As long as this Mr. God can sign these IOUs for me.