Up the interstate in San Francisco, Chronicle Executive Editor Matthew Wilson reports that 11 of his staffers also walked out the door and into Internet ventures last year. People who work at a newspaper with as solid a reputation as this one are natural targets. MacLeod knows that's small consolation, given the hassles of finding competent replacements. For every reporter they lose, recruiters such as Havemann have to wade through dozens of resumes, check out references, network with colleagues. Promising candidates then have to be flown in for several interviews, put up in hotels, taken to lunch and dinner.
Some papers do background checks and drug tests.
There are moving costs and, occasionally, signing bonuses. It's a costly undertaking, both in monetary terms and in the distraction from the actual job of putting out the paper each day. Some news organizations use professional headhunters, who typically charge up to 35 percent of a candidate's annual salary, according to Susan Roberts, executive director of the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment. Others have had to get more serious about doing the job themselves. The Mercury News' Yarnold recently created a half-time recruiting position just for his financial news staff, which has been hardest hit by the dotcom raids.