Had a phone interview and it was rather awkward. I consider myself to be fairly personable, and a majority of the talking points were expected. What made this negative was that we talked on the phone for nearly and hour and I heard nothing back. No “we regret to inform you that you werent selected to advance” email, no calls, no nothing. The job basically ghosted me, and that’s rather unprofessional. Also heard quite a bit of bad things from former employees, but I wanted to see for myself. Wasn’t impressed.

Interviewed with managing editor and HR manager (who is the sister-in-law of the publisher, so I wouldn't suggest being honest with her about anything HR related!) They were both very dead pan and hard to read, but it turns out that's their personalities and that didn't change at all the entire time I was there. Had a second interview with the senior editor and the general manager. It was very quick. Seemed more like they just wanted to get a feel for me before confirming I'd be coming on board. They asked about previous experience and how I would build a network of sources in the community and how well I know the community. Overall though, I think they don't care so much about the skillset of the people they hire but more about the caliber of their degrees and previous employers. The job is pretty easy to pick up, so as long as you have some journalism experience and are a high-caliber employee, you should be okay.