Little Bird: Work for Salient in 2025?

Blue Duck

Toroa

Do you like getting threatened to be sued? How about the ACT party? Well, THEY DON'T LIKE YOU. And forget about your dreams of you and Vice Chancellor, Nic Smith, running into the sunset together, if you call him out on platforming hate groups to campus, he won’t like you either.  Journalism is this tricky little line of holding people accountable and not making people angry at you for life, and to be honest, the line doesn't exist. You want to write hit pieces? That’s chill, but people will remember you for it. If you’re like me and hate being perceived, well, I have really bad news for you. It’s bad enough that we’ve aged into our real ages in the back of the magazine, now you’re telling me that everything is backed up online for eternity? And that silly little piece about olympic sex positions is there forever? Terrifying to perceive.  If you want all the fun of working at Salient, without the stress, try running for the VUWSA exec. I promise it’s fun (and the roles are much less competitive).  But in all seriousness, what other jobs can you do where you will get paid to write silly little articles and also meet Chlöe Swarbrick and watch her wife take a painting down at Jame Shaw’s old parliament office (that is now Chlöe Swarbrick’s parliament office) that almost hits you in the head? That’s a pro OR a con, depending on where you stand on the political spectrum.  If you don’t mind being perceived, and have a lot in the tank for meeting new people, elevating your writing and goofing around at the office. Then it probably is the job for you. But me, personally I’m excited to sleep and not have Gerry Brownlee knowing my personal phone number.

I think it may be fairly obvious by now that the two birdies who write this column do, in fact, work for Salient. And me personally? I love it.  The connections I’ve made, the knowledge I’ve gained, the sheer amount of fun I’ve had over this past year has made this job worth all of the stress. There’s something so cool about being involved in Salient; it’s like you’re in a little club that gets to know everything about everyone all the time because, hey, that’s the news! And for my nosey little brain, it’s really the perfect job. The office is also so dope: huge windows so it’s super warm and sunny whenever you’re writing up your feature of the week, it’s own kitchen so on those rainy campus days you don’t have to go to Milk and Honey for lunch, and the podcast office even has its own couch for both mental breakdowns and procrastination naps! Working at Salient has also made me better at writing on an academic level. I’m thinking about the way I phrase things more, the way that the content I produce will be perceived by the consumer. My attention to details like spelling and grammar have also gone up, too, (thank you Henry for all of the subbing you do on my pieces!!)  That’s not to say that Salient is for everyone. Obviously this is a very public job! I’ve had people I don’t even know tell me, to my face, that my features have sucked. But that’s also just the nature of this job!  I dunno man. I guess to sum up I’d say work for Salient if you like writing and making good friends, and if you don’t mind being called left-wing trash publicly. Even if you don’t, it's pretty fun!