Evidently, they consider asking the question as freelancing.
What question?
Aargh!
We’ll try again with the OP.
Here’s the situation. I’ve got a job interview tomorrow with a local home and garden-type magazine for a position as writer and editor. They found out about me through some freelance work I did in an arts magazine. I don’t know anything about the subject matter of the magazine and said as much to the editor over the phone. I have no doubt that I could, with a little research, do a fine job for them even though I’m not even particularly interested in the subject matter. Kurt Vonnegut wrote for Good Housekeeping for a while, after all. The editor agreed with me and all but offered me the job over the phone. I’ve been getting some freelance work lately writing about film, music, art, and books, subjects about which I am knowledgeable, and would like to keep doing so. Here’s the rub: I found out through channels that these folks will in all likelyhood ask me to sign an agreement stating that I will not do any freelancing while I am employed with them. I want a full time job, but I also want to continue freelancing for two reasons: 1) I want to continue to write about sujects that interest me and 2) I want to suppliment my income because the job doesn’t pay very well.
I would greatly appreciate it if knowledgeable dopers would educate me on the exclusivity agreement. Is this common for this kind of job? What does the company have to gain from this besides keeping me from writing for the competition?
My plan as of now is to go into the interview saying that I would sign an agreement that stated that I will not accept any assignments that would be on topics covered by their magazine. Will this fly?
Thanks y’all
We employ freelancers to copy edit technical manuscripts. AFAIK, we do not require that they not freelance for anyone else - in fact, I’m sure of it. Now, you’re talking about a full-time, regular job that potentially does not want you to freelance on the side, which is a little different. I think this is how it breaks down, ethically speaking: If the freelance work would conflict with the home-and-garden job, then they do have a right to ask you not to freelance, but only for that kind of freelancing. For example, if you wanted to freelance for a teen magazine, you’d be fine.
So I’m not sure why they’d ask you to sign that kind of agreement. After all, you definitely have a right to make a living, provided it does not affect the main job - either as a conflict of interest or as something that’ll take time or attention away from the main job.