3 interviews, and an extensive hiring assignment that had two components and took about 11 hours of my time. They comped me $200, but it was far too little for the time and ideas I invested. The initial staff whom I interviewed with were lovely, warm and welcoming. I enjoyed their questions, our conversations and resulting team dynamics. The interview with the CEO put a terrible taste in my mouth. For context, she has no media or journalism experience, before taking the role at AJP 5 years ago. She came across as dismissive, condescending and insecure in her role, and I got the sense that she expected me to capitulate and fawn over her - which I simply wouldn’t do. I was respectful during the call, but I took up space and showed up as a peer, instead of a subordinate. Having traversed the media and journalism landscape for quite some time, I know my stuff. After speaking to colleagues in the local journalism industry, the resounding punchline is that AJP has a reputation for poor hiring practices, toxicity and extractive behavior across the landscape. Folks who work with them regularly keep saying I dodged a bullet, and I am starting to believe them.