The Lions Den Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 On 8/2/2019 at 1:03 PM, Slade Wilson said: Are current CGC employees at liberty to respond to this topic? I'd really like to hear from current Comic Graders on how to get your foot in the door at CGC. I don't have prior "professional grading experience" so I'm willing to start entry-level, educate myself, learn from experienced graders, apply CGC's practices, etc. I know comics, I'm familiar enough with grading that I'd be a viable candidate, and I've got (1.) research skills and (2.) client/customer service experience from my non-comics professional career that would compliment job functions at CGC. Plus, I'm ready & willing to relocate to Sarasota. You're a good candidate. Just be careful what you wish for...it's a lot harder than it appears. But if you're really willing to give it a shot, keep applying. They'll get tired of turning you down... Arak Zantara 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, The Lions Den said: You're a good candidate. Just be careful what you wish for...it's a lot harder than it appears. But if you're really willing to give it a shot, keep applying. They'll get tired of turning you down... I see that CGC has adopted the women's approach to being asked on a 1st date... Edited November 21, 2019 by theCapraAegagrus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arak Zantara Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 persistence that is the ticket. when i got out of the military I got turned down by Exxon Chemicals 3 times for their 3 person IT phone support ... No degree ... no experience ( all hobby) and I didnt look like and IBM clone . They kept hiring guys with duel degrees ,I believe that one boy had a PH.D It was such a hot seat that they couldn't keep anyone in it longer then a week or two. 3 people supporting 800+ on site and 300+ offsite users convinced the manager to give me a chance on that 3rd interview.. turns out certain previous training NOT to buckle under pressure made me the ideal fit. My cousin Jan had the 1st seat ...so one of our secret joys once we became the golden ones was to walk thru the property in full on cowboy / cowgirl getup while everyone else....... was blue suit red tie white shirt .. more or less and no one would even think about saying something about our boots buckles hats ... sometimes even our spurs and chaps on certain days... damn too much coffee again... POINT is dont quit ... dont give up .. *er* *stay in school and stay off drugs* The Lions Den, ThothAmon, jimjum12 and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal_Collector Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Would I get to work alongside her? Cuz mmm hmmmmm, sign me up! Jerome newshane, The Lions Den and JJ-4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 1 hour ago, Lethal_Collector said: Would I get to work alongside her? Cuz mmm hmmmmm, sign me up! Jerome Damn, you only saw 10% of the product, and are all-in? She only has 1 arm, bro. The Lions Den and Lethal_Collector 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal_Collector Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 5 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said: Damn, you only saw 10% of the product, and are all-in? She only has 1 arm, bro. Thats all you need? Jerome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 On 3/10/2019 at 4:53 PM, kav said: Smart move on their part. Someone who enjoys grading and takes it serious enough to do well in the contests would be an excellent grader and already know many of the things that are learned by experience. Grading contests are definitely a teaching tool every year many people do better and better as they learn more. The winner initially turned down the job because he had long standing plans to go to the premier of the new Star Wars trilogy. kav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 On 7/6/2019 at 8:52 PM, Xenosmilus said: I wondered how many books can a single grader grade in a day? If you assume 1 book an hour (which I would think is low balling it) @ $30 a pop (Modern Fast track) and there are 261 working days a year that one grader is pulling in $62K a year in sales. 5 books an hour $310k a year etc. I would image the salary for grader would be 50-75K a year though? Anyone knows what the pay scale is LOL? I'm just curious. You raise some interesting questions. Hopefully I can provide some valid answers. For starters, the one book an hour assumption actually made me laugh out loud. A more accurate number would be around 15 - 20 books per hour in an 8 hour shift. Certain books require more time because they have more pages, more flaws, more restoration, etc. This would apply to vintage books and magazines, for example. I've seen modern graders grade as many as 40 or more books in an hour, partially because most modern books don't usually have many defects. It also depends on whether you're the pre-grader or the finalizer. Finalizers can do more books because they don't have to count the pages. The pay scale varies at CGC, but generally it's like most other companies: the more you can do and the more valuable you are to the company, the more you'll make. I hope this helps... Big.Mike and Slappy Jones 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenosmilus Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 2 hours ago, The Lions Den said: You raise some interesting questions. Hopefully I can provide some valid answers. For starters, the one book an hour assumption actually made me laugh out loud. A more accurate number would be around 15 - 20 books per hour in an 8 hour shift. Certain books require more time because they have more pages, more flaws, more restoration, etc. This would apply to vintage books and magazines, for example. I've seen modern graders grade as many as 40 or more books in an hour, partially because most modern books don't usually have many defects. It also depends on whether you're the pre-grader or the finalizer. Finalizers can do more books because they don't have to count the pages. The pay scale varies at CGC, but generally it's like most other companies: the more you can do and the more valuable you are to the company, the more you'll make. I hope this helps... Yeah, I knew one book an hour wasn't correct but it set a baseline. What's interesting and somewhat concerting is that they are paid on how many books they can grade. Seems that might make some individuals rush? Slappy Jones 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 12 hours ago, Lethal_Collector said: Thats all you need? Jerome She's also got a saggy tush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 19 hours ago, Lethal_Collector said: Would I get to work alongside her? Cuz mmm hmmmmm, sign me up! Jerome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 JJ-4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 12 hours ago, Xenosmilus said: Yeah, I knew one book an hour wasn't correct but it set a baseline. What's interesting and somewhat concerting is that they are paid on how many books they can grade. Seems that might make some individuals rush? Rushing usually just causes problems. A steady, methodical pace is the best strategy... Slappy Jones and Xenosmilus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 15 hours ago, Xenosmilus said: Yeah, I knew one book an hour wasn't correct but it set a baseline. What's interesting and somewhat concerting is that they are paid on how many books they can grade. Seems that might make some individuals rush? Are you suggesting they are paid by the piece? That the more books they grade in a particular week effects their pay check? If you are, I'm pretty sure you are mistaken. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal_Collector Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 6 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said: She's also got a saggy tush. Nnoooooo Jerome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenosmilus Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 1 hour ago, shadroch said: Are you suggesting they are paid by the piece? That the more books they grade in a particular week effects their pay check? If you are, I'm pretty sure you are mistaken. I wasn’t the person I responded to was. I believe he use to work there. If you read all the response you would see the topic was cleared up. The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JollyComics Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 On 11/19/2019 at 11:24 AM, RockMyAmadeus said: 14. Endurance, endurance, endurance. Grading comics all day long is a GRIND. It wears you down. What is their turnover ratio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JollyComics Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 On 11/18/2019 at 4:16 PM, revat said: Way too long compared to what? I generally agree with you, but consider what needs to happen to find, interview, hire, train a grader? Including all the time, money, administrative resources, sifting through applications, giving benefits, doing paperwork, insurance, workers comp, finding enough managers for your workers? And then you have to worry about the speed with which you attempt to increase the size of your workforce. Can you control the quality? Can you afford to use your expert graders to train new graders? Won't that slow things down? They don't live in a major metropolis where you can snap your fingers and find willing workers. You need at minimum the following things: 1. Willingness to live in the Sarasota area. 2. Ability to be bonded, so no extreme debt or criminal history. (dealing with high dollar value stuff) 3. Pass a drug test, I assume. (again I assume dealing with high dollar value stuff). 4. Some amount of affinity for comics. This may be a great job for some, but the specific skills don't automatically apply to future jobs. 5. Extremely attentive to detail. 6. Relatively dexterous for precision handling of high value collectibles. 7. Good eyesight. 8. Willing to work for a certain amount of money. 9. Ability to be trained, managed. 10. Ability to grade comics quickly and accurately (after the requisite training) with a certain high level of consistency of an industry leader. 11. Want to work there for at least 3-5 years (not required, but probably preferred) and/or have appropriate views on career advancement. 12. Be trainable in how to use equipment and computer systems (at least a little bit). 13. The otherwise qualified potential grader must somehow find out about the available grader positions. Most of these don't seem that hard on their own, but together...its not that simple. Which is not to say that they shouldn't TRY to improve turnaround times, or that there aren't likely effective things they could consider. You forgot the most important part of the hiring process is Background Check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 On 3/27/2020 at 1:43 PM, shadroch said: Are you suggesting they are paid by the piece? That the more books they grade in a particular week effects their pay check? If you are, I'm pretty sure you are mistaken. CGC graders are encouraged to keep their numbers up in order to keep up with turnaround times, but there's a big difference between grading efficiently and rushing. Rushing often leads to oversights and errors, which really kind of defeats the purpose of the whole process. As far as I know, CGC employees aren't paid by the amount of books they can do, but by their overall work ethic. In other words, their value to the company as a whole... jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 On 3/27/2020 at 3:20 PM, Xenosmilus said: I wasn’t the person I responded to was. I believe he use to work there. If you read all the response you would see the topic was cleared up. I can only speak for my experience there, which was very enlightening and educational. I often think of it as attending "comic college"... Tony S 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
