CGC Career Opportunities 3 3

[ReporterSixx]

5 hours ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Two locations would not work.

All books need to go through the same graders.  What if the west coast graders got a reputation for being "too tight"?  The west coast office wouldn't get any submissions. 

Fair point. At the end of the day, CGC just needs more graders. Even when paying for expedited services, takes way too long. 

[revat]

3 minutes ago, ReporterSixx said:

6 hours ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Two locations would not work.

All books need to go through the same graders.  What if the west coast graders got a reputation for being "too tight"?  The west coast office wouldn't get any submissions. 

Fair point. At the end of the day, CGC just needs more graders. Even when paying for expedited services, takes way too long. 

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.

[PunisherPunisherPunisher]

4 minutes ago, 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.

7. Good eyesight 

 

Counts me out 

[ADAMANTIUM]

6 minutes ago, PunisherPunisherPunisher said:

13 minutes ago, 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.

7. Good eyesight 

 

Counts me out 

14) if your not comfortable with TAT, pay for fast track, sometimes months faster

15) if fast track is too costly, consider how theyll up the cost when new graders are hired...

[revat]

1 minute ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

10 minutes ago, PunisherPunisherPunisher said:

16 minutes ago, 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.

7. Good eyesight 

 

Counts me out 

14) if your not comfortable with TAT, pay for fast track, sometimes months faster

15) if fast track is too costly, consider how theyll up the cost when new graders are hired...

Also, what is too fast or slow anyways?  I understand wanting to get things faster (we all do), but these are generally luxury services to pay for the average person.  If your livelihood (I do understand faster turnover for selling goods is better for business in general) revolves around a faster turnaround of comics and you can't pay for fastrack, your business model isn't working right.

Again this doesn't mean you/we shouldn't push for faster turnaround times (or other improvements), just that when you do, you should attempt to make a logical thoughtful argument with consideration of the CGC point of view.

[KingOfRulers]

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. 

I was offered a grader position at CGC, back in 2010, I think it was. I was very happy and thankful to have been offered the job, but declined for a couple of reasons. It just wasn't good for me, personally.

As far as "required experience"; I'm not certain what is required, but I can speak to the experience I had at the time. I was a recent college graduate with a degree in Business Administration, but I'm not sure if a college education was required or not. I was a very active submitter to CGC and was an active comic book dealer with a successful eBay store from around 2007-2011. I was active in the comic book community as I was on the message boards since 2005 and attended boardie convention dinners. I also worked for a comic book store in 2004-2005, which is how I was first exposed to CGC from the perspective of a submitter (as opposed to simply purchasing graded books for my collection), as I would sift through the new comic arrivals every Wednesday, pick the best 9.8 candidates and submit them to CGC.

[MARK_BA]

I was actually thinking I wish there was a location closer to me, so I could take books there and save on shipping

[shadroch]

31 minutes ago, MARK ARNEY said:

I was actually thinking I wish there was a location closer to me, so I could take books there and save on shipping

When Mohammed couldn't go to the mountain, the mountain went to him.

[RockMyAmadeus]

19 hours ago, 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.

14. Endurance, endurance, endurance. Grading comics all day long is a GRIND. It wears you down. 

[revat]

58 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

14. Endurance, endurance, endurance. Grading comics all day long is a GRIND. It wears you down. 

Great point.  Probably easier now with podcasts, but still definitely not for everyone.

[Foley]

1 hour ago, Nice Face said:

What's even worse is that Borock used to make them listen to the Grateful Dead while grading 

[Get Marwood & I]

19 hours ago, Foley said:

20 hours ago, Nice Face said:

What's even worse is that Borock used to make them listen to the Grateful Dead while grading 

Yes, shut your nasty little face, Nice Face. 

[kimik]

On 7/6/2019 at 6:52 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.

It should take 5 mins max to grade a book, especially moderns. GA/SA/BA - if the resto check has already been done, then 10 mins max per book if they have to count pages/look for coupons. The toughest part would be the monotony of it all - grading books is fun for a bit when you buy a collection, but doing it full time every day likely grates on graders eventually.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

18 hours ago, kimik said:

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.

It should take 5 mins max to grade a book, especially moderns. GA/SA/BA - if the resto check has already been done, then 10 mins max per book if they have to count pages/look for coupons. The toughest part would be the monotony of it all - grading books is fun for a bit when you buy a collection, but doing it full time every day likely grates on graders eventually.

Graders spend less than 30 seconds grading a book. 

[Black_Adam]

5 hours ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Graders spend less than 30 seconds grading a book. 

Is that true? Don't they have to count/inspect all the interior pages? Even a cursory glance should take more than 30 seconds...

[BlowUpTheMoon]

1 minute ago, Black_Adam said:

5 hours ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Graders spend less than 30 seconds grading a book. 

Is that true? Don't they have to count/inspect all the interior pages? Even a cursory glance should take more than 30 seconds...

I believe there's a separate team that does page counts.  @The Lions Den

[The Lions Den]

On 5/18/2019 at 10:39 AM, Slade Wilson said:

QUESTION: If you love comics, want to join CGC, willing to relocate, put in the time, and effort . . . how do you do it?

CGC posted job opportunities for 2 positions that I'm really interested in, COMIC GRADER and RESEARCH/VERIFICATION CLERK.  How do you get your foot in the door at CGC?  That's my question.  I want it.  I want to put in all the time, effort, and all it takes.

I get that the Grader position most likely is an uphill battle because I currently don't have professional grading experience. Maybe an entry-level grader position?  I'd love to discuss and learn the process from the other Graders and learn how to do it the "CGC way."  There certainly are candidates with more practical experience than me but I still want to do it.

Whereas, I'm definitely well suited for the Research/Verification Clerk opportunity which sounds amazing because I love reading and learning about publisher histories, identifying significant issues, tracking down unique variants, etc., and I've developed great researching skills over the years in a "traditional" professional career in the corporate and legal fields.

I'm fascinated by CGC, grading in general, and I've loved comics all my life.  I want to pursue this path with everything I've got.

How do you do it?

In March 2019, I applied for the Grader opening and received a reply that advised me CGC decided to pursue other candidates who appeared to match the "skills and experience."  I get it.  I never owned a shop or worked for another grading company but I want to learn how CGC's business works, I want to put the time into studying and learning how to grade and advance myself within the company.  I want to experience the discussions that might ensue while researching, grading, and learning from other graders, researchers, and staff.

A week ago, I applied again and tried thinking outside the box.  Rather than just attaching my rigid professional resume I also included a statement that made my application more relevant to CGC i.e., my efforts to catalog, organize, and grade my personal comic book collection of approximately 5,600 raw books for sale.  That same day, I applied to the Researcher/Verification Clerk position too, and mentioned that I was applying to both positions.  I believe that I'm well suited for the Research/Verification Clerk role and see it as a great opportunity to join CGC and grow with the company.

Does CGC HR ever monitor these boards to answer questions?

I'd be thrilled to hear from a current Grader or the hiring manager.

I really want this.

Thanks,

Jim

Wow, what a great attitude, Jim! 

Keep at it---they'll eventually realize how serious you are...   

[The Lions Den]

5 hours ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

I believe there's a separate team that does page counts.  @The Lions Den

Generally speaking, the pre-graders do the page counts. That's not to say that the finalizers don't do them when necessary, but the pre-graders are largely responsible for making sure the interior of the book is intact, as well as assigning a grade for the book. 

As far as the time spent grading a book, it really does depend on the book. With some books (such as moderns) there usually aren't many flaws, so it's pretty easy to grade those relatively quickly. But some of the other books (like Golden and Silver Age) can take a while because of the various flaws that can be involved. Missing pages, married covers, resto...they all have to be written down correctly, which can be pretty time consuming. And lord knows, you don't want to miss anything...

 

[The Lions Den]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:24 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

14. Endurance, endurance, endurance. Grading comics all day long is a GRIND. It wears you down. 

This.   

[The Lions Den]

On 11/18/2019 at 5:16 PM, revat said:

7.  Good eyesight.

This should be #1...