Jobs and Opps at ITV, The Guardian, TVGuide.co.uk, The Leicester Gazette, and Many, Many More 🌱
it's been a day
We’re so sorry we’re so late with this — and that you’re now receiving this back through Substack. We’ve just been blocked from sending emails through our provider as they say we have too many free subscribers. We’ve not missed an email in years, so want to get this out to at least some of you can read it. We hope to have a resolution next week and I’m going off for a stress cry now 💚
*** Intros not for you? Scroll past to get to 50+ jobs and opportunities***
Evening all, Jem here with you today. I’m writing to you from the passenger side of my car, as my partner navigates the first shift of our drive back to London. Working on the laptop has somewhat bookended this trip; on the way here, I was watching my university lecture from the same seat. I’m quite proud of my acquired skills to type, watch, and avoid motion sickness in a moving vehicle, but I’m going to keep this short, rather than test my luck.
Last week, I spoke about some of our jobs board data. Today, I wanted to share some of the more qualitative findings. Our advice when it comes to job apps is to always tailor to the job description in question; applicant tracking system or not, it’s wise to echo the keywords and tone of the listing. But that hasn’t stopped us from wondering what journalism employers are generally looking for these days. So, we decided to tot up the most common words and phrases across all the jobs we directly listed last year. You can see them in the table below.
A caveat here — these words are generalisations and you might take very different things from them than I do. However, with that said, here are a couple of my thoughts:
Passion and commitment are overused words in job descriptions and it’s basically a cliché at this point. But in a competitive landscape, it’s always worth thinking about what your personal connection to a brand might be. No one is expecting you to invent a longstanding affinity overnight, but you do need to know your why. Or, to put it another way, if you’re pitted against a candidate who has the exact same experience as you, why should they pick you? Not every job will be a dream job, but you should always ask yourself what excites you and how you fit into their vision and values.
I always find words like platforms interesting; this is a pure hunch, but I think it speaks to the multi-faceted nature of our work. Again, this might seem obvious, but very rarely are we now looking for a purely print journalist or someone who only works on air. My advice is to be mindful of the examples you pick out, showing how you can tell stories and engage audiences across multiple platforms.
Finally, for now, I’ve also picked out words like audiences and community. We all know that the people we write for are at the heart of our journalism, but often this is missing from job applications. Ideas are currency because they show a lot about how you understand an outlet. Terms like audience and community speak to the same need, that you have a deep understanding of who’s actually consuming a publication.
I’ll be throwing together a few more thoughts on LinkedIn and Instagram once I’ve left the moving vehicle, but I’d love to hear your thoughts too!
[EVENT] Reducing Your Journalism Carbon Footprint
As journalists, we’re often covering the climate emergency — but are we also fuelling it? Join this interactive workshop with the UK’s only journalism-focused carbon literacy facilitator Sarah Hartley to bust jargon around carbon, work out your personal carbon footprint and the cost of various activities in the newsroom, and make a plan for action.
Join Us Live Or Watch Back Here
[AD] Not a job as such, but The Guardian Foundation has opened up applications to The Scott Trust Bursary. It will fund an MA qualification in journalism (both tuition and living expenses), paid London Living Wage placements with the publisher, and a potential nine-month contract. Read our guide here.
🏢🏴🏴🍀We mentioned the highly-anticipated ITV Academy News Traineeship last week, an A* scheme that pays £29,034pa for nine months, placing you in the heart of one of the broadcaster’s newsrooms. Check out our super handy guide here. This week, applications are also open for a couple of other ITV schemes. There’s a trainee production specialist in Norwich (pays £29,034pa) and an apprentice production specialist in Cardiff (pays £24,570pa).
🚨🏢The BBC has also opened up new production apprenticeships in both London and Salford! One apprenticeship will have you working on Songs of Praise in Salford, whereas the other will have you sink your teeth into Doc Hearts in London. Both pay £21,840pa, plus a London Living Allowance of £5,318pa where applicable.
🏢 The call is now open for The Economist’s 1843 Internships. This is a six-month opportunity, paid at London Living Wage. We reckon this will give you plenty of scope to get to grips with all things economics and finance.
Ready to shift your PR career up a gear? This press assistant role is your ticket to the action. You’ll be working on many world-class events, from motorsport to horse racing, all on the luscious Goodwood grounds, too.
🐶 Pun alert: Check out The Dog's Trust if you lead the pack with your social media skills. It’s on the hunt for a social media manager to oversee content, drive engagement, and keep tails wagging online! Pays £25,371pa plus benefits.
If you're a current student with De Montford University you're eligible to apply for a paid internship with the Leciester Gazette. It pays the National Minimum Wage to pitch and publish original local journalism for ten hours a week.
🏡 ⚽️ Can’t find a closing date for this one, so apply quickly! This journalist gig over in Newcastle upon Tyne is with Small & Mighty and could see you covering community news one day, then grassroots football clubs the next. Pays £25,000pa and upwards.
And, finally, TVGuide.co.uk is expanding its operations and needs a TV writer to join the team. You'll be paid £24–32,000pa.
🚨🏢[AD] It’s your last chance to apply to the role with Inside Housing as best practice editor, a new role at the publication that’s dedicated to covering learning and development. This one pays £42,000pa.
🚨🕑[AD] This role with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism also expires this week. As a community organiser in Bradford, you’ll head up a very cool new project to increase news engagement and find stories. It pays £42,000pa FTE.
🏴The Bell, part of Mill Media, is hiring a reporter to focus on news writing and digging out scoops. You’ll be paid £25–30,000pa and ideally will have three years of experience. Do say that we sent you their way!
🏢 This is a financial journalist gig lasting for six months, though the exact publication remains a mystery. You’ll be paid £40,000pa to write news and feature content. While it says you need some past experience, there’s no set number of years.
🕑 🏡 Quakers in Britain has put an advert up for a content creator and while you need to uphold its values the application is open to all. You’ll work primarily on social media and can be based in London, Leeds, or remotely. It pays £28,172–33,140pa FTE.
🏡The lovely team at Agency Hackers are hiring a content producer and, in the brackets of the job description, it’s also tagged as a journalist gig. It’s a great chance to get meta about the media industry and pays £32,000pa to spend most of your time interviewing.
Somerset, the home of cider, has a BBC Radio vacancy. As a journalist in Taunton, you’ll work on planning its daytime show, producing digital content, and booking guests. This one pays £27,300–32,533pa and is part of BBC Extend.
There are two more Band C jobs at the BBC this week, which are perfect roles for those with a few years of experience. There’s a journalist gig with BBC Radio Wiltshire, which also includes news reading work and pays £27,300–32,500pa. There’s also a vacancy with BBC Breakfast and News at One; this is more focused on booking guests and coming up with ideas for programmes. It pays £30–40,000pa.
🏴 One final BBC role this week; this one is for Welsh speakers who have a decent chunk of experience behind them. As a senior journalist, you’ll be paid £39,800–48,367pa. This one is also part of the BBC Extend scheme.
ITV also has a few openings this week. There is a production journalist gig in Leeds, which pays £29,034–39,697pa and focuses on writing stories and scripts. There’s also a five-year scheme in Manchester to train as a production specialist, with the same salary; this one says it requires a little bit of prior experience.
🏢 The Royal Free Charity, attached to the London hospitals, is hiring a content creator to tell powerful stories about the work they do. You’ll spend your time sourcing stories and interviewing NHS staff, patients, and researchers. It pays £30,000pa.
🏢 And, finally, if you’re looking for a bit of a change, this is a senior content executive gig that claims it’s perfect for someone with a creative spark and journalism experience. It pays up to £38,000pa and only requires two office days a week.
🏢 Modern College in Greenwich is looking for a communications lead to work with the CEO on a range of projects including a website relaunch. You’ll need to uphold their values of challenging ageism and combatting loneliness. It pays £55–60,000pa.
Storythings.com is based in Brighton and searching for its next managing editor. You'll be near three excellent lidos, will give your creative vision and editing expertise, and, in return, will be paid £45,000pa.
🏡 AIM Group is hiring freelance journalists to focus on ‘re-commerce’, aka the sale of used goods by companies old and small. There are three gigs available, one as a managing editor and two as writers/analysts. It pays £20–50ph.
I won’t lie, I had to look up what a technical writer is before I put this in the listing. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t need to do that, here’s a listing through agency Ad Warrier for a three-month contract paying up to £500 a day.
🚨🏡The Break Down examines how capitalism has shaped the climate crisis, and how it continues to evolve. Pitches are now open for the next issue, which will explore Trump’s second term and the new right means for climate. It pays £900 per piece.
🏡 Maybelle Morgan, from the i Paper, has a couple of call-outs live this week. First up, she’s looking for a Gen Z writer who has become hooked on mood boosts or impulse spending. Secondly, a more general call-out on lifestyle pitches.
🏡 🌎 This is a niche one, but Business Insider is looking for people who went to an Ivy League school and have thoughts about it. This could be your moment to get paid for chatting about dropping out, which feels like it would be a fun full-circle moment.
This one from LinkedIn hasn't got out of hand yet; it's looking for London-based content creators for a project that will take about 10–12 hours a week.
I'm really sorry, I wanted this section to be much longer, but I've now been told I need to take over driving! I'll share a wider set of pitch calls across LinkedIn and Instagram tomorrow, so you can stock up.
🚨🎪 It’s your very last chance to grab tickets to our workshop on your journalism carbon footprint on Wednesday. We’ll be busting jargon, working out the impact of your journalism activities, and making an action plan. Grab tickets here.
🚨Don’t forget, there’s still a chance to apply for a fully funded Reuters Institute Fellowship! Snap up a £2,000 monthly stipend while stepping back from the newsroom, exploring the industry in-depth, and connecting with top media minds worldwide. Closes this Thursday, so be quick!
🚨For youngsters aged 16–18, Thursday is your last chance to submit entries for the Emerging Voices Awards. Winners receive £100 in book vouchers, an annual digital subscription to The Guardian, access to masterclasses and a snazzy trophy.
🚨Yet another opportunity closing this Thursday. For the inspiring PRs and advertisers, the BBC Creative U 12 Week Masterclass is set to launch imminently.
📰 See yourself as a fearless defender of press freedom, or know someone who fits the bill? Let them know that nominations are open for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, honouring those making a vital impact, particularly in high-risk areas. The winner wins a cash prize worth approximately £20,250.
Folks under the age of 30 can apply for prizes up to £5,000 for journalistic projects covering business, economics and finance work. Check out The Wincott Awards to learn more.
Applications are also open to the Lyra McKee Bursary, in honour of the Northern Irish journalist who was killed in 2019. It’s a five-month programme for emerging journalists from underrepresented backgrounds who want to work in investigations. Full details here.
🎪 🆓 Our friends at Creative Access are running a new group CV session in March. It’s free to join and will cover best practices for polishing up your applications in the creative sector.
Don’t forget that entries close soon for The Student Publication Association Mentoring Scheme! This is an excellent stepping stone for student journalists and recent graduates looking to break into the industry.
🚨The Telegraph’s Media Literacy Programme is your chance to learn from top journalists, sharpen your storytelling skills, and get a Media Literacy Journalism Certificate! It’s open to all 16-18-year-olds across the UK, so share it along to someone who wants to make the headlines!
Last one — the Stern Fellowship is now open. It offers the chance for someone working in the media, but early in their career, to spend three months working at The Washington Post, following in the footsteps of JR alumni Abbie Cheeseman.
Just Six Days Left To Pre-Order Our Magazine!
There are just 6 days left to place a pre-order and get your hands on one of our beautiful magazines – or sooner if we run out quicker! Get yours here and support our mission for an equitable journalism industry for all. Every penny goes towards helping us fund programmes to help journalists — and you get a beautiful 100-page magazine.
Get Yours Here