Jobs and Opps at Ministry of Sound, TechRadar, Penguin Books, The National Gallery, and Many Many More 🪩

Lots of opportunities for your application radar and a reflection on how we come up with our ideas 💭

Hello, it’s me, Hannah, today. I hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday.

There’s nothing worse than a blank page is there? Whether it is the glaring bright white of a Google Doc or the tantalising emptiness of an A4 sheet of paper. Frequently, I attempt to will some words down on the page but can only muster the date. 

Journalism involves a lot of idea generation, and coming up with ideas under pressure — especially totally unique ones, is difficult. Added pressure might arise if you’re freelance and rely on said originality to help you stand out in an editor’s inbox and ultimately pay the bills. Deadlines can also drain creativity, and it can feel like you’re just wading through the sludge rather than creatively connecting with the world and giving your wilder ideas time to simmer. 

While the only way to describe my notes app would be a chaotic mess (any advice on organising ideas would be most welcome), it remains the destination for a medley of musings. Conversations I’ve overheard on trains. Places I’d like to visit and write about. Films I’d like to watch. Questions I have about the world to which I feel I can’t be the only person who would find the answer interesting. Sporadic thoughts and ideas with the potential of one day being fully grown pieces.

When I’m staring at that familiar blank page, I often return to my notes app to check in with those half-formed ideas. And by looking back at them, I can see when and where idea generation tends to be the most rich for me. When I’m travelling on public transport, when I’m moving my body on a run (I know our founder Jem often finds peace and creativity underwater), when I’m well-rested, and when I’m having fun. For example, I’m lucky enough to live a short train journey away from the coast, and one of my favourite pastimes — fuelled by nostalgic childhood memories — is going on the amusement penny slot machines. Recently, I found a full notes page of amusement-themed feature ideas. How long could I make £1 last? Exploring the history of penny arcades. Touring the country’s oldest coastal amusement parks. The list goes on. Granted, I’m yet to write any (so if anyone would like to commission me on an amusement-themed piece), but for me, I know having fun with friends is generally a reliable source of creativity.

We are currently working on a feature for our site all about coming up with creative ideas, so please drop us a line with any advice, recommendations, or anecdotes relating to creativity and ideas!

[Event] Mastering The Art Of The Journalism Cover Letter

Last year, almost 80 per cent of the job adverts on our website asked candidates to supply a cover letter. At the same time, it’s something we get asked the most about. In this new workshop, we’ll break down what a ‘good’ cover letter looks like and talk about how to tell your story and stand out from the crowd. It’s for anyone, of any experience level, who wants to brush up their skills.

• 🚨 Last chance to apply for the editorial assistant role with Toy World Magazine. I have to stress again, this means you get to spend all your time writing about toys and that sounds really cool. It pays £24–27,000pa.

• Cambrian News has a vacancy for a multimedia reporter to tell stories in innovative ways across a variety of platforms. It pays £19,656pa.

• Haymarket, which publishes a whole tonne of stuff, is looking for an editorial assistant to work on their content on behalf of Volkswagen Group. It pays £24,000pa and it covers everything from news to model launches.

• Homes for Students has an ad up for an SEO content creator who can capture the attention of Gen Z audiences. It also seems like a great way to build up digital skills. It pays £23,000pa.

• Shakespeare’s Globe is top tier imo — mainly because I just bagged £5 tickets for a show next week. They’re hiring at the moment for a social media assistant and are paying £23,774pa. H/T to MediaBeans for this one.

• 🕑 The lovely people at Creative Lives In Progress are looking for a coordinator to help them manage their jobs board part-time from September to February. It’s not journalism, but as it’s just 25 hours a week and I personally find searching for job listings fascinating, I’m chucking it in. Pays London Living Wage.

• The Royal Society need a digital content assistant editor to support them to publish bits on their website. It pays up to £25,000pa.

• Warren James, off of jewellery in the high street, is in need of a content creator to work across their website and social media. It pays £23,000pa.

• Riot Communications is offering a six-month internship at £23,500pa. To be honest, I’m mainly including it for the name, but you will get to work on kinds of fun stuff to do with arts, culture, and entertainment.

• Communications consultancy Luther Pendragon is looking for a graduate trainee who is passionate about media and politics. It pays £20–30,000pa.

• And, finally, this is a really nice job with the Independent Cinema Office as a campaigns and content officer. It seems like writing is a key skill and you’ll be paid £32,170–34,960pa.

• Creative Lives In Progress do really great work — they’re similar vibes to us but for the whole creative industry. They’re looking for a staff writer and social media editor and are paying £25–27,000pa.

• Wellington Weekly News and West Somerset Free Press have an advert up for an editor to create and champion the strategy across their brands. It pays in the region of £30,000pa.

• A mystery company is looking for a layout sub-editor to work across their science magazine titles. You’ll be adding design flair, checking copy, and sending pages off to print. It pays up to £30,000pa.

• Also from Haymarket this week — they are in need of a podcast and video producer to work on content across their various titles. It looks like a fascinating mix of areas and pays £26,000pa.

• Future Studios produce a tonne of short-form factual and social media content, working across their huge range of publications. As a social video editor for them, you’ll be paid up to £35,000pa.

• Compassion In World Farming International need a copywriter with digital and social experience to drive global fundraising. It pays £31–34,000pa

• The tech software department, also part of Future, is looking for a senior staff writer to tackle cybersecurity content across their titles. It pays up to £35,000pa. They’re also hiring a writer for a soon-to-relaunch site Look After My Bills. Again, it pays £35,000pa.

• The Southbank Centre is looking for a video editor to work on projects across the organisation, using video to tell the stories. It’s for three days a week and pays £18,900pa pro rata.

• TechRadar is hiring a social media manager to focus on audience development, growing and managing an engaged social media audience across platforms. It pays up to £30,000pa.

• If you’re an art fan, The National Gallery is looking for a content producer to join its digital department. You’ll have the chance to lead on exhibition, collection, and wider brand content campaigns.

• 🏡 And, finally, this is a digital news editor job with a senior nature conservation charity where you’ll focus on telling great stories. It pays £36,577–39,267pa.

• An editor job here at a healthcare business. You’ll be overseeing their research publications and managing a small team and it pays £50,000pa.

• 🚨 🇪🇺 Last chance to apply for the newsletter reporter/senior writer role at Sifted.eu, which closes today. It pays £40–55,000pa and you can be based in any major tech hub across Europe.

• Finimize covers stories about smarter investing and is in need of an editor to work with their team on tone of voice, language, and content direction. It pays £40–50,000pa.

• The team at iwoca are looking for a PR and communications manager to join them and help drive their growth forward. It pays £40–55,000pa.

• The Southbank Centre seems like a pretty cool place to work (I hope you get to go to cool stuff for free) and they’re looking for a senior social media and content manager. It pays up to £43,500pa.

• Mark Allen Group is hiring a deputy arable editor to write insightful content on the farming industry. It pays £40,000pa.

• The Ministry of Sound is looking for a content creator to take on a pivotal new role connecting with new audiences and club culture. It pays £38–41,000pa.

• 🚨 The team at Sifted.eu need a freelance sub-editor to step in next week, as well as further opportunities when their staff sub is on holiday. It pays £180 a day and it’s a really fascinating site to work on.

• The Sun is in need of freelance support for its live blogs and you’ll create content for both UK and US audiences. You can see more details this way.

• 🚨🏡 Today is the last chance to apply for the audience development producer role with QueerAF, helping to drive more people to sign-up for the newsletter with engaging social content. It pays £110 a day. As an aside, one of my jobs for this week is to brief the web agency to fix the bug about jobs closing early.

• Accountancy Age is hiring freelance reporters to bolster their news content. You’ll be paid a set rate per word.

• The i has an advert up for casual news reporters to pitch and write daily news stories. Sorry, I feel like this has been all shifts, commissions incoming!

• Molly Sprayregen from LGBTQ Nation is commissioning for LGBTQ History Month! If you’ve got a piece of little-known queer history that would make a good feature or profile, pitch Molly@lgbtqnation.com. Pay ranges from $150–300.

• If you’re a journalist with at least three years of experience, Climate Home News is seeking pitches for its new ‘Green Energy Frontiers’ series covering the changing landscape of the renewable energy supply chain. Pays around $1,600 per story.

• Longevity Global, an outlet connecting longevity researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs, is looking for freelance writers for its new Substack. Pays $200 per article. Find out more here.

• Rhys Everquill from the Leicester-based Great Central Gazette wants your environment feature pitches. They should be timely for September and should explore local climate/environment issues.

• Love crime fiction? Katie Russell from Penguin Books wants to hear pitches from avid readers of James Patterson/Harlan Coben/Lisa Jewell/Lee Child/Shari Lapena. Get in touch here.

• 🎪 You can grab tickets to our new workshop on cover letters here, where we’ll talk about compelling introductions, the rule of one-third, and much more.

• 👩🏽‍💻 We’re also running another co-working session this week, so come and join us! We’ll spend an hour together powering through whatever the niggles are on your to-do list. Trust us, it’ll be fun.

• 👩🏽‍💻 There’s also a nice in-person invite for co-working here from The Photography Foundation. They’ll provide the tea, coffee, and snacks, and you get to meet a new creative community.

• 🚨 The 2023 Nan Shepherd Prize closes for entries this week. Unpublished nature writers who consider themselves unrepresented can enter, winning a £10,000 contract, editorial mentoring, and an offer of agent representation.

• 🚨 One more ‘bookish’ one today — #Merky Books is offering a publishing contract, mentoring, and additional support to an underrepresented UK or Republic of Ireland writer aged 18 to 35.

• Creative Mentor Network has opened up its latest mentoring scheme, this time based in Oxfordshire. You’ll get 16 weeks of one-to-one mentoring from a creative industry professional and exclusive training and events.

• 🚨 This is an offbeat one, but how can you not include The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards?! Basically, enter your funniest animal photos in the name of conservation and you’ll win a one-week safari trip.

• 🚨 This week is the last chance to apply for a scholarship or bursary for the Channel 4 Investigative Journalism MA at De Montford University. You could get your tuition fees covered, as well as up to £5,000 in living expenses.

• What’s the best way to get journalism work experience? How should you format your CV? How can you leverage TikTok? We spoke to 19 journalists at the top of their game about how to take your first steps into the industry.