Jobs and Opps at The Gecko Project, Sky, Hyphen, POPSUGAR UK, Inverse, and Many, Many More 👩‍💻

Everything you should apply for this week and beyond.

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Last week, for the first time in five years, I went to see a dentist. It hadn’t been a planned hiatus, but rather a series of unfortunate events. To cut a long story short, I’d been due for a check-up in early 2020 and we all know what happened next. Then my dentist retired and they couldn’t replace him, so I got kicked out of the practice. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years. I still hadn’t seen the dentist.

Every couple of months my parents would ask if I’d sorted that out yet — had I found a new dentist? Surely it would only take a small amount of time to ring someone up or Google it? It’s your health, the tone implied, it’s important. The worry lived rent-free in my head — and even out loud sometimes — catastrophising that my teeth would all fall out or rot away. But I simply could not find the available energy to fix it.

Going to the dentist fell into the same bucket as so many other things to in our lives. Replying to that email you’ve been putting off, ringing up customer service, or booking an appointment. It doesn’t even have to be bad things — the places I’ve wanted to send a pitch to for years and the coffee meetings I long to actually organise. As business speak would describe all these things — they’re important but not urgent, meaning we’re forever putting them off in favour of more pressing tasks.

At the start of the New Year, I got an email — my practice finally found a replacement and I’m back in the club. Suddenly, fixing the problem was easy and Mike confirmed that no, my teeth were not going to fall out. It’s genuinely felt like a weight off my shoulders; but in a busy and overwhelming world, how can we get to the ‘important but not urgent’ more often? It’s easy to beat ourselves up over it — but we’re only going to get it done if we (and society) make it easier for ourselves.

[AD] The Guardian Foundation Scott Trust Bursary Is Open

The Guardian Foundation Scott Trust Bursary assists those who face financial difficulty in becoming a journalist and come from backgrounds underrepresented in the media. You’ll get tuition fees paid for an MA in journalism, at least £6,741 in living expenses, a mentor, paid work placements at The Guardian during your MA, and the opportunity of a nine-month contract after your graduation.

• Sky, off of the TV and beyond, has listed a tonne of 12-month placements for people looking to break into the media. The most relevant ones for us are an advertising creative graduate placement that focuses on copywriting and a production placement. Both pay £27,000pa.

• 🚨[AD] Nursing in Practice’s role for a news and features writer closes tomorrow. It’s a brand-new role at the outlet and you’ll dive into the issues faced by their audience of nurses. It pays £26,000pa.

• 🚨Thames & Hudson, publisher of a range of books on the visual arts, architecture, design, and popular culture, is looking for an editorial assistant to work on their art list. You’ll be paid £26,000pa and focus on research support.

• 🚨Social Streets’ Editorial Journalism Internship Programme closes for applications soon. It’s basically a work experience scheme which pays a small stipend fo £50 a day to cover your costs.

• 🚨[AD] Also on our radar as closing within a week is the reporter role at Law.com International. It pays £22–30,000pa (they’re open to a range of experiences) and is a great place to start and build a niche.

• The Photography Foundation is hiring a digital intern to focus on building their YouTube channel. It pays the London Living Wage.

• 🏡 The Culture Trip is offering work experience placements over the summer, with a small monthly stipend of £250. You can work remotely and it seems like you’ll have some flexibility on how much you do.

• This looks like a super interesting programme from McCann Health. The IGNITE Programme runs for 15 weeks to help you start a career in the creative industries with tailored support. It pays the London Living Wage.

• And, finally, this is a social and content marketing assistant role within the fashion industry. It pays £25,000pa and you can see more info this way.

• Sage, the academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources, is running an 18-month editor fellowship for two people who are Black, Asian, or from other ethnically diverse backgrounds. It pays £35,100pa and you’ll be supported to take the next steps in your editing career.

• 🚨[AD] Also closing this week is the head of content role at Masse. You’ll help them produce a huge range of written content for their clients and oversee every article that gets put out there. It pays £38–52,000pa.

• If you feel like giving back to the next generation, this is an associate lecturer role in journalism. They’re looking for two people, one to lead on sports media and PR and another to lead on final-year journalism projects. Pays £37–42,000pa.

• The Digger in Glasgow is hiring an assistant editor for their weekly crime magazine. You’ll proof pages, cover court stories, and get exclusive stories on the regular. It pays up to £32,500pa.

• Homes and Gardens is looking for a newsletter editor, who’ll also work across Livingetc to drive website traffic and engage audiences. It pays £26–30,000pa.

• Point Blank, an award-winning music school, has an opening for a social media and content editor to help tell their story. It pays £26,715–32,817pa.

• 🚨 Another one closing this week is the fintech reporter gig with Finextra. It pays £25–30,000pa and you’ll be regularly pitching news and feature ideas, as well as editorial long reads.

• This is a magazine writer/editor job for a publisher that puts out a range of titles for different communities in Glasgow. It pays up to £27,500pa.

• 🚨Bradford 2025 is looking for a social media manager to help them throughout their time as the UK City of Culture. It pays £35,000pa but closes tomorrow morning, so be quick with this one.

• And, finally, a couple of decent copywriter gigs open at the moment. Geo Green Power wants someone to write for their website (£30,000pa), an accountancy firm needs someone to work across multiple channels (£35–45,000pa), and an agency that works across legal, SEO, and travel (£25–30,000pa).

• 🏡 🌍 The Gecko Project has a vacancy for an investigations editor to lead their small team of reporters looking at stories at the intersection of corruption, the environment, and marginalised communities. It pays up to £60,000pa.

• The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is mainly on my radar as they run the House of The Year Award which is filmed as a TV show with Kevin McCloud. They’re also looking for a managing editor for The RIBA Journal, which is filled with practical content about architecture. It pays £45,000pa.

• The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is hiring a senior writer to focus on speechwriting for senior colleagues, which truly sounds fascinating. It pays £47,745–53,934pa.

• A few final editor jobs here: this one is for a group of B2B publications (£70–80,000pa) and this one is for a specific B2B magazine (£35–40,000pa).

• This is a contract position as a copywriter for an investment banking client. It’s a 12-month contract with a 60/40 split between the office and home working. It pays up to £360 a day.

• 🏡 The 350 Club is in need of a journalist to work as a content manager for their community platform. You’ll be paid £7,800pa for two hours of work a day, where you’ll be uploading pieces to their website.

• 🏡 Newsweek is back again with another freelance news reporter role. They seem pretty flexible on your location and want someone who has a knowledge of the US news landscape.

• Bagri Foundation needs a freelance comms manager to work across its digital channels and wider strategy. It’s listed as being equivalent to £30–40,00pa FTE.

• Hyphen is always looking for pitches. They work with journalists across the UK and Europe across reported features, opinion pieces, or profiles — covering social issues, current affairs, environment, lifestyle and culture. Rates are between 30-50ppw and email naomi.larssonpineda@hyphenonline.com.

• United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) is looking for freelance broadcast journalists to work across multiple platforms. The role may include some home working. 

• Cosmopolitan’s senior features editor Nicole Pasulka is accepting pitches for the autumn issue. Ideas should be for original non-fiction narrative stories. No personal essays. Pays US$1.50–2 per word. 

• Know a thing or two about what makes an excellent saucepan? Or have a potato peeler you’re passionate about? Daniel Modlin, senior editor at Food & Wine, is looking for pitches about food/kitchen products you love and swear by. Pays US$300 per article.

• Aaliyah Harry at POPSUGAR UK is looking for feature pitches across culture, identity, lifestyle, and entertainment, and is keen to commission new voices.

• Isaiah Thompson is now editing the leadership desk at Nonprofit Quarterly and is always open to pitches. More info here.    

• Inverse’s deputy gaming editor Shannon Liao is accepting pitches for stories which explore the craft or psychology of video games. Rates start at US$300 for reported pieces. 

• Stephanie Pitera Statile at Business Insider is open to freelance lifestyle pitches and has published a thread of what kind of thing has worked recently. Rates depend on the story but start at US$200 per piece.

• Women Writers Are Dope, an Instagram-based publication, is looking for personal essays on a range of topics including love and relationships and mental health awareness. Pays a flat rate of US$150 per story for 300 words/2,000 characters — following Instagram’s caption limits, which is where the stories are published. 

• Eva Sandoval, who is the editor of BBC Travel’s new SpeciaList column, and who recently put out a call for pitches, has updated/refined the pitching guidelines. 

• Joanna Chiu is Rest of World’s new China editor and is open to freelance pitches.  

• And another regular pitch callout here from the International Journalists’ Network for stories about journalism tools or resources that can help journalists around the world. Pays US$200 per article.  

• The D&D New Blood Awards 2024 are open for people wanting to kickstart a career in advertising and design. Entries are free if you take a short survey and there’s tonnes of guidance on how to stand out.

• 🚨 🎪[EVENT] It’s your last chance to grab a ticket to our event tonight on breaking into music journalism. I’m listening to it live right now and it’s super — you can buy watch-back tickets until the end of the week.

• 🎪 We also have tonnes more coming up over the next few weeks — join us to delve into how to nail your interview game, how to become a freelance copywriter, and how to break into lifestyle journalism.

• Curtis Brown Creative has a couple of scholarships open for those who’d benefit from access to their courses. There are scholarships for people looking to break into novel writing, TV screenwriting, and short story writing.

• Applications have also reopened for Brixton Finishing School. It’s a free, full-time eight-week course for 18-25s who’d like to work in marketing, advertising, and communications.

• 🚨 There are just a few days left to apply to the Canon Student Development Programme 2024. There are three €2,000 grants on offer for emerging photographers, as well as intensive workshops and mentoring.

• Take a breather — The Publisher Podcast Awards has announced a short extension from this Friday to next Friday. They’re open to any publisher that publishes a podcast, it’s not just big outlets.

• 🚨Back to the endless deadlines! The Freelancing for Journalists Work Experience Scheme closes at 10am tomorrow. It’s a great chance to work with freelancers (and us) as well as traditional newsrooms.

• To niche or not to niche — it’s an eternal question for freelance journalists. Lucy McGuire takes a deep dive into how to decide where to focus your work. When I was editing, I learnt you can even be a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé specialist.