Housekeeping: Are You TTAC's Next Top News Contributor?
As you saw last week, our news chief Steph Willems left the daily news grind behind to pursue an opportunity outside of automotive journalism. That leaves us looking for our next news guru.
We’re in need of someone who can write 3-5 blog posts a day while editing and scheduling the rest of our daily content. We need a person who can write factually accurate, engaging, clean copy that is free of typos and grammatical errors and also write engaging, factually accurate headlines. The ideal candidate should likewise be a sharp-eyed copy editor.
Our ideal candidate would have a strong familiarity with all aspects of the automotive industry, including but not limited to: new product, classic cars, regulatory, business/finance/sales, supplier, manufacturing, technology, and the aftermarket. He or she will be able to quickly gather news and write copy that goes far beyond parroting the press release. Familiarity with TTAC’s unique voice will be immensely helpful.
This is a contract position that will be paid monthly. Compensation will be commensurate with experience, and this position is not eligible for benefits. This position will be remote, open to anyone living in the United States or Canada. That means you’ll need a reliable laptop and Internet connection. The hours will be early morning to afternoon, Eastern time. Some night and weekend work will be required.
While this is primarily a news gathering/writing/editing position, there may be opportunities to attend media launches and auto-show media days (once the pandemic ends and launches and auto shows resume) and/or to review cars loaned to you.
Other duties will include monitoring and moderating comments, working with our contributors on editing and scheduling, and some very basic photo editing and shooting skills. The ideal candidate will have no major blemishes on his/her driving record.
Qualities that are preferred but not required would be social-media savviness and being comfortable with speaking on a possible future TTAC podcast or in video segments.
If you’re interested, please send your resume, a brief introductory note (no need for the formality of a cover letter, but we’d like to know a bit about you and your background/experience) and 3-5 sample clips to thealey@thetruthaboutcars.com with the subject “News Contributor”. It’s OK if your clips are journalistic in nature but cover a different industry. We’d prefer published clips, but samples are OK if you don’t have any.
The deadline for applying is 5 pm Central time, Monday, September 21. We expect a high volume of applications, so we will only be able to respond to those we plan on interviewing.
If you have questions, email me or comment below.
[Image: Bartek Zyczynski/Shutterstock.com]
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Dream gig but for two issues: 1) I don't have the time, and 2) Once bitten, twice shy. To wit: I wrote copy for a few companies a few years ago. It started with landing page stuff ( 'The Future Is Always Happening!' and assorted brilliances... ) and progressed to S.E.O. by way of fleshing out some blogs on a regular basis. N.D.A.s and threats about working for anyone else followed. The best/worst part was that my contact at one company, Traci-with-an-i in H.R. or whatever she did there, instantly became my editor. She'd send my copy back peppered with examples of 'you know' and 'It's like' and enough exclamation marks to leave a potential customer breathless. I am in no way intimating that the editors of this august publication would be the same as Traci was, mind. Damn you, Traci.
Maybe Bertel Schmidt will come back