Job Description

DIGITAL REPORTER, SWNS

Start date - ASAP

Salary - 25,400 - 30,000

Essential - Bristol-based

Deadline - August 12 - but we will start interviewing before deadline, so early applicants at an advantage

Who are we?

SWNS is the UK's biggest independent news agency. Every day hundreds of stories, images and videos from SWNS are published and broadcast across the national and international media.

Our clients are the biggest news publishers in the world - Reach, DMGT, News UK, LADbible, Independent, Times Online, Mail Online, BBC, ITN, The Times, Yahoo! and USAToday to name a few.

We cover breaking news, amazing human interest stories, consumer issues, health and scientific breakthroughs, and provide websites around the world with stunning imagery and?viral videos.

We've got huge plans to expand our storytelling into exciting new formats and markets, so it's an exciting time to join SWNS.

The role

We are looking for a journalist to start ASAP working with both our digital team to cover, source and create content for our clients - the biggest publishers in the world.

We welcome all applications - from reporters looking for their first job, to experienced writers after their next challenge.

You will be based at our HQ in Bristol - finding, researching, and writing?national and international?digital news and feature stories under the guidance of our experienced editors.

The job will involve creating stories from scratch from a variety of sources including social media and responding to national stories which break in local press.

You would cover news, viral videos and real-life human-interest content. While most of your interviews will be over the phone, you should be comfortable getting out and about, reporting from the patch.

Successful candidates?will have to live and work in or near Bristol but have the flexibility of hybrid working once they are settled into the role.

Ideal candidate

If you've got a journalism degree, an NCTJ qualification, shorthand, and a list of work experience as long as your arm, that's brilliant. You should be immensely proud of your achievements - and we definitely want to hear from you.

But if you don't, don't let that put you off. We care much more about the person: their skills, qualities, drive, and ambition. You should however have experience sourcing and writing original news stories from scratch.

Senior reporters must have at least two years experience writing for a mainstream publication or major agency.

Social media skills are a must. You should know your way around all the platforms and have proven experience using them to source stories.

Human interest content - stories about the weird, wonderful, sad, inspirational and amazing things that happen to people - are our bread and butter.

We write tons of breaking news, source viral videos, and cover politics, science, tech and consumer trends, but more often than not, this is done through the lens of a real person, sharing their story.

Often, you will be speaking to people about the worst or best things that have ever happened to them, and this will require maturity, respect and a very impressive phone manner.

You must be inquisitive and interested in the lives of people who might be very different to you.

You must be self-motivated and flexible.

Organisation skills are a must. In time, you will be juggling dozens of stories every day, so you must be organised and disciplined

We have a strong team mentality at SWNS. We're competitive with rivals when we need to be, but not with each other. You must be a team player - able to accept help, and help others, at all levels.

Extra details

SWNS is a national living wage employer.

Recent studies show most UK journalism industry professionals come from white ethnic groups (92%) and from professional or upper-class backgrounds (80%). We want to continue to do our part to change this and welcome candidates from all backgrounds.

SWNS also has a generous and growing list of employee benefits, including:

25 days annual holiday plus Bank Holidays Company pension scheme with employer contribution Hybrid working policy Enhanced maternity and paternity packages Life assurance scheme Cycle to work scheme Employee assistance programme Company events Furthr - carbon offsetting app Birthday leave

Please apply with a covering letter explaining how you fit the criteria above, and why you want to work at SWNS, along with a CV, to jobs@swns.com with the email title 'DIGITAL REPORTER'.

Please reference 'digital reporter' role in the title of your email.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: 25,400.00-30,000.00 per year

Benefits:

Bereavement leave Company events Company pension Cycle to work scheme Enhanced maternity leave Enhanced paternity leave Health & wellbeing programme Life insurance On-site parking Sick pay
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Bristol BS34 7JU