I hope CoffeeHousers will forgive me for using the blog to advertise jobs, but we have some vacancies: Production Manager, Special Assistant to the Chairman and Researcher. Applications to editor@spectator.co.uk, saying in the heading which job you are interested in (update: applications for the researcher job are now closed. Everyone should have been sent details; email us if you haven’t been). Here are the jobs:
1. Researcher, who knows how to work Excel and has an inexhaustible capacity for digging and hard work in general. This is a research job, not a journalistic job, and may suit someone who’d otherwise be looking for work in a think tank. The two most important skills are accuracy and speed — in that order. We need someone who can use OBR data to show when CPI-adjusted earnings will return to pre-crash levels. Or who can read Sarah Spickernell’s recent blog about DNA and, using the links she provides, establish in what respects the BBC report of this research was inaccurate. Navigate through the ONS’s near-impenetrable datasets. Scour select committee reports for key findings and quotes. Locate The Spectator’s published ABC returns and produce a historic data series of paid-for sales. Find the last three academic papers published about Eurovision. Find out exactly how many Academy schools there are.
It doesn’t necessarily matter if none of the above makes sense to you. What matters is that you can look it up, and get your head around it quickly. Like much of what is now known as ‘data journalism,’ the technical skills required are slim. If you can make a scatter graph in Excel then you have all the expertise required. What matters most of all is flair, resourcefulness and capacity for hard work.
2. Special assistant to the chairman. This is NOT a PA’s role. The job involves briefing the Chairman before all meetings, attending all important meetings and making sure any action agreed is implemented. It means working closely with the chairman across all aspects of the company, editorial and commercial. You will be the key figure linking the Chairman with the staff and the staff with the Chairman.
3. Production Director. We need someone with digital and print experience at a high level, who will oversee the pre-press side of The Spectator and work on new digital products and make sure The Spectator’s Apps remain the best on the market.
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