Keen to explore how shifting shopping habits are affecting town centres?

Confident about quizzing ministers on their housebuilding plans?
Able to beat rivals to news of how the Government’s localism plans are working on the ground?

If so, this could be the job for you.

Planning is looking for a senior reporter to help us make our coverage even more authoritative, ground-breaking and comprehensive.

Reporting to the deputy editor, you will write news, analysis and features for our fortnightly magazine and daily bulletins. You will be expected to use social media to build and maintain contacts and keep them abreast of your own and colleagues’ work. The role is likely to involve editing specialist bulletins and may also involve some commissioning as time goes on.

Candidates must have journalistic experience. They should be able to demonstrate great contact-building skills, the appetite to beat rival publications to stories and the ability to make complex issues accessible through clearly structured and accurate reporting. They should possess data journalism skills, or be able to demonstrate the capacity to develop them.

An existing understanding of the sector would be helpful, but is not as important to the role as curiosity and a willingness to become knowledgable about technical subject matter.
Planning is the fortnightly title for town planners and professionals concerned with planning and managing the natural and built environment. In 2014, the title’s editorial team was highly commended in the business to business category of the Association of Online Publishers’ digital publishing awards.

Overview

By far the largest part of any reporter’s role is to generate on and off-diary news stories on a daily basis for use online, in e-mail bulletins and in print. This may mean producing up to five news stories a day.

Additionally, reporters will also be expected to write longer-form pieces such as analyses or features.

Reporters are generally given a beat or an area to cover, and they are expected to build and maintain contacts in those areas through regular communication with sources. They are also expected to attend relevant press conferences or evening events pertinent to their sector.

Responsibilities

Produce, with speed and accuracy, on and off-diary news stories that are comprehensive and relevant to their title’s target audience.
To produce well-written copy to deadline.
To establish and maintain contacts in any given sector.
To attend relevant events and press conferences, which may mean out-of-hours working.
To show a keen interest in and understanding of the dynamics in their title’s area of coverage and keep up to speed with developments.
To be a positive member of the reporting unit, taking direction from editors, covering for other staff when absent and showing a willingness to be a positive and helpful member of the editorial team.

Person Specification

Skills/attributes

Excellent writing and communications skills
Good news sense and ability to think creatively about the news agenda
Ability to meet deadlines, whether daily, weekly or monthly
Ability to use relevant software, for example a Content Management System (CMS) for filing online
Data journalism skills, or the capacity to develop them
Curiosity and the willingness to become knowledgeable about technical subject matter
Teamwork
A keen eye for detail and accuracy
Good organisational skills and the ability to juggle deadlines and priorities
Professional demeanour and attitude, combined with good personal presentation
Ability to use your own initiative and motivate yourself
Tenacity and determination

How to apply

To apply please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@haymarket.com