Long Beach Biz Journal seeks real estate and development reporter

The Long Beach Business Journal, a publication of the Long Beach Post, is seeking to hire a talented, versatile business reporter who can cover all aspects of the business ecosystem in Long Beach, with a particular focus on real estate and development.

The Business Journal is published every other week, and each edition has specific areas of focus. Some examples of themes in recent editions include: aerospace and mental health; San Pedro Bay ports and trade; and the Long Beach Grand Prix and Long Beach Airport. This reporter must produce multiple stories on each theme for each edition while juggling day-to-day coverage of specific business beats. Real estate and development will be a top priority for this position, but other beats would likely include hospitality, health care and the cannabis industry. Scoops matter—a lot. Owning business coverage of Long Beach should be an obsession.

In this job, an ambitious candidate will have the opportunity to shape business coverage in Long Beach with support from talented editors, data journalists and an award-winning visuals team.

This reporter will be expected to work 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with occasional evening and weekend shifts as needed.

The Business Journal and the Long Beach Post comprise Pacific Community Media, a locally owned, growing company with a staff of about two dozen people. For more information about the company, including our ethics policy, please visit our transparency portal.

Specific duties include: 

• Regularly pitch and report in-depth stories on major industries in Long Beach.
• Develop and maintain source relationships relevant to your beats. This includes communications staff, executives and employees in the industries you cover.
• Get scoops, big and small—this could include anything from revealing plans for a major property to working with our City Hall reporter to shine light on the relationships between developers and elected officials.
• Attend events relevant to your beats. For real estate and development, this includes Planning Commission meetings, groundbreakings and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
• Think creatively about how to cover stories on your beat. Live-streamed chats with industry leaders, newsletters and multimedia projects are just a few examples of what business coverage can look like beyond the traditional news story.
• Work collaboratively with other newsroom staffers to maximize impact and accessibility of stories reported.
• Meet or exceed goals related to audience engagement.
• Adhere to the Long Beach Post Ethics Policy.
• Attend and participate in planning sessions.
• Seek innovative ways to reach diverse audiences, maintain a strong presence on social media channels and take initiative in planning and developing multimedia projects.
• Pitch in on other news coverage when needed.

Qualifications: 

• Must have a degree in journalism or equivalent combination of experience and education.
• Previous experience at a daily newspaper or digital publication.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule that will occasionally include nights, weekends and holidays.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Strong writing and reporting skills and excellent news judgment.
• Ability to meet deadlines and work within a fast-paced environment.
• Unwavering commitment to accurate, ethical journalism.
• Demonstrated ability to use social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach audiences.
• Fluency in the science of readership and engagement, including an understanding of how to use analytics such as pageviews, time-on-site and referral sources to help determine which stories resonate.
• Experience in learning new skills and technologies, including content management systems; social media platforms; video editing software; CrowdTangle and other analytics tools; and emerging storytelling tools and platforms.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including empathy and the ability to work in a team environment and take constructive criticism.
• Demonstrated ability to work comfortably in a job that will be fast-paced, data-driven, shaped constantly by feedback and experimentation and always evolving.

Please note: We are committed to diversity and creating an inclusive newsroom and encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. If your profile doesn’t match this job description exactly, you may still be a candidate for this position. Please let us know how your skills and experience relate to the role and its objectives in your cover letter.

Pay & benefits

Pacific Community Media offers full medical, dental and vision benefits, including PPO and HMO plans, through United HealthCare. The company also offers a 4% 401(k) matching plan, among other benefits.

The compensation for this position is $54,080 a year. 

How to apply: 

Please send via email the following materials to Business Journal Editor Hayley Munguia (hayley@lbbj.com):

• A cover letter that summarizes your work experience and why you are the ideal candidate for this position.

• Links to three to five examples of your work, at least one with an explanation of problems or obstacles you encountered in the reporting process and how you overcame them.
• A list of three to five professional references.

The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021.