Philadelphia Inquirer seeks personal finance reporter

We’re the Philadelphia Media Network (PMN), the company behind the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com. Our fast-changing newsroom is committed to telling great stories and deepening our connection with the communities we serve. We’re owned by the non-profit Lenfest Institute for Journalism, and we’re at the very center of the mission to create a lasting future for ambitious local journalism.

The assignment: help Philadelphians save a buck, get a raise, and gain the upper hand in their financial dealings with everyone and everything from Comcast, to contractors, to the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Stories off this this consumer-centric service beat should empower readers and give them the context they need to make the most of their money (What is the most cost-effective way to attain an MBA? What should you consider when donating to a local charity? How to appeal your property tax bill?). But we’re also looking for stories that surprise and delight, or give readers windows into the financial world of other Philadelphians. (A guide to navigating the city by bus, for free. How to buy a home in foreclosure. What it costs to open a food truck. What’s the average paycheck for a white shoe lawyer, a KOP retail worker, a registered nurse?) And there is potential on this beat for old-fashioned outrage reporting as well. Expose scummy landlords, contractors who build under spec, trash haulers who illegally dump their payloads.

The successful applicant will relish service journalism and a have strong sense of creative storytelling. Experience with data, graphics or interactives is a significant plus, as are better than average photo and video skills.

Core duties

• Ensure reporting offers a window on the communities we serve, that reflect their spirit, their personalities, their diversity
• Dig for and gather news and information; synthesize it in strong prose
• Cover spot news as needed
• Make use of visual elements to augment storytelling
• Build subject matter expertise and audience around a topic and cultivate sources
• Aggregate topical news from other sources and add value
• Use social media both as a reporting tool and as a venue for promoting work

Qualifications

• A minimum of one year reporting experience for a news organization.
• A four-year college degree, or equivalent experience.
• Graceful, concise and compelling writing style
• Basic data literacy and analysis skills and ability to build simple charts, graphs, maps with in-house tools
• Ability to gather, edit and post basic video and audio clips
• Basic photo editing skills
• Ability to interpret audience analytics to inform newsgathering decisions

To apply

• Please submit up to five samples of your work.

To apply, go here.