Tampa Bay Biz Journal seeks Pinellas real estate reporter

The Tampa Bay Business Journal is adding a Pinellas County real estate reporter to its newsroom roster.

This new position will be based in Pinellas County, and the reporter who fills it will become the must-read source of development news in Pinellas, with an emphasis on deals and projects in downtown St. Petersburg.

Working closely with the Business Journal’s real estate editor, this reporter will be expected to break the biggest real estate news ahead of the competition and build a solid a pipeline of enterprise ideas.

The beat will mainly focus on commercial development but will also include big picture residential trends and news, and retail and restaurants coverage. The Business Journal writes and reports stories that readers can’t find elsewhere and are willing to pay for.

The ideal candidate:
• Is self-starter who is open to collaboration
• Writes with authority and flair
• Has a voice on social media and willing to engage readers on LinkedIn
• Is able to develop a solid network of sources, including but not limited to developers, brokers, city officials and civic leaders
• Understands or is willing to learn the nuances of Pinellas County’s many submarkets, from Pinellas Park to Clearwater Beach
• Is comfortable with virtual work software such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Zoom; and
• Is comfortable with mining data and public records.

Duties
Business Journal reporters are expected to contribute shorter and long-form stories for the website and weekly paper. Here, reporters must own their beat and dictate day-to-day coverage. To bring in source-driven scoops, reporters are expected to be vigilant networkers and relationship managers. Our best stories come from people, not press releases. Scoops matter — a lot — and on top of that, readers demand to not only know what is happening, but why and how. You break hard news that sometimes sources don’t want brought to light, but you never burn bridges.

Skills
• Proven excellence in reporting and writing
• Desire and ability to break news and to identify newsworthy events and sources
• Strong analytical and investigative-interviewing skills
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively
• Ability to relate comfortably to a wide range of people, in person, on the phone and virtually
• A clear drive to develop sources and build audience
• Solid understanding of news writing, journalistic ethics and story structure
• Ability to leverage relationships with sources to deliver content that differentiates the organization from competitors
• Multimedia skills, including video, photos, broadcast, on-camera, helpful

Experience
• 1-3 years of journalism experience
• Track record of building, maintaining and engaging a high-level audience in person, in print and online
• Social media mavens held in high regard
• A knowledge of the real estate sector is a plus

Education
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

To apply, email a resume, cover letter and links to clips that best show enterprise and scoops reporting to Beth Hunt, director of editorial recruiting and development, American City Business Journals, bzhunt@bizjournals.com