Tampa Bay Biz Journal seeks transportation reporter

The Tampa Bay Business Journal is hiring a reporter to cover transportation and economic competitiveness.

Transportation is a major beat in Tampa Bay, which is experiencing explosive growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This reporter will be charged with breaking news of ongoing mass transit initiatives and pain points, new road construction projects, and flight routes at Tampa International Airport.

The economic competitiveness beat will focus on workforce and job access, affordable housing and other challenges of growth. This reporter will tackle some of the biggest hurdles to regional growth in Tampa Bay. That means issues with hiring, attracting and retaining workers; and regional population growth. Workforce training issues/initiatives are also part of the beat, with a focus on industries with critical workforce needs such as health care, retail, restaurants and manufacturing.

This reporter will be expected to break news ahead of the competition and build a solid pipeline of enterprise ideas and relentlessly grow their source base

Our content gives our audience a leg up on their competitors, connects them with decision-makers and delineates growth strategies that work from those that don’t. This often entails finding news at city halls, county courthouses or other public entities and then tracking down the private-sector sources who know most about the business ramifications of what’s in play.

The Business Journal writes and reports stories that readers can’t find elsewhere and are willing to pay for.

The ideal candidate:
• Is a self-starter who is open to collaboration
• Writes with authority and flair
• Understands or is willing to learn the vernacular of the transportation industry, from BRT to breakbulk cargo
• Has a voice on social media and willing to engage readers on LinkedIn
• Is able to develop a solid network of sources
• Is comfortable with virtual work software such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Zoom; and
• Is comfortable with mining data and public records

Duties
• Report and write short-form and long-form stories for the website and weekly print edition.
• Own the beat, dictating day-to-day coverage and thriving on digging out source-driven exclusives.
• Relentlessly develop sources and manage relationships with high-level executives and other community leaders.
• Scoop competitors on every story of any significance, not only telling them what happened, but why and how.

Skills
• 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 online.
• 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
• 3-4 years reporting in a newsroom
• Track record in the news business of building, maintaining and engaging an audience in print and online.
• Social media mavens held in high regard.

Education
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

To apply, email a cover letter, resume and clips that best show enterprising and scoops reporting to Editor Alexis Muellner, amuellner@bizjournals.com