FT Alphaville, the FT’s hyper-active financial blog, is looking to expand. We need a new reporter immediately to replace Helen Thomas, who has escaped to New York to write Lex. But we are also looking for additional talent to develop the site further - bright, web-enthused writers who will help build upon Alphaville’s hugely successful first 18 months.
The immediate need is for someone based in London. Starting at 7am, you will need to be a natural early riser, able to write quickly and fluidly first thing in the morning. Clean, crisp writing and the ability to master the site’s light-hearted, sometimes jovial style, is essential.
The new Alphaville reporter will need to have solid news judgement to select stories of interest to the site’s core readership, and a keen eye for the quirky angles and offbeat takes that make Alphaville so popular. Within the site’s financial remit, there is scope to build your own area of particular interest, but comfort in writing across deal stories, the credit and equity markets, private equity and hedge funds is necessary. Financial literacy and a sense of humour are essential.
A rudimentary understanding of how the Internet and blogs function would be useful (including hyperlinking and tagging) as would a working knowledge of Reuters and/or Bloomberg. In addition, Alphaville reporters source and insert their own pictures and graphs, so some idea of how to find pictures online and use picture software would be helpful. We use Datastream to generate charts.
Alphaville is currently undergoing a refresh and embarking on development work aimed at substantially expanding the site. In a small team, it is important that reporters take an all-round interest, getting involved in development and design work and liaising closely with the product development and commercial teams at the FT and beyond.
Applications, which should be by email, should reach Paul Murphy at paul.murphy@ft.com by May 19th. The application process is likely to involve joining the Alphaville team for at least one morning for those based in London.
Pearson is committed to equality of opportunity. We are determined to create a diverse group at all levels of our company - and we welcome all members of the community we serve to apply for openings with us.
