We're delighted to announce the following opportunity to join the Sift Media team.

Please apply with CV and covering letter or make any general enquiries to Head of HR, Georgina Dalby - gdalby@sift.com.

TITLE: Community Correspondent
REPORTS TO: Editor
TEAM: AccountingWEB.co.uk

Job Purpose/Summary
The Community Correspondent will act as a front line contact for AccountingWEB members, advertisers and PR people. The role includes three elements: liaising with community members and supporting AccountingWEB’s community ethos; bringing forward ideas and writing articles based on community contributions; and sourcing articles based around posts in the site’s Suppliers section.

 

The Community Correspondent will also support the Sift Media Community Manager, assisting with member service queries when needed and helping to draft and post comments and blogs. They will ensure a safe and legal community environment, promoting excellent customer service and helping to cultivate a strong sense of community.

 

The AccountingWEB community correspondent will work closely with the editor to ensure the site is meeting the needs of its members. The correspondent will get to know community members and the issues that matter to them by participating in their debates. The position will enable the correspondent to develop their journalistic skills by writing items that bring important topics to the wider community’s attention.

 

The position involves interacting with the members on a daily basis, plus production work on the site itself and its daily email bulletins. The ideal candidate will be an experienced user of web content tools with a good eye for detail.

 

The Community Correspondent will also be responsible for liaising with advertisers’ marketing communications departments to support and promote content in the Suppliers area of the site. The correspondent will help strengthen AccountingWEB’s working relationships with clients, while maintaining editorial independence and integrity.

 

The successful applicant will have a demonstrable enthusiasm for online communites and business issues. They should be methodical, intelligent and able to write about complicated technical topics in a clear and readable way.

 

Responsibilities

 

• Review content as directed by the AccountingWEB editors within forums, threads, comments, images and videos.
• Develop and write up items based on ideas from member comments, advertisers’ press releases and whitepapers.
• Contribute to discussion groups, blogs and comment threads on the site.
• Monitor Suppliers’ pages for story leads and draft follow-up news items.
• Feed insights from community posts, to editorial, sales and marketing teams.
• Update site pages to keep them fresh and relevant.
• When required, assist the Community Manager with processing the member services inbox, if necessary helping with member account admin, processing emails and complaints, and escalating matters when necessary.
• Uphold the moderation policy and community rules and enforce the banned user process.
• Deputise for the AccountingWEB.co.uk editors as required.
• Provide administrative and copy-writing assistance on interactive content and research projects for AccountingWEB.co.uk advertisers.

 

This is a junior role within the successful AccountingWEB.co.uk publishing unit and offers a superb development opportunity to learn community publishing and editorial practices from the ground up. Editorial and community training will be provided on a regular basis and there will be on-going support and guidance from AccountingWEB managers.

 

Person specification/skills required

 

- An appreciation of the demands of community publishing

 

- An understanding of web content management, the web’s role in professional publishing and the needs of AccountingWEB’s audience.

 

- Ability to communicate complex topics accurately in a clear, jargon-free writing style

 

- A genuine interest in and enthusiasm for business and accountancy issues.

 

- Able to prioritise a varied workload effectively and meet regular deadlines.

 

- Good people and communication skills. The community correspondent will need to deal diplomatically with a wide range of contacts, from Sift managers and colleagues to community members, advertisers, professional contacts, PRs and business leaders.

 

- Strong writing, editing and proof-reading skills.

 

- Social media and audio-visual experience

 

- Good working knowledge of web tools and office technology.

 

- Excellent communication skills, especially when dealing with difficult topics or members

 

- Knowledge and understanding of online community moderation tools (Forums, Blogs, Comments etc.)

 

- A proactive approach to customer/member service

 

- Ability to cope with a multi-faceted role and liaise with community members, editors, sales people, PRs and Community management team.

 

- Ability to establish a rapport with members

 

- A can-do and enthusiastic attitude.

 

Performance review:

 

The AccountingWEB.co.uk editor will review performance and offer support during regular 1-2-1s. There will be a 3-month probation period. Sift Media also conducts annual performance appraisals each September.

 

What Sift Media can offer

 

• A supportive, friendly yet challenging and entrepreneurial environment.
• The opportunity to work with one of the UK’s leading online publishers.
• The opportunity to expand and develop within the company’s most successful publishing unit.
• The chance to develop your journalism and social media skills in a fast-paced, dynamic atmosphere, both on and offline.

 

Health and Safety

 

Under the provision contained within the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, it is the duty of every employee to:

 

- Take reasonable care of themselves and others at work;

 

- To co-operate with the company, as far as necessary to enable them to carry out their legal duty;

 

- Not to intentionally or recklessly interfere with anything provided: including personal protective equipment, for health and safety or welfare at work.