Job Portraits is looking for a stellar word editor with journalistic instincts
We’ve helped 40+ startups hire at scale. Now we need you to help us scale our own creative business.
Note: This role has been filled as of March 2017. That said, if you’re interested and feel like you’d be an ideal fit, let us know. We’re always happy to connect.
The very basics
Hi there. Job Portraits is a small creative studio, and we’re looking for someone to fill a role we call “Wordsmith.” (If you’re curious, we publish our job descriptions on Medium because we publish much of our client work here, too.)
- Wordsmith is a remote role, though, if you live in the Bay Area, we’d hope to occasionally meet in person.
- In the short term, we expect the work we have to require 10–20 hours/week of your time. You’ll work on your own schedule as an independent contractor.
- Our target rate for this role is $30–$40 per hour.
Take a read below, then apply here (it’ll take you ~5 minutes), send questions to jackson@jobportraits.com, or stay in touch. We’re excited to hear from you. :)
Our deal
We work at the intersection of startups, journalism, and recruiting: our clients are startups, and we help them recruit by telling stories about their teams and job opportunities. Beyond the stories themselves, our work involves everything from brand development, to marketing strategy, to getting in the weeds with recruiters and teams to do, well, a bit of everything.
More? Learn about our work practices and culture, read a Q&A with our founders, and browse this list of links related to us.
Here’s lookin’ at you
Let’s get lofty for a second: The pleasure you take from improving a sentence is matched only by your interest in coaching writers to have similar appreciation for the craft. We’ll look up to you for your love of language; in return, your red pen will glide with both conviction and compassion.
In practical terms, you’ll be final eyes on every story we deliver to our clients. In most cases you’ll do mid-stage editing, too: your responsibilities will cover line and copy editing to start, then developmental editing as you learn more about our work. You’ll have the option to write stories from scratch if you’d like, but we won’t expect you to.
Your main objective will be to improve the quality of our writing with a special eye to our voice, which we think of as “crisp, yet conversational.” Starting with those three words, you’ll craft our first style guide; in time, you might do the same for our clients.
You’ll learn about recruiting and the world of technology and startups (if you’re not already familiar). We work with — and see inside — companies you’ve likely heard of (and many you haven’t), each of which is doing something novel, often wildly so.
It will be icing on the cake, though not at all necessary, if you also have the following skills or experience: brand development, copywriting, technical writing, and (of course) on-the-ground experience in recruiting or the startup world.
The people you’ll work with
You’ll collaborate with everyone on our team, typically via video chat and Slack.
- Your work with Miki will revolve around creative direction and strategy.
- You’ll work with Jonaki and Jackson, who keep the trains running on time (and also write).
- You’ll collaborate with our writers, Grace and Sandra, on story direction and editing.
- Depending on your inclinations, you’ll also work directly with our clients.
