Washington City Paper needs a new managing editor now that Jon Fischer is departing for Slate. It encourages applicants to fill in the blanks in this job listing:
Washington City Paper seeks a [adjective], [adjective], full-time managing editor–who, acting as the editorial staff’s [adjective] No. 2, will handle everything from breaking news to weekly columns to long-form cover stories. We’re looking for someone who will [action verb] enterprising cover packages, covering themes and topics like [theme or topic relevant to D.C.] and [theme or topic relevant to D.C.]. You’ll need to be comfortable spending a morning juggling food, local politics, housing, and cops coverage; you’ll also need to keep our website humming by [thing you’d do to keep our website humming] while working on the weekly paper and long-term projects. And you’ll work with our editor to manage our [adjective] staff of reporters and editors and a much larger collection of freelancers. We want someone eager to innovate–in terms of both the substance of the work we do as well as how we do it, in print and online. Finally, this is a job that will also involve some writing, from quick hits on the blogs to deep dives for the cover-story well. Eager to report on [important topic] and [pressing issue]? Want to edit in D.C.’s [superlative], [superlative] newsroom? Fill out the blanks in this job posting and send a cover letter, resume, and writing clips to jobs@washingtoncitypaper.com.
Related: BuzzFeed asks potential applicants to make a PB&J
Disclosures: I was once managing editor of Washington City Paper, and I helped hired Fischer. I also think one superlative is too many when writing a potential employer. A job application is no place to be obsequious. Tell them what they’re doing wrong!
