Sports Director

NJ Advance Media is a new digitally focused media company providing content, sales and marketing services for the most popular sources of news and information in New Jersey, including NJ.com and The Star-Ledger. We are dedicated to serving the people and businesses of New Jersey with top-quality journalism and marketing solutions across our leading print and digital platforms.

We have multiple opportunities in content, sales and marketing. If you're a creative, motivated and entrepreneurial team player who thrives in a highly collaborative work environment, we want you to join our company. The ideal candidate embraces the rapidly evolving media landscape and thrives in a culture of innovation.

If you are a strategic thinker, a creative problem solver and have leadership skills to energize and motivate a large, digitally-focused staff, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead sports coverage in a unique market. At New Jersey Advance Media, we cover pro sports in New York and Philadelphia, the nation's #1 and #4 markets. Add to that wall-to-wall coverage of Rutgers' entry into the Big Ten Conference and a large, wildly popular high school sports scene, and you will be able to make a broad and visible impact in real-time journalism. We are recreating New Jersey's leading media publications and you will establish and execute the vision and culture for sports coverage, balancing your time between hands-on and strategic activities. You will impact everything from strengthening our digital focus to building our brand to planning for future growth.

To be a good fit for this opportunity you should have:

* Significant leadership experience in journalism; a background in sports journalism is strongly preferred
* Deep roots in digital media, particularly video, and the ability to articulate a vision for a video strategy within our company
* A demonstrated ability to lead and manage a staff of at least 20 to perform at high levels and embrace the shift to frequent posting and audience engagement
* A proven ability to manage multiple elements (internal and external resources, digital and print, diverse coverage areas, etc.) to form a cohesive whole
* A track record of bringing a creative approach to partnerships with external vendors and partners, especially those who can help us grow digital audience
* Solid budget management skills
* Knowledge of the New Jersey, New York and/or Philadelphia markets is strongly preferred
* An understanding of the ethical and legal aspects of journalism, licenses and intellectual property
* Click the "Apply" button for further details...

NJ Advance Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, physical or mental impairment, sexual orientation or any other category protected under federal, state or local law.

NJ Advance Media endeavors to make NJ.com accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact tdavis@dtoolbox.com.

IMPORTANT: HOW TO APPLY

We want you to be as selective as we are! For a detailed "Insider's View" of this position and to submit your resume, please visit the following URL:

http://njadvancemedia.jobinfo.com/description.php?jid=9910039&adid=141281

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PLEASE RESPECT OUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER METHOD TO APPLY OR CLICK ANY OTHER BUTTONS. Thank you for your attention to this detail.

 

Nice opportunity for some sports journo stud.

That said, I'm a bit wary of NJ. Applied for a homepage ed job a while back and got a call from one of their contract recruiters, who said the hiring editor wanted to set up a phone interview. Next thing I know ... nuttin'. I email him back and email the editor he named, then again nothing. WTF. A few weeks later, NJ announced it was cutting 167 jobs.

 

I had a recruiter for an Advance Property call me to inform me about a job and encouraged me to apply.

It was the job I had just gotten laid off from

 

In a nutshell, it's fucked up situation. Be afraid and be cautious.

 

And make sure they don't accidentally shred your documents. (That may not have been this recruiter, but it happened when I tried to apply to an Advance position.)

 

Kevin Manahan was hired as NJ.com's sports director last year. Is he leaving or is this a different position?

 

Doesn't he write for Star-Ledger or was that before he took that position?

 

I guess before

 

I dealt with the recruiters when there were openings in Harrisburg and because I wasn't desperate for a job it was a bit comical. I talked to a woman a couple of times about a job I might have been a decent fit for and after the second or third conversation she told me I was essentially a shoo-in to get it.

I also happened to have an assignment stringing for them coming up so I called the then sports editor to confirm the details and told him I applied. He said that was great, but it wasn't really an opening that the job was going to somebody who had recently gotten laid off.