Extra, extra! The Alestle is hiring for Spring 2021!

What better way to start the new year than with a new job? The Alestle is hiring talented SIUE students to fill reporter, photographer, social media / online editor and copy editor positions. 

Our staff is composed of students from many different academic interests — you do not need to be a communications major to join our team. Applicants must be enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours this semester to apply. Don’t wait to join an award-winning team! 

Photographers must have reliable transportation around our primary coverage areas of Edwardsville, Alton and East St. Louis. Copy editors and reporters may work remotely, but close proximity to campus is preferred in cases of breaking news. Here’s what you can expect to gain from working at The Alestle: 

Reporters: 

• Take your writing to the next level with help from our experienced editors and adviser

• Master Associated Press style and learn how to produce fair, accurate content with a quick turnaround (Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with AP Style, we’ll teach you.) 

• Learn proper interviewing techniques, and hone your interviewing skills

• Learn how to write a variety of content — news, lifestyles, opinion and sports

• Dig into investigative stories and learn how to access public records

• Learn how to navigate police blotters and other crime documentation 

• Determine the best sources for each story

• Learn how to best position your own work online so more people will see it

• Cultivate the skills needed to discover story ideas and how to pitch ideas 

• Work as part of a team to improve content for our audience

Copy Editors: 

• Master AP Style like a champ

• Learn to give constructive feedback on content 

• Follow guidelines for good design to help produce professional-looking issues 

• Fact check stories, cutlines and infographics

• Find and help us fix holes in our reporting

• Improve your writing by editing the writing of others

• Identify what is newsworthy content and what is not

• Cultivate the skills needed to discover and pitch story ideas

• You will also have the opportunity to have your own stories published in The Alestle

Photographers: 

• Visually document life and issues at SIUE

• Master the sacred art of cutline (caption) writing 

• Become familiar with qualities of good photojournalism to improve your own skills 

• Learn Photoshop and Lightroom 

• Work with reporters and editors to take photos for visual storytelling 

• Use your photographer’s eye to capture events as they happen 

Social media manager / online editor: 

• Help The Alestle connect with the community through social media and our website

• Learn to create eye-catching newsletters for weekly content and breaking news, disseminating the most important information to the public in a timely manner

• Learn tips and tricks for boosting social media engagement

• Create post schedules to maximize readership 

• Come up with clever, accurate headlines that also boost search engine optimization 

• Pull and interpret website and social media analytics

• Help us find the most interesting stories to spotlight cool things going on around SIUE 

Not only can work published in The Alestle be used in student portfolios, working at The Alestle has launched the careers of many notable alumni. Our alumni boast countless accomplishments: former staffer Lexi Cortes was named one of Editor and Publisher’s top “25 under 35” newspaper leaders, and photos by former staffer Brian Munoz recently appeared in The New York Times. Former managing editor Holly Meyer’s work has been on the front page of USA Today.

Former editor-in-chief Catherine Klene was the digital managing editor of Sauce Magazine in St. Louis. Paige St. John won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for her reporting for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about shady dealing in the Florida insurance industry. She now works for the L.A. Times, where she has been writing about the victims of the Golden State Killer — a series that has been turned into the podcast “Man In The Window.”

Whether you’re interested in a career in journalism or photography or are just looking to check it out, we want to see your application! New staffers can expect to work 15+ hours per week, starting at minimum wage. Click here to fill out your Spring 2021 application today!