General Assignment Reporter

The Hobbs News-Sun is seeking a talented, general assignment reporter — who can cover it all and appreciates community journalism — for our small, but active newsroom that covers five municipalities in New Mexico and two in Texas.

Hobbs is a community of about 50,000 in the oil and gas capital of sunny southeastern New Mexico, so stories abound about the number one income generating source for the state of New Mexico along with its environmental impact.

Hobbs is a dynamic community with an expanding population and new growth in housing and businesses, and is home to the more than $50 million technical education center, CTECH — that Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe opened and said is a model for the rest of the country.

Hobbs boasts two golf courses, two colleges, a casino and racetrack, an 18-hole disc golf course, a multi-million dollar Center of Recreational Excellence, miles of outdoor walking/running/biking trails, several small lakes and is within distance for weekend trips to the ski resorts near Cloudcroft and Ruidoso, N.M., and bigger vacation opportunities in Texas.

The field is open to reporters in our newsroom. The News-Sun’s circulation is around 5,000, five days a week — both online and in print. And, if you know, or want to learn, page design, that is a plus.
• You will be assigned a beat, but it is not uncommon for staff to go outside their coverage area to pick up breaking news stories and interviews with the occasional celebrity or governor. As a small staff, when big news happens you will be involved. We believe in meaningful, local news coverage.
• We want someone who can cover it all and appreciates community journalism.
• We want to hire someone who can walk into a meeting and walk out with a story — and an idea for two or three more.
• The door is also open for our staff to pick up feature pieces of their choosing, write columns for our lifestyles section and even editorial columns where they can weigh in on the pressing issues in our community.
• Our reporters gain experience and the knowledge to cover just about everything.
• Our newspaper covers five communities in the county of Lea and it is a growing area with nuclear enrichment, storage and deconversion becoming part of the economic mix as well as wind, solar and potash mining.
• Seasoned as well as rookie reporters are welcome to apply and pay is based on experience.

This position is currently open.
Email your resume and your clips to editor Blake Ovard at editor@hobbsnews.com.