APW is hiring!!! And I am three exclamation marks excited about it, because y’all, we are hiring for my department (mostly). Over the past few years, the APW team has doubled in size, and it has been one of the single best things to happen to this website. The team here at APW is about as good as anyone could ask for (our Slack convos are my lifeblood), and I am thrilled that we get to add another member to our roster. And that that person could be you.
The full job listing is below, but before we get into the nitty-gritty, here’s one note I’d like to make: APW hires as much on potential as on experience. We care equally about your ability to innovate and get shit done as we do about relevant experience. So if you can demonstrate a workplace history of kicking ass, but have never worked in marketing or publishing before, please apply (though kicking ass with relevant experience will obviously not be turned away). Also, since this is an entry-level position, it might not be right for you. But please pass the listing to your baby cousin, or little sister, or early twenty-something you took under your wing.
Here’s what we’re looking for:
Marketing Coordinator & Administrative Assistant
APW is hiring a full-time coordinator to help support the marketing, social media, and administrative arms of APW (split 50% marketing, 25% social media, and 25% administrative to start, though those numbers may shift as the job progresses) to help us manage and grow our revenue program, upkeep our social media, and stay on top of general administrative tasks.
This is an entry-level full-time job, and we’re looking for someone in the Bay Area. We’ll expect you to work from our office in Oakland, with the ability to work from home semi-regularly. If you’ve had a few years behind a desk in an office, we’d consider you an ideal candidate, but we’re ready and willing to train the right person from the ground up on marketing. (However, you need to be something of a social media and Internet native to make this job a fit for you.)
What This Job is About
If you asked the revenue team what they think about the marketing side of the business, they’d probably tell you it’s the coolest part of the company. But they are also totally biased.
APW is an entirely self-funded company. Which means that our business runs on advertising dollars. If you cried when Don Draper explained that it’s not a wheel, it’s a carousel, then this job might be for you. We are looking for a creative self-starter who is hungry to make big things happen, who feels confident taking an idea and running with it, and who ultimately just thinks advertising is cool. Maybe even an art form (but you’d never say that out loud). Do you have a favorite commercial? Are you constantly telling your friends they have to try your new favorite thing? Then you might want to apply.
That said, APW is a lean operation, and we all do a little bit of everything, so this job is a bit of a multi-faceted gig. In addition to all the cool marketing stuff that comes with the position, we’re also looking for someone who can support the social media team and the executive team and is equally proud to own administrative office tasks and stuff like engaging with our community on Instagram. Job duties on any given day will include things like working on sales pitches, compiling revenue reports, grabbing coffee for the team, restocking the APW office and helping to keep it clean, diving into market research, scheduling Facebook posts, researching new apps for the team to use, making phone calls, fixing the printer, and whatever else falls in our laps on a day-to-day basis.
What You’d Do
APW publishes 2–3 pieces of sponsored content per week. Your job would be to support the work of both the Chief Revenue Officer and Advertising Manager in making that happen. You’d be responsible for:
- Helping ensure that all of our marketing campaigns are executed accurately and on time
- Making sure our media kit looks fresh, and that any other marketing materials are up to date
- Updating and maintaining our customer databases
- Writing compelling branded content for sponsored campaigns
- Assisting with productions, including on-set support at photo/video shoots
- Researching new and creative ways to grow revenue without being one of those annoying websites that interrupts you every five seconds with an ad
- Mastering the art of the pitch
- Managing incoming and outgoing pitches and client interactions
- General office administrative duties as needed (see above)
- Supporting the social media team (see above)
Who You Are
This is an entry-level position, with room for growth. And we mean that when we say it. All of the employees at APW have worked their way up from entry-level positions (seriously, all of them). And while we’d love to hire someone with marketing or advertising experience, it’s not required. We’d rather have someone with the right skill set who can train up fast. Here are some things that should describe you:
- Your main thrill in life is problem solving.
- You want to play on a team. (Duh. You’d love our team.)
- You still cry at weddings. (If you don’t like weddings you will tear your eyes out.)
- You can write.
- You love APW and get what it’s about.
- You want to grow with the site, wherever it may be going.
- You are really good with people and can get inside their minds quickly. Like, you wouldn’t exactly call yourself psychic, but you might be a little psychic.
- You aren’t afraid to get on the phone. You actually kind of prefer it.
- You are an expert interpreter of directions and can work with minimal instruction.
- You’re great at managing a lot of projects at once without losing your cool.
- You’re an excellent communicator, in person and in writing. Your email skills are aces.
- You can’t contain yourself when you have new ideas. You’ve got a lot of them, and you follow through on at least… a majority of them.
Bonus Points
- You’ve planned a wedding. Or have been a professional bridesmaid. Or worked in the wedding industry. You get the idea. Weddings all day, all day.
- You already read APW and can remember your favorite post from two years ago.
- You have photography skills, graphic design skills, or any other great skills we should know about.
- You live and breathe Snapchat. Or Instagram. Or Twitter. Or Facebook. Or all of the above.
- You’re a WOC, or represent some other form of diversity (or as we call it internally, “normalization”).
What We’re Like
Our office works hard (in emergencies, we hunker down and crush deadlines), but also we prioritize healthy lives and making it home for dinner (almost every night) and out to a dance class (some days). We are unapologetically feminist, and our team chat ranges from puppy GIFs to politics to the myriad reasons Facebook is ruining our lives.
The fine print
Location: Oakland, CA, a mix of working at home and working in our office in Temescal
Hours: Full Time
Salary: Entry level, commensurate with experience, starting around $40,000. Health insurance through Kaiser is a possibility, if needed.
How to apply
Please submit all applications to team (at) apracticalwedding (dot) com. Please make the subject of your email “Marketing Coordinator” so that we can keep track of incoming applications. In your application, please include:
- Cover letter:
- Tell us your experience, what you’d bring to the role, your working style, and your relationship with the APW brand.
- Share three new ideas for increasing revenue at APW, included as bullet points in your cover letter. These could be sponsored content ideas, or other revenue ideas. We encourage you to think outside the box.
- Two sample pitches for a brand APW should work with. In your pitch include:
- Why you think the company is a good fit for APW
- A sample email you might write if we asked you to contact the brand and explain why they should work with APW
- A Pinterest board of 25–35 pins showing the style of content that you feel reflects the intersection of your aesthetic with the APW aesthetic.
- Two or three references.
- Note: If you are selected for an interview, you may be provided additional assignments as part of the interview process.
We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis—and we can’t wait to hear from y’all.
