Originally a highly-regarded print magazine for the city planning and urban issues set known as
The Next American City, the Philadelphia-based publication
Next City has grown its influence substantially since becoming an online-only outlet three years ago.
Today, Next City features daily coverage of international public policy, infrastructure and economic development. It also publishes
Forefront, a news and analysis newsletter. And for five years Next City has produced a popular annual conference,
Vanguard, which attracts young urban leaders from around the country.
In mid-June, the site’s editorial staff announced its latest project: a national job search engine,
Next City Jobs, which lists open positions in the urban development and civic engagement sectors.
"I think Next City has always informally served as a convener for people in the urban affairs field," says Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief Diana Lind. "We've decided to take on more of a role as a professional development leader within the field, so the jobs page is one step in that direction."
Though it went live just weeks ago,
Next City Jobs is already displaying more than 6,600 available positions. And while many of those listings were aggregated from other sites, Lind says her staff is taking steps to increase the percentage of jobs exclusive to Next City’s portal.
Lind also hopes to increase the diversity of positions offered.
"The idea is to reflect the cross-discipline approach that Next City has in its content," says Lind. "So you'll have everything from a job for a transportation planner to a public policy expert at a for-profit [company]. Our hope is that it'll become a site people will be looking at every single day, or every week, depending on how [seriously] they’re looking for a job."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Diana Lind, Next City