Thank you for your interest in becoming an Examiner! With more than 12,000 Examiners already on board, the company expects this growth to accelerate. If you believe you have what it takes to be an Examiner, we would love to hear from you. Our application will require a writing sample, short biography, a brief explanation of your expertise and basic contact information. Please note that spelling and grammar will also be evaluated as part of the selection process.

What is Examiner.com?

Launched in April 2008, Examiner.com is the insider source of everything local, offering a rich mix of hyper-local and globally relevant content. Examiner.com covers more than 100 major U.S. cities, thousands of towns and neighborhoods, and is developing a strong presence in international markets including Canada, the U.K., the Philippines and Australia. Website visitors are geo-targeted to their closest market, with over 18 million monthly unique visitors expected by the end of 2009.

Examiner.com is a division of the Clarity Media Group, and is wholly owned by The Anschutz Company, one of the largest media investment companies in the world. Examiner.com is also fortunate to have insiders from sister company AEG, the world's largest owner of sports teams and events, examining content from within their respective festival, venue, sports arena, team or special event.

What's an Examiner?

Examiner.com has the world's largest team of vetted and dedicated subject-matter writers, known as Examiners, who are credible, knowledgeable and passionate contributors from all walks of life. They are musicians, magazine writers, entrepreneurs, PhDs, college students, stay-at-home parents, seasoned journalists, retirees, etc.

Examiners create unique and original content to entertain, inform and inspire readers on thousands of subjects every day. Unlike most other online writing platforms, Examiner.com is not a blogging site; rather, our Examiners are local insiders and influencers who provide reliable intelligence and resources on local and category-specific topics.

Examiners are Independent Contractors, meaning they choose where, when and what to write about within their selected topic. Write from home, school or wherever inspiration strikes!

What does an Examiner do?

Examiners provide information, resources and tools related to their area of expertise that can be useful to the people within their communities. For example, a Sports Examiner in Atlanta may write about the Atlanta Falcons, including covering updates on draft, trades, the latest game, where to find statistics and video, etc. Even more important, however, would be to add local perspective, such as: What's the liveliest place in Atlanta to watch the game? Where can you buy tickets? Which hot dog stand in the stadium serves up the best goods?

With our help, Examiners create a web page on Examiner.com within their appropriate city and category. They keep their page current by regularly updating it with informative, clear and concise articles, often using pictures, videos, and links to make them even more appealing. Examiner.com works behind the scenes to help make content visible to information-seekers online and Examiners often appear at the top of Google and Yahoo search results.

Don't worry if publishing online is new to you. Examiner.com provides the training and tools needed to publish and promote articles. Access to these platforms will help you grow your audience and brand, as well as provide a forum where you can connect with other Examiners.

Our most successful Examiners also spend time promoting their content to their social and business networks using tools such as Twitter, Digg, Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, email lists, message boards and word-of-mouth. If you are unfamiliar with these networking tools, Examiner.com provides the resources you need to learn and master online marketing.

How much of a time commitment will this require?

We simply request that you keep your topic fresh and relevant, so we suggest 3-4 posts per week to help you build an interested audience. On average, an active and successful Examiner spends 4-6 hours per week writing and publishing content on Examiner.com, responding to comments from readers, and marketing. Some Examiners choose to invest more time, even publishing multiple articles per day. The time you spend is truly up to you, but frequent publishing is one major key to success as an Examiner.

What do I gain from becoming an Examiner?

Through their contributions, Examiners often gain local, national and international media coverage and have appeared on The Today Show, NPR, E!, CNN, Fox Sports, ESPN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Discovery Channel, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. The exposure that Examiners receive from their articles can lead to numerous career opportunities from fulltime jobs to being approached to write for major publications, work on books, and other rewarding projects.

"Because of my poker page, I got read by Bluff Magazine and got picked up for an assignment covering the 2009 World Series of Poker! I'm moving to Las Vegas for a few months to cover the entire Series and it would have never been possible if I didn't have my Examiner pages out there for readers/editors to read, so for that, I want to thank both of you for giving the chance to put my content on the web."

Alex Gonzales - former LA Poker Tournament Examiner

Examiners have access to professional development, including training and support on various topics such as: How to Write for the Web, Social Marketing, Photo Editing, Using Web 2.0 Tools, and many others.

Will I be compensated?

Examiners are paid a very competitive rate based on standard Internet variables including page views, unique visitors, session length, and advertising performance. This is not a full-time "quit your day job" kind of opportunity, but Examiners can definitely earn some extra cash while gaining exposure through their writing. Examiner.com uses PayPal to compensate Examiners.

Will I be asked to purchase anything or pay a fee?

Absolutely not. You may choose to purchase business cards, t-shirts or other official Examiner.com items if you desire to do so.

What happens once I fill out the application?

Once you click the submit button on your application, it goes to a member of the content channel team for which you have applied (Business & Finance, Sports, Pets, etc). They will assess writing style, voice and tone, knowledge within the topic, experience, etc., as well as technical factors such as grammar, spelling and punctuation. Every application is reviewed, though sometimes it can take up to two weeks due to the volume of applicants.

If the Channel Team thinks you would be an asset to the team, you will be contacted via email. Should you choose to become an Examiner, be prepared to submit three critical items within the first few days:

• A photo of yourself for your page
• A brief biographical statement of up to 35 words, written in third person
• Authorization to conduct criminal history background check and identity verification. We do not check credit history or contact former employers.