About.com Guide Evaluation
How does Guide Evaluation work?
Every week, our editors pick a group of topics and review applications, looking for a few candidates to put into evaluation. If we select your application, you'll start in Stage One, a two-week period where you'll write three blog posts and several articles with the guidance of an editor. At the end of Stage One, the editor will review your writing skills and ability to integrate editorial suggestions to determine whether or not you'll continue on to Stage Two
In Stage Two, you'll learn to use our publishing tools and publish the content you created in Stage One to a test site over a second two-week period. As in Stage One, your editor will review your work and make comments and suggestions for improvement. At the end of Stage Two, your editor will evaluate your work and the work of anyone else in Stage Two for the same topic and make a hiring decision in conjunction with other members of our editorial staff.
How does About.com evaluate potential Guides?
When evaluating potential Guides, we look for the following:
- Writing Ability: A strong writer whose content is not only informative and factual, but compelling enough to make you want to read more. Because we trust our Guides to publish their own content, we'll also be looking for writing that is free of spelling and grammar errors.
- Web Formatting Comprehension: Someone who grasps the idea of formatting for the Web (whether from prior experience or from our evaluation materials), organizing their content into clear, easy-to-understand sections with effective use of bold text and bulleting.
- Topic Expertise: An expert in the subject area with the knowledge and ability to cover the basics with ease and the passion to research anything they don't already know.
- Desire to Educate: A teacher who can communicate the basics of the topic to a beginner audience in a way that's not only easy for a novice to understand, but interesting, too.
- Passion: Someone whose love for the topic motivates them to see being a Guide as an opportunity to write in-depth about something they love. Writing for About.com is a long-term investment of time and energy, and the Guides who treat the job as a labor of love tend to do the best.
