Have a burning desire to share your love for anime with the world? Think you have the talent and drive to help Anime Dream keep its readers informed and entertained? Then you're in luck, since in the next few months we'll be looking to fill a number of positions, and the application process starts now!

Some of you may have noticed the early appearance of the application button on the front page and submitted an application already, all of which have been received and are being processed, but for those not having noticed till now, don't be discouraged; every application will be given equal attention regardless of its submission order. Don't hold off submitting your application though, since once all positions are filled and the application button is removed, you'll need to wait till new positions open up before you have another chance to join AD.

Just about any position at AD is available to be applied for (although any applicants for EIC will be hunted down by the Goddess Sumi's Imperial Guard.. sorry =P), but there are a few areas we're concentrating on in this hiring campaign. Those positions are as follows:

• News: Potential news staffers will be expected to contribute at least 2 news updates a week. Solid writing and journalistic talent is required, as is an enthusiasm about the content being reported on, that being anime news of all shapes and sizes. Japanese language skills are perhaps most valuable here, as hunting down breaking news from Japanese sources is equally important as rehashing recent news from other English language anime sites. Basic HTML skills are needed to ensure proper formatting is used, but this is only a temporary requirement.
• Reviews: Perhaps the area most in need of contribution, be it from readers or potential new reviewers, is the reviews section. Potential reviewers will be expected to contribute at least 2 reviews a month. Again, solid writing and analytical ability is a must. While reviews of current series, be it the latest thing to hit Japan or the newest domestic release, are one focus for reviewers, those interested in reviewing older shows are also welcome and encouraged to apply, as solid coverage of older catalogue series is also important for us.
• Media: There are a number of media related positions open, ranging from music encoding and soundtrack reviews to movie capturing and encoding to art scanning and screen capturing. Each position requires a slightly different set of skills: music work requires access to a wide range of anime music to encode as real media samples, while writing ability is needed for writing reviews of OSTs and J-pop albums; movie work requires the ability to capture original movies from your collection and encode them to both high quality formats (MPEG, AVI, QT, etc) and low quality formats (primarily RM) for sampling purposes. A high speed connection is ideal for uploading these movies; picture work requires the ability to scan art (from anime artbooks or magazines, for example) or capture screen shots from you anime video library, as well as the image editing and HTML skills to properly format image galleries. Consistent contribution is expected and required from those applying to any media position.

As was mentioned, these aren't the only positions you can apply for, but they're the current focus. Other positions, such as image editing and graphics design work, as well as any suggestions for new sections you'd like to build and maintain for AD are welcome and will be considered on a case by case basis.

With the lengthy explanation out of the way, head on over to the AD Application page here and get those applications rolling in! There are only so many positions available, so unfortunately only a few applicants will be able to join this time around, but for those that aren't chosen, don't be discouraged; try to make your mark on the site as a reader to get yourself noticed and perhaps approached to join later. Stranger things have happened.. I somehow made it on board after all. =P