There’s a lot of work to be done around the Universe – we’re always looking for more people who want to help keep Zelda Universe the best and most informative Zelda site there is.

Although the list of positions below encompasses most of what we’re looking for, don’t think you’re stuck to one of them – you can do whatever you want, so long as it helps ZU!

Table of Contents

A Quick Note

Before applying, please be aware of the following:

  • Zelda Universe is run entirely by volunteers – we’re just a fan site, so we can’t afford to pay our staff. We’re grateful if you have enough passion for Zelda to want to donate your time and make ZU a better place!
  • Content you write and custom graphics you create belong to Zelda Universe, credited under your name, of course. If you choose to leave staff at any time, the work you’ve done will remain a part of Zelda Universe.
  • We are not looking for people who think they want to work on Zelda Universe – we have very high standards and are looking for totally dedicated volunteers with a passion for Zelda and our site. If you think you just want to work on one page, or work for just a month or two, please don’t submit an application.
  • It may take us several days to respond to your application – we need to talk amongst ourselves about a lot of candidates, so just hold tight while we lick our stamps.

Open Staff Positions

Content Manager

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


These folks are the lifeblood of Zelda Universe, and create the content that populates the side from day to day. When new Zelda games come out, they write all of Zelda Universe’s guides and pages. In the meantime, they spruce up our current content to make it better and more informative.

A Content Manager should minimally:

  • Have extensive knowledge of one or many of the Zelda games
  • Have a strong grasp of grammar, spelling, punctuation and syntax
  • Be able to work with multiple people, including Graphic Artists, to create guides, walkthroughs, and informational pages about the Zelda series
  • Be willing to proofread teammates’ content for quality and consistency

No knowledge of coding or formatting is necessary to become a content manager – if you’re passionate about writing and Zelda, this is the position for you!

 

News Correspondent

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Zelda Universe is a huge media and news outlet for all things Zelda, so we’re constantly looking for talented journalists and writers to help scour the internet for news about Nintendo’s franchise. News Correspondents put up all of the news you see on our front page, as well as participate in and moderate the comments system.

A News Correspondent should minimally:

  • Be able to quickly find the latest news and updates about Zelda and Nintendo’s other major franchises
  • Have a strong grasp of grammar, spelling, punctuation and syntax
  • Be able to respond to comments by users and fuel friendly discussion
  • Be able to work with others to coordinate news posting

Previous journalism experience is a plus, but we’re not going to hold it against you if you haven’t been a writer elsewhere.

 

Graphic Artist

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Graphic Artists keep ZU’s content looking spick and span by finding the highest quality images and artwork to accompany the Content Managers’ guides and the News Correspondents’ posts.

All the enemy, item and character artwork around the site, the contents of the gallery, the images that go along with the news on the site, and pretty much everything else made of pixels are all the products of our Graphic Artists. They also maintain Zelda Universe’s extensive image gallery.

A Graphic Artist should minimally:

  • Have very strong skills with recent versions of Adobe Photoshop or another powerful image editing tool
  • Be familiar with recent versions of Adobe Illustrator
  • Be able to coordinate with Content Writers and News Correspondents to provide the right images for their guide or post
  • Be able to both crop official artwork and create original graphics for special news posts, articles and guides
  • Be able to manage a large image gallery and keep it up to date with the highest quality Zelda images on the net
  • Help design and implement new skins on the forums and main site, and make adjustments to current designs

Being a Graphic Artist is one of the more labor-intensive jobs on the site, so make sure you have a passion for graphics work before you apply!

 

Article Writer

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


We are looking for a dedicated group of the most talented writers who enjoy thinking deeply about Zelda and its themes to create lengthy, detailed articles that reveal eye-opening aspects of Nintendo’s franchise.

An Article Writer should minimally:

  • Possess masterful linguistic abilities and have a deep passion for writing
  • Be able to think deeply about the Zelda franchise and articulate those thoughts clearly
  • Be prepared to write entire article series
  • Be able to work with Graphic Artists to gather the proper images and screenshots to be within your articles
  • Work with other article writers to produce roundtable discussions about new trailers, media and plot elements of Zelda Wii
  • Work with other article writers to produce jointly written articles

Being an article writer is a serious endeavor, and we’re only looking for the most talented and passionate writers to join the article team. If you think that’s you, send us an application!

 

Code Wizard

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Whenever Zelda Universe implements a new feature on the main site or forums, it’s got to be coded by hand. Most all of our features are custom or modified scripts, and very often our Code Wizards are out and about tweaking existing code to make it better, more stable and more compatible with multiple browsers.

Without Code Wizards, Zelda Universe wouldn’t even be here today – our developers have created everything from forum plugins to IRC bots to web layouts, and work very closely with our Graphic Artists to create usable, beautiful web interfaces.

A Code Wizard should minimally:

  • Have extensive knowledge of (X)HTML and CSS, including emerging standards
  • Have knowledge of PHP, JavaScript (including AJAX), and MySQL
  • Be able to identify and troubleshoot code issues on the main site and forums
  • Be able to implement cross-browser CSS fixes
  • Be willing and eager to add exciting new features to ZU that benefit everyone
  • Be able to work very closely with Graphic Artists to create usable and good-looking web interfaces
  • All work MUST pass W3C validation tests

Being a Code Wizard is an administrative position – it requires higher level access to parts of the site that we do not normally give other staff members. Therefore we are slightly more selective in choosing our Code Wizards than other positions. This is also an incredibly intensive job, so make sure you have a passion for web development before asking for this position.

 

Applying

If you think you want to apply to Zelda Universe, please send an email to our webmasters, webmaster [at] zeldauniverse.net with your application.  An application should be sent from your primary email address and consists of:

  • Your name
  • Your username on ZU or Zelda Wiki.org (if applicable)
  • Your age (don’t worry, there’s no age requirement)
  • IM screennames we can use to contact you (Skype, preferably)
  • What position you’re applying for
  • Your past experience working on a website (if applicable)
  • A detailed description of how you want to help out Zelda Universe
  • Any other information you’d like to add

Please note that we’re only looking for the best applications. Before you submit your application, you should thoroughly proofread it for spelling errors, grammatical errors, or any other errors of any kind – most of our positions rely on writing skill, so we consider this one of the most important qualities an applicant can have.

Example Applications

A Bad Application

The following is the type of application we would definitely rather not see. If you’re worried this could be your application, have a look below to see what will get your staff member request ignored.

Subject: i want to be a content writer please

 


name: john m.
zu username: twilightkitty55
age: 17
position: content writer

hi im john and I wanna be a content writer. i luv zelda and i play it alll the time so i no where all the items and stuff is and im happy to let u no if you make me staff. i think zu is an awesome site an i visit every day lol. so yeh please lemme be staff i can help alot.

 

This application doesn’t answer all of the questions, and isn’t written very well. It also doesn’t tell us anything about the person applying, so we don’t really know who’s talking to us. Let us know about yourself – make this like an application you would send to any other employer. We don’t have low standards just because we’re a volunteer-run site!

A Good Application

Subject: Interested in Content Writer Position

 


Name: John M.
ZU Username: twilightkitty55
Age: 17 (But turning 18 soon!)
IM Handles: twilightkitty (AIM), tkitty@gmail.com (GTalk), twilightkitty (Skype)
Position I’m applying for: Content Writer

Previous Experience: I used to run my own fan site about Metroid, and I’ve worked as a content writer at Super Metroid Land in the past after my own site fell through. More recently, I’ve gotten very interested in the Zelda series and have been browsing many Zelda fan sites.

Hello – my name is John M., and I’m looking to write content for Zelda Universe. I love writing and am, in fact, an AP English student this year – it’s also one of my favorite courses! More recently I’ve discovered a passion within me for the Zelda series, and have been beating each game one by one. As I go by, I’ve looked for fan sites that can help me complete the games 100%, but alas, no site seems to have complete guides in the way I’d like to see them.

I would really love to see a full, interactive world map for Twilight Princess, and I think I can help to create it and describe the locations of items throughout the game. In addition, I’ve been playing Spirit Tracks and have noticed that you’re missing a few pages that would help other gamers.

More importantly, I simply want to participate and help make Zelda Universe a site where all Zelda gamers like myself can go and get the information they need, and I’m willing to help write whatever else you’ve noticed is incomplete around the site.

Thanks for reading my application,
John M.

 

This application is just right – not only does John show a dedication to the Zelda series, and to ZU, but he also shows a dedication to writing (the singular core skill his position requires). He’s also not afraid to tell us a bit about himself as a person, how he’s in AP English and is about to turn 18. Overall, his friendly, positive attitude about helping ZU, coupled with his writing prowess, make this person an excellent candidate to become staff.

Take note that often we will ask potential candidates to show their dedication by writing something before becoming staff, as part of the application process. So while John M.’s application is great, it’s not everything that goes into becoming ZU staff.

Keep in mind as well that John M.’s application is just an example; we love to see much more from applicants and will obviously always pick the best person for the job, so make sure your applications lets us see you as a person and a potential staff member at Zelda Universe. If you apply, please be patient as it usually takes some time to assess your application, especially if we have received a high number of them. So don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear back from us right away.

And once again, if you want to apply, send your application to our webmasters at webmaster [at] zeldauniverse.net