Reviewers / Correspondents — Job Overview
Department: Editorial & Reviews
Reports To: Reviewers/Correspondents Manager
Works With: Editor-in-Chief/Content Director, Social Media Team, and Leadership
Position Type: Field / Content Contributor
Position Overview
Reviewers/Correspondents serve as the eyes, ears, and voice of the customer. They are responsible for visiting, experiencing, observing, and professionally evaluating establishments, events, venues, hospitality businesses, nightlife destinations, entertainment experiences, and other businesses assigned for review.
Reviewers provide honest, fair, detailed, and unbiased evaluations based on established rating standards. Their findings contribute to the establishment's overall score and letter grade (A–F).
Reviewers are not sent into establishments looking for reasons to give a bad grade. Their responsibility is to document the complete customer experience—recognizing businesses that provide outstanding experiences while identifying areas where improvement may be necessary.
Key Responsibilities
- Visit assigned establishments, events, venues, and businesses.
- Complete the official Establishment Rating & Evaluation Form.
- Assess areas such as:
- Customer service
- Staff professionalism
- Respect and treatment of guests
- Cleanliness and overall condition
- Safety and security
- Atmosphere and environment
- Accessibility and inclusivity
- Pricing and overall value
- Quality of products, food, beverages, entertainment, or services
- Overall customer experience
- Provide accurate scores, detailed observations, and supporting explanations.
- Submit evaluations within established deadlines.
- Take appropriate photos, videos, notes, or other supporting documentation when required and permitted.
- Conduct interviews or gather customer/community feedback when assigned.
- Cover special events, openings, nightlife experiences, entertainment events, and community activities.
- Identify both positive experiences and areas needing improvement.
- Maintain professionalism and discretion while conducting reviews.
- Never accept money, gifts, free services, special treatment, or favors in exchange for a positive rating.
- Immediately disclose any personal, professional, or financial relationship that could create a conflict of interest.
- Follow all editorial, safety, privacy, ethics, and review standards.
Rating & Letter Grade Responsibility
Reviewers play an important role in the grading process. Each evaluation must be supported by observations and evidence rather than personal preference alone.
Establishments may receive an overall letter grade based on the official scoring standards:
A — Excellent / Outstanding Experience
B — Very Good / Above Expectations
C — Average / Meets Basic Expectations
D — Below Expectations / Significant Improvement Needed
F — Unacceptable / Serious Concerns Identified
Reviewers recommend scores and document their findings. Final published grades and editorial content may be reviewed and approved by management and editorial leadership before publication.
Reviewer Standards
Every Reviewer/Correspondent is expected to demonstrate:
Fairness — Evaluate every establishment using the same standards.
Accuracy — Report what actually occurred and distinguish observed facts from personal opinions.
Integrity — Never manipulate a review because of personal relationships, incentives, disagreements, or outside pressure.
Respect — Treat employees, owners, customers, community members, and fellow team members professionally.
Confidentiality — Protect internal assignments, unpublished reviews, customer information, and confidential information.
Accountability — Be prepared to support ratings with detailed notes and documentation.
Independence — Ratings cannot be purchased, influenced, threatened, or negotiated.
Qualifications
Ideal candidates should:
- Have strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Be highly observant and detail-oriented.
- Be comfortable attending different establishments, venues, and events.
- Be able to objectively evaluate customer experiences.
- Understand the importance of fairness, confidentiality, and professionalism.
- Be dependable and able to meet deadlines.
- Be comfortable documenting experiences through written reports and, when appropriate, photos or video.
- Be willing to interact respectfully with people from different backgrounds and communities.
- Have reliable transportation or the ability to travel to assigned locations when required.
- Experience in hospitality, nightlife, entertainment, journalism, customer service, media, blogging, or content creation is helpful but not required.
Conflict-of-Interest Policy
Reviewers must disclose any relationship with an establishment they are assigned to review, including employment, ownership interests, close friendships, family relationships, business relationships, or significant prior disputes.
Management may reassign the review to protect the credibility and independence of the rating.
What It Means to Be a Reviewer/Correspondent
Being a Reviewer/Correspondent means more than writing reviews. You are representing a trusted consumer voice.
Your work can recognize businesses that are doing an exceptional job, encourage establishments to improve, identify customer concerns, and help consumers decide where they want to spend their time and money.
Review fairly. Report accurately. Grade responsibly. Give customers a voice.
Pay: $18.00 - $19.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
