By DAWN WOTAPKA, Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK, June 11 – The Associated Press is beefing up its business coverage: The newswire recently announced several open positions, a modest rebound from companywide layoffs last year.

In a staff memo appropriately titled “Good news,” AP business editor Hal Ritter says the AP is looking for six beat reporters to join the real estate, energy, retailing, autos, markets and Money & Markets teams. There’s also an opening for a spot desk news editor – labeled an administrative position – a markets reporter and a health-care team leader.

Dawn Wotapka

The jobs “will provide a huge boost to our efforts to cover spot news aggressively and give customers compelling enterprise stories,” Mr. Ritter writes. “These positions will help especially on teams like retailing, energy and markets, which have all lost more than one reporter over the past year.”

The gigs aren’t limited to New York, where most financial journalists are based. An ad for the autos reporter, for example, says “location to be determined.” (Biz Buzz wonders if that reporter will end up in Detroit.)

This is not an entry-level position: Applicants need at least five years of reporting experience. More requirements, per an e-mail sent to Biz Buzz: “The successful candidate must have a deep knowledge of the domestic and foreign auto industries. The candidate must be a critical thinker who can cover the beat as both a consumer and business story. The ability to identify themes and trends of great interest to car buyers is a must. Must be an aggressive reporter and well-sourced and have a record of producing exclusives.”

The real-estate reporter also needs five years under his/her belt. That position, based out of New York City, requires comfort with economic data and an ability to “connect the dots and identify themes and trends ahead of competitors. The candidate’s sources must run deep to allow him or her to find enterprise stories bubbling up from the local level.” (Did the word “bubbling” make you chuckle? If not, this probably isn’t the job for you.)

Applicants can visit http://www.ap.org/apjobs/index.html

Special thanks to Gorkana.  Please follow @SABEWBizBuzz on Twitter! Send tips to dawn…@dowjones.com