Salary: £30,296 to £33,024 per annum.
Contract: 2x Permanent, 1x 12 Months fixed-term.
Location: Your office base will be Chichester and a typical week will combine homeworking with attendance at the office. This is led by the needs of the service.
Working pattern: Full-time 37 hours per week.
Employer Pension Contribution: 19.70% this alters per annum on the 1 April each year.
Annual leave: 27 days holiday + Bank holidays = 35 days.
Do you have experience working in media relations, public relations, or digital media? If the answer is yes, you could be a fantastic fit for one of our Communications Officer roles. Scroll down to learn more about the position and our organisation.
As a Communications Officer, you will deliver first-class communications and messages to communities across West Sussex.
Working as part of the county council's Communications & Engagement Team, you'll be working on high-profile campaigns and messaging across various channels and platforms, including social, digital and print media as well as providing media relations and handling by liaising with journalists.
Working with a supportive team, you will be involved in multiple projects simultaneously where your passion for communications, innovation and creativity, plus your eye for detail and how best to convey a compelling message will be greatly valued.
You'll be responsible for evaluating communications to showcase its impact. This will involve creating, managing, and monitoring plans, plus gathering quantifiable data through a variety of methods to track success.
You'll assist Senior Communication Officers and Communications Leads in promoting council campaigns, behavioural programmes, and projects efficiently. Understanding council services is crucial for recognising opportunities and building relationships with key staff. You need to be aware of both local and national news agendas to ensure the county council is seizing all opportunities and responding to current events.
You'll be required to participate in an out-of-hours on-call rota, for which an additional allowance is provided.
What we need from you:
- Ability to develop creative ideas and editorial across all forms of communication and editing input for a range of platforms.
- Ability to write effectively for a range of audiences and communication channels including for the web and social media.
- Developed communication and interpersonal skills to effectively engage with clients and stakeholders, fostering strong working relationships.
- Problem-solving skills.
- Literacy and numeracy skills to understand and interpret research data and customer feedback and present analysis in the most appropriate way.
- Relevant theoretical and practical knowledge of processes, procedures and policies associated with working within a demanding communications service.
- Knowledge of communication methods, including social media, to effectively contribute to changing campaign objectives.
- Understanding of the media landscape and management of media sensitive issues.
- Understanding of the political landscape and politically sensitive issues.
- Experience of working on a variety of communications activities, particularly in a public sector environment.
- Experience/confidence of dealing with a range of people and services and planning on more than one campaign at a time.
- Experience of handling and responding to media enquiries.
Rewards and Benefits
We care hugely about wellbeing, and how we support our team to develop to be the best they can be. Alongside this, we also offer the below benefits:
- 27 days annual leave + bank holidays.
- A generous pension scheme.
- A strong supportive management team.
- Training and development opportunities, including a range of apprenticeships, technical training, coaching and mentoring opportunities.
- A range of discounts including Argos, Samsung, Asos, B&Q and many more.
- Free access to employee assistant programmes.
- Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres.
- A range of commuting and business travel discount and initiatives.
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .
Apply now and be a part of shaping the future of transportation in West Sussex.
Click the apply button below, upload your CV and cover letter explaining how you meet the key skills in the attached job description. Remember to give examples.
