Job Description

Description:

Responsibilities:

• Acts as primary contact to screen and coordinate national and local media interview requests for the President, and Senior leadership team.
• Prepares key media messages for University spokesperson, President and/or senior leadership team prior to media interviews.
• Attends senior leadership meetings to anticipate, plan and execute communication requirements of President and senior leadership.
• Anticipates emerging public relations issues and designs media strategies to enhance or mitigate University's public image.
• Acts as public information officer during campus emergency within the Emergency Management team to craft key media messages in timely manner.
• Creates and executes internal communications strategies for lower-level threats to campus in close coordination with Emergency Management.
• Proactively "pitches" stories to media and provides follow-up with reporters to promotes campus stories.
• Serves as media contact for general interview requests for faculty experts and assists media to meet their deadline.
• Liaises with administration, faculty and staff to obtain background facts for media interviews.
• Creates and nurtures positive relations with reporters to increase opportunities for earned media.
• Creates, coordinates, and delivers Media Relations training for senior leadership team.
• Develops and implements strategic and integrated communications and media plans to achieve specific University initiatives.
• Researches, writes and edits news releases for President's office and senior leadership team.
• Provides advice on media relations strategies for the President's office, senior leadership team, and across the University. Interviews leadership, faculty, staff and students to develop and write news releases.
• Provides materials in support of collaborative discussions with government officials, potential donors or key community stakeholders groups.
• Maintains excellent collaborative relationships both internally and externally.
• Maintains and updates the media outlet database & internal media calendar.
• Distributes approved news releases to appropriate media outlets and contacts media for follow-up interviews.
• Organizes, manages and directs media conferences.
• Conceptualizes, initiates, executes and manages marketing and communications projects.
• Liaises with graphic designers to execute publications.
• Conducts interviews and research internally and externally to develop original content for new brochures.
• Creates and ensures the execution of a robust suite of internal and external communications strategies for the University. This may include recurring events/initiatives or new events/initiatives.
• Serves as lead writer for the President, producing speeches and strategic messaging for high-level events.
• Delivers high-level writing assistance to the President's Office and other senior executives and University departments.
• Researches, writes and edits content for website.
• Writes editorial content and articles for external newspapers, newsletters, magazines and trade journals featuring the University.
• Sets language and editorial standards: formatting, grammar exceptions, tone, style, usage.
• Oversees the work of communications team to ensure consistent application of standards and guidelines across all projects and media.
• Identifies and implements best practices and tools to elevate communications processes.

Qualifications:

• Undergraduate degree in Journalism or Communications with at least 5 years experience.
• A credential in project management is an asset.
• 4 years' experience in a professional writing or content creation capacity (journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations).
• Prior experience supporting senior leadership.
• Prior experience working with the media.
• Prior experience in a post-secondary or educational setting is an asset.
• Excellent demonstrated writing and grammar skills.
• Ability to summarize/synthesize information and judge relevance of information.
• Good working knowledge of MS Office Suite, web content management applications, photo editing (eg. Photoshop).
• Working knowledge of mainstream social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Ability to work in close collaboration with multiple internal and external partners.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously is required.
• Ability to work both independently and also cooperatively in a team-oriented environment is required.
• Demonstrated ability to make sound decisions within the scope of departmental policies, institutional values and direction from the position's supervisor.
• Demonstrated ability to work respectfully and tactfully with a variety of stakeholders, ranging from departmental associates to senior executives.
• Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize, and meet tight deadlines.
• Strong understanding of branding and communications best practices is required.
• Solid leadership skills, including demonstrated ability to lead and inspire a communications team, are required.
• Excellent communication skills and strong interpersonal skills are required.
• Must be able to work independently and make decisions.
• Must be able to keep composure under pressure.
• Well-informed and familiar with current issues related to post-secondary education in Manitoba and Canada.
• Must be highly motivated self-starter who can take ideas and execute as tangibles.

An equivalent combination of education, experience, skills, knowledge and abilities may be considered.

Condition(s) of Employment:

• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.
• Must be willing to work extra hours as required, with compensating time off, in order to meet deadlines, and complete workloads, and accommodate special events.

Along with their resume and cover letter, applications must also provide the following three writing samples:

• A media release or formal announcement
• An article (preferably less than 500 words)
• An advertisement or sample of marketing text

Note: The work described in this posting will be conducted in-person.

The University of Winnipeg has a Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy that requires all those coming to designated indoor campus spaces to provide proof they are fully vaccinated. The Policy has been suspended effective May 2, 2022. However, prospective employees should know that the Policy may be reinstated in the future based on changing public health circumstances.

The University of Winnipeg is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognizes that a diverse staff and faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research environments, and is essential to academic and institutional excellence. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals and encourage women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons to confidentially self-identify at time of application.

If you require accommodation supports during the recruitment process, please contact Shelby Phillips, HR Assistant at sh.phillips@uwinnipeg.ca.

The personal information of applicants is collected under the authority of the University of Winnipeg Act and 36(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. All personal information collected via the recruitment process is used to assess the applicant's suitability, eligibility, and qualifications for employment, and to otherwise support recruitment activities. This information will be provided to participating members of the recruitment process. Questions regarding the collection of your personal information may be directed to the Director, HR Services, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9 or 204.786.9066.