Media job: Corporate affairs officer – Glasgow, Scottish Water

CLOSING DATE: August 29, 2017

Salary: £26,227 to £38,197, Glasgow

DO you know how to create great content and achieve brilliant media coverage out of something as everyday as tapwater?

Do you also know how to communicate on behalf of an organisation when things don’t go to plan.

If you do, we’re looking for someone like you to join our corporate affairs team in the west of Scotland.

Working at Scottish Water

Scottish Water is one of the UK’s leading water companies, the quality of drinking water and satisfaction with the service we provide our customers has never been higher – but we want to be even better – and you could help play an important part!

We take employee engagement very seriously and have an inclusive and collaborative work environment where we respect people’s differences.

In 2016, we won the award for ‘Best Workplace of the Year’ at the Hr NETWORK Awards, which recognised the enthusiasm, commitment and pride of our employees in working for Scottish Water.

You will be entitled to a host of benefits, which include 37 days holiday a year, a defined benefit pension scheme, discounted healthcare, access to childcare vouchers plus a variety of flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies.

The role:

* You will build confidence and trust in Scottish Water customers and stakeholders, through the provision of communications and engagement support for all SW group activities which will protect and enhance the organisations reputation and achieve sustainable business outcomes; and

* You will ensure all appropriate communication and engagement opportunities and channels are identified, risks are minimised and value added to Scottish Water.

Key responsibilities:

* Participate in the development and delivery of communications and engagement plans, which will promote SW activity and keep all key audiences fully informed, aware and engaged;

* Dealing with enquiries from stakeholders, including the media, both proactively and planned, and responding effectively to unplanned day-to-day requests to provide clear, factual and accurate information which represents SW’s position;

* Use the full range of digital channels including website and appropriate social media as part of our communications delivery to maximise audience reach and engagement;

* Creating audience-appropriate content which is clear and consistent and meets the needs of our customers, stakeholders and staff and aligns with business objectives;

* Recording, monitoring and evaluating all communications and engagement activity to support customer experience measurement and ensure continual improvement and innovation; and

* To work collaboratively with colleagues in all parts of Scottish Water and associated partners to ensure that all aspects of the capital programme that impact on customers, stakeholders and reputation are communicated effectively allowing a joint team approach to delivering customer excellence.

Skills and experience required for the role

Personal skills:

* Excellent written, verbal and listening communication skills;

* A high level of accuracy in written work;

* Ability to develop good working relationship with stakeholders and partners;

* Ability to work well with colleagues across a range of departments within SW and external organisations;

* Ability to negotiate and influence internally and externally; and

* Excellent organisational skills, including the ability to manage and plan workload and work to demanding deadlines.

Professional skills:

* In-depth knowledge and understanding of principles of effective communications and media and the application of these principles in a work environment to achieve desired outcome;

* Able to use standard Microsoft Office applications;

* Ability to develop, plan and implement effective intelligence-led and high-impact communications plans; and

* The ability to gather intelligence from a range of sources, (i.e. operational performance data, corporate management information and financial information from the annual report, regulatory targets or reports) and to use this intelligence effectively to develop and inform communications plans.

Knowledge:

* Understanding of SW group activity, SW performance objectives including CEM, local knowledge including geographical and people (i.e. key influencers) and the SW investment programme. The role holder must have the ability to assess this information and its potential impact and outcomes on our customers and stakeholders;

* Knowledge of the political structure and environment, i.e. governance: such as Scottish Government, DWQR, WICS, SEPA, HSE; political: both at national (e.g. MSPs) and at local level (e.g. councillors and community councillors);

* Understanding of external and internal factors which may have an impact on Scottish Water, e.g. increasing expectations from our customers and the growth of social media as a channel of engagement and communication; and

* Knowledge of how the media and social media operates in a Scottish context such as awareness of local newspapers, websites, blogs, radio stations and community groups who communicate in an online community environment.

This role is being offered on a 23-month fixed term basis. You will work full time hours of 37 hours per week, based in our Glasgow office in Stepps.

The nature of the role will require travel so a full driving licence is required.

Next steps:

Any offer of employment with Scottish Water will be subject to the successful completion of a mandatory pre-employment screening process, including Disclosure Scotland and eligibility to work in the UK. Details can be found on our website.

For more information about this role, please contact: swrecruitment@scottishwater.co.uk.

For details and to apply, click here.

The closing date for applications is the 29th August 2017.

Please note: Direct applications to the email address won’t be considered. We are not in a position to accept emailed CV’s.