Press Officer

Job Background

The Press Officer will provide a communication service in a fast-paced environment in support of operational demands, developing appropriate responses to a range of often sensitive and complex enquiries from the media, and under the oversight of the Senior Press Officer, delivering both planned and spontaneous communications to support organisational policing priorities, raise public confidence and directly contribute to operational outcomes in line with policing plan priorities. The Press Officer will utilise a wide range of channels, appropriate to a variety of audiences, including campaigns, public relations, internal communications, digital communications, traditional and social media. The role holder will also be responsible for providing fast time advice and guidance to internal colleagues on issues affecting the reputation of the organisation.

Hours of Work: Normal working hours are 10 hour shifts covering seven days per week between 06.30 and 20.30. The post attracts a Shift Disturbance Allowance and an On Call Allowance in which appropriate rates will be applied. These hours and allowances are subject to ongoing review to reflect business needs.

Salary: £30,721 to £31,352 + Shift Disturbance and On Call Allowance + £580 Environmental Allowance (under review)

Location: Greater Belfast

Main Activities

The main duties and responsibilities associated with the role include the following:

• Contribute to the provision of a timely and relevant news service to the media, public and colleagues on day-to-day activity, providing updates on incidents and crimes, promoting operations and successes, and disseminating urgent information.
• Advise and influence colleagues on the best communications approach to manage reactive and emerging issues – particularly officers in charge of investigations – and putting this approach into action.
• Use professional knowledge and experience to proactively, confidently and quickly suggest and implement the best communications approach to reactive issues, particularly when operating autonomously while on-call.
• Assess which information should be released to the media and public, and which should be withheld for legal or operational reasons.
• Deliver excellent customer service to internal and external stakeholders.
• Use “direct-to-audience” and digital communications, ensuring issues managed are not overly reliant on distribution of information via the media.
• Liaise with other organisations when providing comment on multi-agency issues, particularly in response to media enquiries about ongoing incidents.
• Contribute to day-to-day news monitoring and analysis, considering both traditional and social media, disseminating this information to relevant colleagues to ensure the Service is abreast of emerging news issues and can respond quickly if required.
• Manage media interactions with the Service, including assisting at media conferences or events and chaperoning representatives on attachments to teams or operations.
• Nurture a cohesive team culture to ensure a high standard of performance in a busy area where demand sometimes may outstretch capacity.

This Job Description reflects the main duties and responsibilities associated with this position. It is not intended to be exclusive or exhaustive.

Personal Specification

Essential Qualifications

• 2 A Levels plus 2 years’ experience working in a relevant area such as Journalism or Media Communications environment.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Experience of creating content for a variety of communication channels including print, broadcast, features and digital and social media and ability to provide advice to internal and external stakeholders on the most appropriate channels, depending on context.
• Experience of working under pressure and to deadlines whilst prioritising multiple and often conflicting demands.
• Strong problem solving and decision making skills and ability to react to fast moving issues.
• Excellent research and analytical skills including the ability to quickly access information from a variety of sources and to assess what is important, verified and suitable for release to the public.
• Good online and social media skills including ability to update website content management systems and use social media platforms.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, including the ability to write concisely, quickly, accurately and engagingly for a variety of audiences and media.

Essential Other

• Applicants must have a valid driving licence and a car available for official business use, or access to a form of personal transport that will enable you to meet the requirements of the post in full.
• IT literate specifically in the use of the Microsoft Office suite (including MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and MS Outlook).

Successful applicants will be retained on a merit list for future opportunities arising.

We would encourage you to check the spam within your email system for any relevant correspondence.

Selection Methodology

PSNI uses the Competency and Values Framework (CVF) which sets out nationally recognised behaviours and values to support all policing professionals. You will be assessed against the values and at the competencies level as indicated below. This will include both past and future focused questions. Further guidance and information about the Competency and Values Framework (CVF) is available here on our website.

Applicants meeting the eligibility criteria and essential qualifications, skills and experience will be required to demonstrate their experience for the following criteria:

Competency and Values Based Assessment

Values

• Public Service

Competencies – Level 2

• We take ownership
• We analyse critically
• We are collaborative