How to hire a director, corporate communications

How to hire a director, corporate communications, step by step

Here's a step-by-step director, corporate communications hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a director, corporate communications job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new director, corporate communications
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a director, corporate communications do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the director, corporate communications you need to hire. Certain director, corporate communications roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A director, corporate communications's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, directors, corporate communications from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents director, corporate communications salaries for various positions.

   Type of Director, Corporate Communications	Description	Hourly rate
   Director, Corporate Communications	Public relations managers plan and direct the creation of material that will maintain or enhance the public image of their employer or client. Fundraising managers coordinate campaigns that bring in donations for their organization.	$30-81
   Community Development Director	The job of a community development director is to manage and direct the management and planning initiatives for a community or city organization. Your duties will include collaborating with community partners in developing strategies to improve the community, architectural and economic initiatives, monitoring budgets for department initiatives, and participating in business development efforts... Show more	$33-81
   Community Relations Director	A community relations director is a professional who is responsible for managing positive relationships with community members, nonprofit organizations, and fellow employees surrounding an organization. Community relations directors must plan, organize, and manage activities to help the organization achieve its public relations goal... Show more	$29-73

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Corporate Communications
   • External Communications
   • Press Releases
   • Strategic Communications
   • Crisis Communications
   • Employee Engagement
   • Investor Relations
   • External Audiences
   • Executive Communications
   • Crisis Management
   • Issues Management
   • Human Resources
   • Communications Plan
   • Executive Leadership

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Tie CRM to marketing to manage ROI.
   • Programme and manage Immanuel s website, YouTube and social media pages.
   • Lead advertising programs in the Americas, Europe, and Asia/Pacific regions.
   • Manage SEO as well as all external customer-facing communications.
   • Manage execution of all marketing programs for the Americas including coordinating a global cast of contractors and internal marketing specialists.
   • Maintain strong working relationships across all departments to manage successful on-site opportunities, content and multimedia asset development and spokesperson requests.

   More director, corporate communications duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the director, corporate communications job description is a good way to get more applicants. A director, corporate communications salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a director, corporate communications in South Carolina may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level director, corporate communications. Additionally, a director, corporate communications with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average director, corporate communications salary

   $104,820yearly

   $50.39 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level director, corporate communications salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 1, 2026

   Average director, corporate communications salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$146,448	$70
   2	Nevada	$136,400	$66
   3	Connecticut	$123,036	$59
   4	New Jersey	$121,712	$59
   5	Arizona	$120,728	$58
   6	Massachusetts	$115,619	$56
   7	North Carolina	$111,776	$54
   8	Texas	$110,127	$53
   9	Louisiana	$109,280	$53
   10	Maryland	$104,558	$50
   11	New York	$99,549	$48
   12	Michigan	$97,019	$47
   13	Wisconsin	$96,447	$46
   14	Illinois	$95,967	$46
   15	Oregon	$93,182	$45
   16	Virginia	$92,817	$45
   17	Pennsylvania	$91,633	$44
   18	District of Columbia	$91,460	$44
   19	Washington	$90,640	$44
   20	Ohio	$89,607	$43

   Average director, corporate communications salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Juniper Networks	$177,328	$85.25
   2	AstraZeneca	$175,724	$84.48	4
   3	APCO Worldwide	$171,618	$82.51	8
   4	The Rockefeller Foundation	$169,855	$81.66	2
   5	Qualtrics	$166,497	$80.05	13
   6	Regeneron	$164,017	$78.85	6
   7	CME Group	$162,373	$78.06	2
   8	Wpp Us Holdings Inc	$160,545	$77.19	3
   9	Seagen	$158,718	$76.31
   10	Sanofi US	$157,305	$75.63	17
   11	Stratus Technologies	$154,778	$74.41
   12	Merck	$154,701	$74.38
   13	Halozyme	$152,937	$73.53	1
   14	Grand Rounds	$149,286	$71.77
   15	BCW Global	$147,781	$71.05
   16	Merkle	$145,552	$69.98	1
   17	Hubbell	$145,376	$69.89	1
   18	Greif	$142,436	$68.48
   19	ResMed	$141,106	$67.84	1
   20	Bill.com	$140,899	$67.74

4. Writing a director, corporate communications job description

   A job description for a director, corporate communications role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a director, corporate communications job description:

   Director, corporate communications job description example

   ABOUT THE JOB:
   
   The Director of Corporate Communications is responsible for leading communications strategies in support of advancing Market strategic initiatives and organizational priorities around expansion, market growth, and patient care, translating complex issues into effective communication storytelling that connects and resonates with internal and external stakeholders. The director has oversight for Market-specific communications and/or Market communications teams. This role develops long-term plans and strategies and works with subordinate team members to operationalize and execute the strategy. The director role advises and partners with their respective Market President and their leadership teams on communications strategies that advance all stakeholders' understanding of the organization, its mission and vision, and the critical role it plays in the health of North Texans for generations to come. This includes building, growing and leadership oversight of a communication team and strategies that inform internal and external audiences about critical systemwide and market-specific changes and initiatives, including building thought leadership and reputation opportunities with referring providers, employees, physicians, patient families and the community at large. This individual prioritizes people leadership and the development of several team members. The Director of Corporate Communications must bring a passion for health care and the Children's Health mission to make life better for children. The individual filling this role should thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic and constantly changing environment with the ability to quickly digest complex information and determine a plan of action, while serving as a key advisor to various members of the leadership team.
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   * Leads communications strategies for multi-billion-dollar growth and expansion initiatives across the enterprise, including Dallas and Northern Markets: new facilities, network growth, investments and acquisitions, with consideration of internal and external stakeholders; development of comprehensive plans including announcement preparation, talking points, memos, key message points, fact sheets, videos and Q and A documents, executive coaching, change management support more.
   * Oversight for Market President's communications programs
   * Works collaboratively with members of the entire communications team, as well as marketing, to ensure that relevant content is disseminated effectively, consistently and clearly through appropriate system communication channels to patients, internal team members, physicians, referring providers and more
   * Oversight for market and/or systemwide town halls
   * Oversight for communications supporting operational changes, clinical changes, quality & patient safety, patient experience, regulatory needs and more
   * Convenes appropriate parties to facilitate planning for large-scale internal and external engagement efforts ahead of investments / major projects
   * Closely collaborates with External Communications team for partnership in execution of strategic communications plans, including external positioning and PR efforts
   * Maintains productive partnerships across multiple departments in Market operations, strategy, nursing, marketing, facilities, quality and safety
   * Leads and mentors numerous team members with a focus on building and growing a new Market Communications team
   
   WORK EXPERIENCE
   
   * At least 10 years of relevant professional communications experience with at least 5 years focused on corporate communications
   * Healthcare system experience is strongly preferred
   
   EDUCATION
   
   * Four-year Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required
   
   About us
   
   Children's Health values the role each member of our team plays in helping us make life better for children. We employ more than 7,500 people and provide rewarding career opportunities that help them reach their highest potential. We also hold Magnet recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for nursing excellence, we serve as the primary pediatric teaching facility for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and we are widely recognized for delivering high quality care. Children's Health has also been named one of the 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare for nine consecutive years.
   
   Benefits
   
   Children's Health offers competitive pay, a comprehensive benefits program and opportunities for learning and career development. We promote a diverse and inclusive workplace, and our team members have a voice in their work through surveys and town halls. We invite you to learn more about Children's Health.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find directors, corporate communications for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any directors, corporate communications they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level directors, corporate communications with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your director, corporate communications job on Zippia to find and recruit director, corporate communications candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit directors, corporate communications, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new director, corporate communications

   Once you've found the director, corporate communications candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new director, corporate communications. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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