Public information officer job description

OPEN: August 3, 2022

CLOSE: Open until filled

SALARY AND GRADE : Excepted Service, Grade 5 ($59,702 to $89,553)

COVID-19 Vaccination: All employees of the District of Columbia must be vaccinated against the Coronavirus disease 2019 (SARS-CoV-2) as a condition of employment.

Current District of Columbia residents will receive priority and advanced preference for screening and interviews.

The Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA) is dedicated to serving the District’s veteran community, their families, survivors, and military caregivers. MOVA seeks to address the broad range of social, economic, and healthcare needs of the District’s veteran community by building strategic partnerships with public and private organizations, creating veteran-centered policy initiatives, and developing strong relationships with the veteran community. Building on these relationships, MOVA acts as a liaison between the District’s veteran community and the Mayor, District agencies, Federal agencies, and non-profit organizations in order to ensure that the District’s veteran community has access to the full range of available resources. For more information on MOVA, please visit here.

MAJOR DUTIES

• Establishes and maintains excellent relationships with local and regional media outlets, including print and broadcast journalists, and bloggers; responds to media inquiries; proactively engages with local and regional media to pitch stories; ensures the presentation of a strong and positive message to the public regarding the Administration’s policies and programs and the Mayor's Office of Veteran Affairs in coordination with the Executive Office of the Mayor
• Plans, directs and executes a comprehensive public information strategy on the initiatives and functions of the Mayor's Office of Veteran Affairs collaborates with senior leadership to plan and develop goals and objectives for implementing long and short­-term communications.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with District government and community agencies.
• Analyzes communications issues, and advises the Director and Deputy Director public perceptions to the agencies’ programs and activities.
• Develops and utilizes a variety of communication outlets to inform, involve, and engage employees in the agencies’ mission, values and programs.
• Evaluates communications efforts and achievements, and recommends appropriate modifications.
• Creates briefing memos, talking points, articles, websites, social media postings, and other communications on a wide variety of issues.
• Uses feedback and evaluation systems to evaluate effectiveness of communications activities.
• Participates in senior staff meetings and serves on committees, as appropriate.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum three (3) years’ experience in public relations, communications, public policy or a related field.
• Demonstrated connections to and past interactions with members of the local and regional press corps.
• Mastery of the principles, methods and techniques of effective communications.
• Mastery of the methods, practices and procedures used in public relations, marketing and research, mass media, advertising, special interest groups, community relations, and government relations, as they relate to large organized projects and initiatives.
• Strong analytical, strategic and creative skills to develop and implement public outreach programs; and skill in developing strategies to disseminate information.
• Superior ability to manage multiple priorities and fast-paced work.
• Ability to effectively develop, organize, and present ideas and concepts to diverse groups, including government officials, journalists, analysts, and District residents.
• Superior writing, verbal and presentation skills.
• Strong, persuasive, compelling and engaging writing skills, in order to convey information concerning complex programs and functions to public individuals having diverse levels of understanding of the agency's programs and activities.
• Superior skill in responding orally to criticism of the agency’s functions or performance; and to logically and effectively explain programs, functions and activities, in order for the public to gain an understanding of the agency's efforts.
• Superior skill and ability to formulate, articulate, and coordinate an overall communications program that integrates departmental issues, and conveys complex information regarding policies, programs, and decisions.
• Superior interpersonal relationship skills to serve as the principal advisor and authority on communication issues for the agency; and to work with the senior leaders to address problem solving through communications.

HIRING PREFERENCE

• Veterans and Veteran spouses will receive prioritized screened.
• District of Columbia residents will receive preferential screening.

COVID-19 PREVENTION PROTOCOL AND VACCINE MANDATE

The Government of the District of Columbia values the safety of our employees, our residents, and our visitors. In support of these values, if you are selected for this job you must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, except when vaccination is not medically advised or violates your sincerely held religious beliefs. If you are invited to join our team, you must submit proof that you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to your initial HR representative , or you must request an exemption from your representative. New employees must either provide proof of vaccination or be granted a medical or religious exemption by the hiring agency before working with the Government of the District of Columbia.

DOMICILE REQUIREMENT:

There is a legal requirement that each new appointee to the Excepted and Executive Service either: (1) be domiciled in the District of Columbia at the time of appointment; or (2) establish District domicile within one hundred eighty (180) days of appointment. The law also requires that Excepted and Executive Service employees maintain District domicile during the period of the appointment. Failure to maintain District domicile during the period of the appointment will result in forfeiture of employment.

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Salary Range: $54,630.13 - $76,482.18 annually

Job Summary:

The Public Information Officer is responsible for developing and providing public release of information to local and national media. Seeks opportunities for community engagement by Police across the diversity of the city and coordinates those opportunities with other units if required. Develops, implements, and manages social media efforts of the Greeley Police Department.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills:

Equivalent combination of the following:

• Degree in journalism, communications, public relations, marketing, or related field; BA/BS desired
• Demonstrated professional experience in social media and related technologies
• Demonstrated proficiency in use of communication tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
• Experience in public speaking
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and manage time effectively
• PC desktop publishing skills including Word, Excel, Photoshop, and Illustrator
• Demonstrated understanding of mobile applications
• Excellent command of the English language to include grammar, spelling, and punctuation; ability to effectively proofread own and others work
• Demonstrated ability in written and verbal communication
• Be well versed in the regulations, laws, and strategic circumstances of the release of law enforcement related information.
• Valid driver's license and good driving record
• Spanish/English fluency helpful
• An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered

Essential Functions:

• Develop media strategies, draft press releases, and media summaries for Police.
• Serve as agency spokesperson on all matters relating to public information.
• Communicate using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Conduct press interviews with local, regional, and national news representatives as required.
• Manage media requests in a timely manner
• With minimal supervision, write effective content with clarity and consistency, edit, and perform media relations using current industry best practices.
• Maintain positive relationships with media outlets.
• Correct errors in media coverage of Greeley.
• Develop, manage, and maintain the social media outreach of Police.
• Design visual communications via graphic design and photography for use in social media.
• Develop and maintain an understanding of police policy and procedure.
• Select and supervise members of Department who perform duties to further the external social media communication efforts.
• The following is a list of other duties:
  • CIRT response, Annual report, Assist BWC management, Website updates, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Next door, Scheduling posts, Recruitment assistance, videos, content, and pictures.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements:

• Ability to respond to police related scenes and functions to assist in public relations/information.
• Available to be called-in for critical police related incidents.
• Work is structured with established instructions and procedures
• Frequent and heavy contact with public and employees in person and by telephone
• Employee may be asked to drive personal vehicle for business purposes
• Employee is subject to working alone and/or with groups and/or attends meetings
• Employee spends extended periods of time at fixed workstation
• Employee may be required to conduct business in alternate locations within City buildings, sometimes in formal settings
• Employee may be required to work overtime, holidays, evenings, shifts, or weekends
• Employee may have frequent interruptions and be required to manage competing priorities while having inflexible deadlines
• Employee may have frequent contact with the public--in person, via email/telephone; and may experience adverse or confrontational situations with internal/external customers
• Employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions; work performed is sedentary, generally in an office environment
• Environment is safe to having minimal hazards that are typically found in general office environment where there is rarely little or no exposure to injury or accident
• Requires ability to manage competing priorities with frequent interruptions
• Communication skills enough to hear and convey information to/from the public via telephone and in person;
• Operate standard office equipment requiring continuous or repetitive hand/arm movements;
• Vision enough to interpret computer screens and documents to assist the public and complete work assignments; specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus;
• Manual dexterity enough to accurately input, retrieve and verify work assignments; employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms;
• Duties may occasionally include light to moderate physical effort that includes frequent standing or walking; frequently lifting and/or moving up to 10 pounds and occasionally lifting and/or moving up to 25 pounds; maintaining arms and hands in the same position for repetitive tasks and frequently working with light objects and light hand tools;
• Extensive work is performed on a computer with repetitive data entry and 10-key calculations; work is primarily performed at a desk.

Conditions of Employment: Candidates must successfully complete all pre-employment screenings and employment eligibility verification. Pre-employment screenings include a drug test, a background and national sex offender search, a motor vehicle record search, and for some positions, a physical demands evaluation. For more information about City policies and practices during the recruitment process, including but not limited to EOE, Reasonable Accommodation, and pre-employment screenings, please visit our career page HERE .