Public Relations Strategist Job at Hillsborough County - Board of County Commiss

Job Description

Salary: $66,560 - $73,840

Job Overview

Performs professional and strategic public relations duties, including strategizing the timely development, administration, and dissemination of information regarding a wide range of programs and services to foster and improve education, media, and community relations throughout Hillsborough County, while protecting and building Hillsborough County's reputation.

Ideal Candidate

•Is detail-oriented, with a sound knowledge of English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and proofreading.

•Has considerable knowledge of the principles and practices of public relations/media relations strategy development.

•Is able to create quality content and/or public relations collateral including brand journalism.

•Has a thorough understanding of the local, regional, and national media market.

•Has the ability to use considerable initiative, think independently, and exercise sound judgment.

•Is able to handle extremely delicate/sensitive relationships and complex situations, information, and materials.

•Has comprehensive knowledge and understanding of social media platforms and target audiences.

•Is able to manage content and program development end-to-end.

• Has the ability to meet with County departments and/or attend County events with regularity at a location outside of County Center. This could be outside of typical work hours, such as in the early morning, evening or weekends.

Core Competencies

• Customer Commitment - Proactively seeks to understand the needs of the customers and provide the highest standards of service.
• Dedication to Professionalism and Integrity - Demonstrates and promotes fair, honest, professional and ethical behaviors that establishes trust throughout the organization and with the public we serve.
• Organizational Excellence - Takes ownership for excellence through one's personal effectiveness and dedication to the continuous improvement of our operations.
• Success through Teamwork - Collaborates and builds partnerships through trust and the open exchange of diverse ideas and perspectives to achieve organizational goals.

Tier 1

Duties and Responsibilities

Note: The following duties are illustrative and not exhaustive. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position. Depending on assigned area of responsibility, incumbents in the position may perform one or more of the activities described below.

• Develops and strategizes public relations and marketing campaigns related to special events, programs, and County initiatives.
• Develops proactive media outreach strategies including news releases, pitches, talking points, web content/brand journalism, and overall messaging.
• Conducts media and community relations to foster a positive informative relationship between County government and the community.
• Provide public relations management to departments, including counsel related to public relations strategies, communications plans, social media, and events. This includes developing strategic public relations plans with tactics such as collateral development, talking points, web content/brand journalism, and messaging to include media strategy.
• Provides media relations and expertise guidance to departments. Responds to media in an efficient and timely manner.
• Prepares recommendations involving special community matters, public meetings, events and/or programs.
• Collaborates with internal and external public as needed to ensure effective, well-executed public relations and marketing programs.
• Keeps current with technology and trends for communications.
• Track, monitor and evaluate activities, placements and accomplishments.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Job Specifications

• Knowledge of the principles and practices of public relations/media relations strategy development and how it relates to positive public/media relations.
• Knowledge of writing and editing press releases, positioning stories, pitches, articles and other communications materials.
• Knowledge of proper English grammar, spelling, and proofreading.
• Basic knowledge of photography and an understanding of visual standards, and knowledge of storytelling through photos and the applications of visual standards.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Public Relations profession Code of Ethics.
• Knowledge and understanding of social media platforms and target audiences.
• Thorough understanding of the local media market.
• Skill to create content for public relations collateral including brand journalism content.
• Strong copywriting and editorial skills.
• Ability to manage content and program development end-to-end providing direction, working integrated across departments and within the Communications & Digital Media team.
• Ability to handle extremely delicate/sensitive relationships and complex situations, information, and materials.
• Ability to use initiative, think independently, and exercise sound judgment in order to protect the County's reputation.
• Ability to assist in writing and editing press releases, pitches and articles.
• Ability to provide expert counsel on effective public relations strategies to produce effective outcomes.
• Ability to think strategically in order to develop and execute public relations programs and provide counsel to client departments on the best way to communicate information.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with others within and outside own organization.
• Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing including presentations.
• Ability to deal courteously and effectively with others while maintaining a positive, proactive attitude.

Physical Requirements

• This position takes place in an office environment.
• Requires sitting for an extended period of time.

Work Category

• Sedentary work - Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.

Minimum Qualifications Required

• Bachelor's degree; AND
• Two years of experience planning, implementing or managing public relations, community relations, marketing, or integrated communications programs;

OR

• An equivalent combination of education (not less than possession of a High School diploma/GED), training and experience that would reasonably be expected to provide the job-related competencies noted above.

Emergency Management Responsibilities

In the event of an emergency or disaster, an employee may be required to respond promptly to duties and responsibilities as assigned by the employee's department, the County's Office of Emergency Management, or County Administration. Such assignments may be for before, during or after the emergency/disaster.

Career Progression

Employees in this classification that acquire the competencies and minimum qualifications for the next tier will be able to apply for promotional opportunities through a competitive selection process. Employees will not automatically be upgraded to the next tier. Reclassifying a position is based on business need and financial impact and is not based solely on the job competencies or qualifications of the incumbent.