Media Advisor

The Australian Human Rights Commission has an ongoing role for an EL 1 Media Advisor for our Strategic Communications Team. Salary range is $111,649 – $124,836 pa plus 15.4% Superannuation

The Strategic Communications Team works with internal and external stakeholders to positively influence debate about, and raise public awareness of, human rights in Australia in everything we do. Our goal is to educate, inform and uphold the Commission’s reputation as a trusted and respected institution.

We are responsible for the Commission’s media liaison, websites, social media channels, electronic newsletters, events, publishing and brand identity. Across the team we have professionals with diverse experience including journalism, public relations, graphic design, web content strategy, marketing and events.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The purpose of the Media Advisor role is to lead the Commission’s media engagement, provide advice to senior leaders and develop communication strategies. The role handles media enquiries, writes media releases, opinion pieces, develops key messages, provides interview briefings, and evaluates the effectiveness of media engagement and communication plans. The Media Advisor contributes to informing and influencing the media and a broader community of stakeholders about human rights. The position holder is expected to meet on-call requirements to respond to media enquiries for which an allowance is provided.

Key responsibilities

Manage Media Enquiries

• Anticipate and respond to, in a timely and accurate way, media enquiries about the Commission.
• Research and write high quality media releases, statements, opinion pieces and talking points for external and internal distribution.
• Research and develop proactive story pitches to achieve the Commission’s strategic communications objectives.
• Advise the President, Commissioners and any other authorised media spokespeople of the best way to represent the Commission and present a balanced view of human rights related issues in the media and other forums.
• Organise and assist with media interviews and media conferences.
• Coordinate media training and coaching for authorised spokespeople.

Write and Implement Communication Strategies

• Collaboration with internal stakeholders to develop and implement communication plans that meet the Commission’s strategic objectives.
• Monitor and evaluate the results of communications plans and activities.Write high-quality, engaging and values-based content for a variety of traditional, digital and social platforms and channels, tailored to a range of audiences, and ensure a consistent and appropriate style and tone of voice is applied across all communication outputs.
• Respond to ad hoc communication support requests from internal stakeholders by providing advice and solutions that meet the overarching communication strategy of the Commission and address the needs of internal stakeholders.

Reputation Management

• Monitor public debate on human rights and discrimination issues and take a proactive approach to promoting the Commission and its work in the media.
• Provide timely advice on and responses to positive and negative issues that may be of public interest and generate media coverage.
• Take a proactive approach to risk management and provide advice to the Director, Public Engagement and senior executives on risks and mitigation strategies relating to the Commission’s public engagement

Key capabilities and role requirements

Professional Knowledge, Experience, Qualifications and Skills

• Extensive experience in journalism or media engagement and strategic communications at a senior level.
• Strong media issues management experience.
• Ability to develop and execute effective communications campaigns.
• Extensive experience in creating content for and managing social media platforms including email marketing platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite including Office 365, and digital and web-based applications and CMS (such as Drupal).
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in communications, public affairs or journalism, or equivalent experience.

Shapes Strategic Thinking

• Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, political awareness, sound judgement and creative problem solving.
• Experience in providing advice to executives at a senior level, and effectively managing relationships with senior executives.
• Understands the Commission’s objectives and aligns activities accordingly. Considers the ramifications of issues and their longer-term impact on own work and work area.
• Probes information and identifies any critical gaps. Maintains an awareness of the organisation, monitors the context in which the organisation operates and finds out about best practice approaches.
• A strong interest in current affairs and human rights.

Relationships and Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills including the ability to influence senior staff and build strong relationships with staff at all levels.
• Builds and sustains relationships with a network of key people internally and externally.
• Well-developed relationship management skills, with a capacity to ensure that various stakeholder interests are recognised and managed positively and professionally.
• Consults and shares information and ensures others are kept informed of issues.

Communication

• Confidently present messages in a clear, concise and articulate manner.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to communicate confidently, persuasively, sensitively and articulately, on matters relevant to the delivery of the Commission’s identified strategic priorities
• Ability to translate complex information into messages that can be easily understood by a non-technical audience.
• Approaches interactions with a strong grasp of key issues, having prepared in advance. Understands the desired objectives and associated strengths and weaknesses. Anticipates the position of the other party, and frames responses accordingly.
• Seeks to understand the issues and tailors communication style and message accordingly. Listens carefully to others and checks to ensure their views have been understood. Checks own understanding of others’ comments and does not allow misunderstandings to linger.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We value inclusivity and diversity and seek people who support and model the behaviours we promote in our workforce. We strongly encourage applications from First Nations Australians, mature workers, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, carers, LGBTQI+ and people with disability.

Under section 22(8) of the Public Service Act 1999, employees must be Australian citizens to be employed in the Australian Public Service (APS) unless the Agency Head has agreed otherwise, in writing.

The Commission is committed to providing an accessible, inclusive work environment to enable people with a disability to participate fully in all aspects of employment. Applicants are encouraged to request reasonable adjustment as required to assist your participation in this recruitment process.

Please provide a resume and covering letter outlining your interest in this position. You are not required to address each selection criterion individually but should provide sufficient information to demonstrate that your skills, knowledge and experience are the right fit for this position. Please be accurate, succinct and show a clear connection with the selection criteria for the role.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to fulfil the requirements of the role in an impartial and respectful manner as required by the APS Code of Conduct. The successful candidate will uphold the integrity and independence of the Australian Human Rights Commission. As part of the recruitment and selection process, applicants will be required to consent to and undergo background checks which may include character and social media checks.

Additional information may be sought from [email protected] using the subject line: Media Advisor enquiry via EthicalJobs.

A position description is attached.