JOB PURPOSE: Delivery of media strategies and activities to influence decision-makers and inspire supporters to bring about change on organisational priorities including climate change, the impact of Covid19 and the availability of vaccines, and Oxfam’s work in fragile and humanitarian contexts. Reactive news handling and delivery of media in support of corporate communications. The PR Officer’s focus is primarily on delivering media and associated activities to support Oxfam fundraising teams, including in retail, volunteering, festivals, and partnerships.
DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE
• Implementing media strategies in support of Oxfam’s organisational objectives.
• Handling incoming media queries, including out-of-hours as part of a duty rota.
• Provides creative/innovative solutions to wide range of problems/tasks/projects - some new/some routine.
• Analyse, interpret, and act on complex information from varied and diverse sources.
• Application of expert knowledge of internal and external environment.
• Influencing internal/external agenda/policies through using well-developed influencing and negotiating skills.
• Responsible for shaping work which has potential major impact on public image.
• Build Oxfam’s profile and reputation, and coordinate plans to build the profile of key senior Oxfam staff.
• Covering the PR Lead role when the PR Lead is unavailable.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• To generate regular, high quality media coverage of Oxfam’s concerns through proactive and reactive media work.
• To produce high quality media materials – press releases, comment pieces and features for print and online outlets and audio-visual materials for pitching to offline and online broadcast outlets.
• To build and maintain excellent working relations with media contacts, both in the UK and globally.
• To produce and implement media strategies in support of humanitarian emergencies and Oxfam’s campaigns, work, and concerns, and contribute to wider communication and campaign planning.
• Scope and research news stories, features, and human-interest case studies from Oxfam’s work around the world.
• To lead on media for Oxfam GB for humanitarian crises, campaign moments and global events.
• To arrange, facilitate and accompany overseas visits by journalists or celebrities as required to support Oxfam’s media work
• To monitor, evaluate and draw conclusions on impact from media coverage generated.
• Play part in maintaining 24/7 press office function through on-call responsibilities and supporting team members.
• Monitor news agenda, keeping up to date with trends and spotting opportunities.
• Provide media training and advice, and ensure spokespeople are properly briefed and receive timely feedback.
• Up to 8 weeks travel per year, mostly overseas, often at very short notice and sometimes to areas of conflict and humanitarian emergencies. You will be part of the Media Unit duty press officer rotation, expected to cover out of hours and to respond to urgent calls for media support.
Experience, Knowledge & Competencies
Essential
For this role, we have selected the most relevant feminist leadership practices which we will use for assessment purposes (which you can read more about here):
• Self-Awareness
• Influencing
• Strategic Thinking and Judgment
In addition:
• Strong news judgment and understanding of the UK media – ability to know what is likely to make a good story, how the media will cover an issue and what media materials are needed, how to catch journalists’ attention, how to spot and manage risk.
• Strong written skills, ideally with a history of writing for publications and of creating content for or pitching to digital media; ability to act as a spokesperson for Oxfam as required.
• Critical thinking – ability to find, absorb and make sense of complex information from many different sources.
• Experience in supporting others – you will need to support Oxfam spokespeople to be excellent broadcast interviewees and help colleagues in other countries to develop their media plans and skills.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with ability to work under pressure, to tight deadlines, and prioritise an array of competing tasks.
• Adaptable and solutions-oriented – ability to react quickly and change plans according to a changing context, and deal with several elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.
• Excellent team-working skills – ability to work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and external partners.
Desirable
• Experience of working with a range of media, as a journalist or press officer.
• Experience of working with celebrities and high-profile individuals and organisations.
• Creative and innovative in approach, with ability to find new ways to enable effective media coverage.
• Familiarity with broadcast production (including filming and editing).
• Knowledge of Oxfam’s work in the UK and overseas, and of global media.
• Proficiency in languages other than English.
