Communications co-ordinator April 2015
1. Introduction Welcome to the recruitment pack for the communications coordinator at Local Trust. Local Trust is a unique organisation supporting resident and community led solutions to create lasting change throughout ngland. We use a community development approach to resident and community led regeneration of areas. We believe that those who make up the community know best what s needed and are the most likely to come up with the solutions to make a lasting positive difference to the places where they live, work and socialise. We also believe that we can help them to make that happen. We have recently restructured our thinking on how we deliver our communications and we are looking to recruit an experienced communications expert who is passionate about communities. This is a fantastic opportunity for a creative and proactive individual who is enthusiastic about getting our messages to the right people. This pack is designed to give you background information about our organisation, our work and our future ambitions, as well as what we are looking for in terms of people. If you think you can work collaboratively with a dedicated trustee and staff team and are keen to be part of our ground breaking journey, we d like to hear from you. This is a unique opportunity and I very much look forward to your application. Debbie Ladds Chief executive 2
2. Local Trust Our vision of the future is that each community we work with is resilient and confident and their area is a good place to live. Our mission is to enable residents to make their communities and their areas even better places in which to live. We take a collaborative approach to all that we do; building alliances and relationships to the benefit of each community we support because we know that this makes the best use of the skills of others, growing and building the capacity of all those we work with whilst also achieving our vision and mission. In communities we support organisations that are trusted locally and selected by the community. We are flexible and do our best to be responsive, humble and friendly in all that we do. Our resident and community led approach is both a philosophy and a methodology and informed by our learning from past community based programmes, which indicates that the things that matter most are: pace of development starting with assets not deficits willingness to take risks light touch support peer support and opportunities for reflection. We believe that a community and resident led approach to creating lasting change: develops the skills and confidence of the people involved and enables them to work with others to the benefit of their community builds on the opportunities and assets available in each community creates lasting, long-term solutions. We are keen to share our experiences and influence others to use a resident and community led approach to creating lasting change and to that end we place importance on learning and influencing others to make use of what we are learning to enhance their support to communities they support. We think that we could, over time, develop this approach for communities of interest, but, for the time being, we are focused on a place based approach. 3
3. Big Local Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents and communities in 150 areas around ngland to use at least 1m each to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their communities. Big Local brings together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make their area an even better place to live. The aim of Big Local is to ensure that people are connected, people have choice, and people are supported to achieve lasting change in the place where they live. Underpinning this is our commitment to support residents over the long term to learn skills and gain the confidence to make decisions in their communities to bring about transformational change. We believe that change should be resident and community led so enabling change through ownership. The outcomes for Big Local are: 1. Communities will be better able to identify local needs and take action in response to them. 2. People will have increased skills and confidence, so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future. 3. The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises. 4. People will feel that their area is an even better place to live. Underlying our approach is a belief that residents have a capacity and desire to drive change, and can achieve lasting and positive results when supported by those they trust and respect thereby building skills, confidence, networks, relationships and expertise in each community. We have a dynamic and evolving approach based on what we and Big Local areas are learning. We are not afraid to take risks, experiment or fail as we learn from those experiences and can improve things for the future. We work with a range of experienced and trusted partner organisations nationally to delivery Big Local. In addition, each Big Local area works with locally trusted organisations and together we help people achieve their vision for their Big Local area. 4
4. Staffing There is a small, friendly and effective staff team at Local Trust, based at our office near the Angel, Islington, in London. We commission or grant fund suitably experienced organisations for the majority of Big Local delivery, nationally and locally. Using this approach, we aim to make the best use of skills in other organisations, growing and building the capacity of others whilst delivering the programme. Staff say that some of the best things about working at Local Trust are: relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff interesting work getting to work directly with areas learning culture gives chance to change and improve able to make a difference in communities varied work and a supportive manager progression, creativity and flexibility. You ll see from the chart below that Leila currently supports our communications activities, but once we have appointed a communications co-ordinator Leila will change her role to focus on supporting our programme delivery. Local Trust staff chart Programme co-ordinator Zoe Sykiotis Programme co-ordinator Nicola Birch Programme manager Rachel Rowney Communications and learning co-ordinator (role changing to programme delivery in summer 2015) Leila Wong Chief executive Debbie Ladds Programme manager Jayne Humm Monitoring and learning co-ordinator (temp role until October 2015) Jeremy Yung Communications co-ordinator vacant Research and learning co-ordinator vacant Research and learning co-ordinator Daniel Pearmain (on secondment until October 2015) Finance manager Nicola Hutcheson Finance administrator Karen Keenan Research and office administrator vacant Office administrator/pa Wendy Joynes 5
5. Organisational values Having the right experience, skills and knowledge as defined in the person specification is important; but so too is how you go about your work. These are the key drivers that define our aspirations and guide our organisational behaviour. Our core values as follows: encourage residents to have greater control over the things that matter most to them; supported by those they trust work with others to make a positive, lasting difference are open, honest, friendly and supportive do our best to keep things simple and clear value equality and diversity continually seek and learn from experience to develop better ways in which people locally can improve the quality of their lives. 6
6. Job description Job title Accountable to Responsible for Purpose of the role Communications co-ordinator Programme manager The communications co-ordinator does not have direct line management responsibility, but may do so in the future. The post holder will primarily manage the delivery of external and internal communications for Local Trust and co-ordinate the generation and accessibility of information for Local Trust, and provide support to the chief executive and programme manager on these areas. Job description (key duties) 1 Work co-operatively with the Local Trust team to plan, organise and deliver high quality and appropriate external and internal communications and information services for Local Trust. 2 Develop and deliver strategic communications plans to maximise Local Trust s impact and influence and ensure that these plans are integrated to provide a seamless communications service to Local Trust. 3 Develop and maintain Local Trust s information needs by selecting, managing and acquiring information and resources to meet Local Trust s current and anticipated needs. 4 Develop, implement and monitor Local Trust s processes as they relate to communications and information and ensure that they function effectively and help evaluate performance. 5 nsure that the Local Trust brand and identity is developed and implemented consistently across the organisation and all its communications. 6 Update the Local Trust website, including sourcing contributions from Local Trust and those outside the organisation. 7 Develop and maintain an appropriate presence for Local Trust on social media platforms. 8 Develop and encourage the appropriate use of internal communication processes such as Local Trust s CRM (Big Local Community) and Basecamp, including generating appropriate content for an on-line forum for residents in Big Local areas. 9 Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders for promoting the organisation and its work. 10 Maintain a list of organisations and individuals in our marketplace who can offer services to Big Local areas. 11 Organise visits to Big Local areas, arrange meetings and roundtable discussions to showcase the programme. 12 Support the development and delivery of written communication and information materials, including agreeing briefs, writing copy, editing, proofing and managing the production process. 13 Work directly with internal and external partners and agencies to support the delivery of the communications and information activities to a high quality and on schedule. 7
6. Job description 14 Represent the organisation at external events including conferences and exhibitions promoting Local Trust s work to stakeholders and the general public. We expect you, as a member of the Local Trust staff team, to: a b c d demonstrate the organisation s vision and values in your daily work take a proactive role in promoting equality and anti-discriminatory practice help Local Trust deliver its environment and sustainable development policy be aware that you have a duty of care for the health and safety of yourself and others. Local Trust job descriptions are subject to amendment from time to time, in consultation with the individual concerned and in line with the organisation s needs. 8
7. Person specification Criteria xperience 1 Significant experience in communications with a focus on supporting corporate communications 2 xperience of a community development approach to programmes or related practice 3 xperience of the production of communications content and materials, including for print, the web and social media 4 xperience of people management, including agencies, consultants and service providers (design, print, web development etc.) 5 xperience of information generation and management to ensure Local Trust can promote its activities and key messages ssential/ Desirable D ducation/training/previous work experience Competencies/technical skills 6 Relevant degree/professional qualification or equivalent work experience 7 xcellent written communication skills and the ability to produce communications materials to a high standard for different audiences, including for print, the web and social media 8 xcellent project management skills 9 Knowledge and awareness of community development and community based programmes 10 Thorough understanding of communications strategy development and implementation 11 Competence in the uses of information technology and software, including the web and social media, and an understanding of their potential uses in managing and communicating about Local Trust 12 Ability to assist in identifying suitable organisations, partners, consultants and suppliers to undertake work, agreeing terms and effectively liaising with finance staff D D 9
7. Person specification Criteria Soft skills 13 Ability to confidently build and maintain professional relationships across a wide sector ssential/ Desirable 14 xcellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills 15 Significant personal accountability, with the ability to work on your own initiative with a high level of autonomy, as well as to work as part of a team with complex relationships and diverse responsibilities 16 Ability to maintain high standards in your work, through self-evaluation, seeking feedback from others, and selfinitiated professional development 17 A flexible, entrepreneurial approach to your work 18 Ability to travel, as required, throughout ngland and to stay away from home 10
8. Terms and conditions Salary: the salary for this post is 34,164 per annum. Salary is paid monthly in arrears. The following other benefit schemes are available to staff: childcare voucher scheme, cycle scheme, time off for volunteering (two days per annum) and interest-free season ticket loan. Pensions: we operate a group personal pension run by Scottish Widows using a salary exchange scheme. We will pay a contribution of 10% of basic salary into a pension scheme with a 3.5% contribution from the individual being required. Hours: the full time hours of work for this post are 36 per week (excluding lunch breaks). Fixed hours are not appropriate to this position. The actual hours worked will be determined by the duties and responsibilities of the post but will usually be during normal office hours, Monday to Friday. You are not eligible for overtime pay, but you may take time off in lieu of extra-long hours worked. Training and development: staff receive training and development relevant to their role to help us achieve our objectives and we support staff to develop their own skills and interests via discretionary training and development. Holidays: in addition to public holidays, there are 25 days leave per year (pro-rata for part time staff) with the potential to gain an additional day of annual leave each year after being in post for two years, up to a maximum of 30 days leave (pro-rata for part time staff). Probation: this is a permanent post subject to the successful completion of a six month probationary period. During this time your performance will be reviewed. At the end of the period, you will either be confirmed in post, the probationary period extended (up to 12 months in total) or in the case of unsatisfactory performance your employment will be terminated. Notice: during the probationary period, notice is one month on either side. After satisfactory completion of the probationary period, this will be one month notice on either side. Location of post: this post is based at our office near the Angel, Islington, London. Some ngland-wide travel is required. 11
8. How to apply This appointment is being made by Local Trust, which has enlisted the support of Tank Consulting for the recruitment process. If you are interested in applying, you should read this pack carefully in the first instance. If you have any queries about the work of Local Trust or the recruitment process, then please contact Graham Finegold at Tank on 020 7553 6090 or gfinegold@tankconsulting.com. Please DO NOT contact the Local Trust office directly. If you decide to apply, then please send the following: your latest CV a personal statement that uses clearly referenced, numbered points to show how you meet the areas of the person specification (your personal statement should not exceed six sides of A4) a completed equal opportunities monitoring form. Please send you completed application by email to: gfinegold@tankconsulting.com All applications MUST be received by 10.30am on Tuesday 5 May 2015. Any applications received after this time will not be accepted. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an assessment centre on 20 May and final panel interviews will be held on 1 June. Disabled candidates should contact Graham Finegold if there are any reasonable adjustments that need to be made to the recruitment process to accommodate your disability. 12