This role is the first point of contact for journalists getting in touch with the Trussell Trust. The role is accountable for handling media enquiries; checking and responding to the press inbox; media monitoring and securing press coverage. The Press Officer will assist with media work through print, online and broadcast news to help build understanding, awareness and consideration of the organisation’s mission and goal. The Press Officer will support and advise colleagues, food banks in the network and external stakeholders to ensure they receive media coverage of strategically important projects.
Role responsibilities
· Handle incoming enquiries and provide accurate, timely and appropriate responses, briefing journalists in line with the Trussell Trust’s key messages and priorities.
· Build relationships across the organisation, within the food bank network, with external stakeholders such as corporate partners, and with journalists to assist with securing coverage across national, regional and local media to reach new audiences and build cause awareness
· Horizon scan for media opportunities and develop innovative integrated communication plans, overseeing advice, statements, timelines, and key messaging to engage specific audience segments.
· Arrange spokespeople for interviews and support with organising and managing press visits to food banks, as well as photo calls, to support the organisation’s communications priorities and campaigns
· Circulate regular coverage updates across the organisation and help maintain and develop media databases, key performance indicator reports and other admin systems and processes to ensure continuous improvement
· Act as the media lead on proactive projects that help build understanding and awareness of both Trussell Trust and the food bank network’s strategic objectives.
· Participate in regular 1:1s and annual reviews, contributing to the identification of objectives and targets, and monitoring of progress towards them
· Participate in an out-of-hours rota for media enquiries.
Person Specification
Technical skills and minimum knowledge:
· Experience of working within a press office environment/PR
agency with a track record of securing high-impact coverage.
· A confident communicator who demonstrates strong written and verbal communication skills.
· Demonstrates experience of tailoring communication for different audiences and circumstances.
· Knowledge of UK national, regional and local media and how to leverage them to get key messages out to the public. Some experience of handling media enquiries and speaking to journalists.
· Has a clear idea of priorities and manages own time appropriately while delivering key outputs and replying to requests in a timely fashion
Behaviours and competencies:
· Demonstrate dedication to the values of the Trussell Trust
· Demonstrates empathy for people from disadvantaged, marginalised or socially excluded backgrounds
· Commit to occasional need to work outside of normal working hours and to travel throughout the UK
· Passionate about the work of the Trussell Trust and able to represent it and its values effectively
· Demonstrates resilience, resourcefulness, flexibility and perseverance
Role models inclusive behaviours and values
About us:
Action for M.E. is the only charity in the UK providing direct support including healthcare to children and adults with M.E.. We provide vital support services, campaign for change and invest in ground-breaking research to help put an end to the ignorance, injustice and neglect experienced by people with M.E.
Opportunity:
Having been paused to new referrals, Action for M.E.’s free, independent, Adults Advocacy service will soon be re-opening. It’s one of our range of free Support Services that work with adults, young people, and/or families living with M.E. We support colleagues across the team to take part in and share reflective practice, self-care, peer-support and training.
Our Adults Advocacy service offers non-statutory, single-issue, instructed advocacy for adults with a confirmed diagnosis of M.E. We encourage self-advocacy where possible, though many of our clients are too severely affected by M.E. to be able to take undertake this.
As an Adults Advocate, you will manage a caseload of clients, as well as inputting and contributing to the triage process along with your Advocacy colleagues. You will meet with clients by phone, email, Zoom and/or SMS; we can also facilitate communication by post if this is required. We are not able to offer home visits or face to face meetings.
What we can offer you:
We offer fully remote and flexible working with generous annual leave (30 days plus bank holidays, pro rata). The wellbeing of our staff is important to us, we offer a range of benefits to employees including (but not limited to) access to free counselling and voluntary wellbeing weekday sessions, examples of recent sessions include guided group meditations and a book club.
To view the full job description, download the job pack, and apply for this role, please visit our Recruitee site (please note that we only accept applications via Recruitee; any application sent directly to an Action for M.E. mailbox will not be considered).
Should you have any questions about the role, or require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to contact our recruitment team, details of how to do this are contained in the application pack, "how to apply" section.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.