Public Relations Specialist jobs in Fort Collins, CO

Salary Range: $72,900 - $102,100 annually

Job Summary:

The Public Relations Specialist promotes a positive public image and elevates the public’s perception of the City of Greeley by sharing the successes, achievements and good work happening across the city. We’re looking for a cheerleader who is driven and can tell noteworthy stories, building trust and credibility with our audiences. In addition to strategic planning, the Public Relations Specialist will be involved in seeking out PR opportunities for the city, writing, pitching stories, developing media strategies, leading press and media events, positioning city staff as thought leaders and seeking and applying for awards.

The Public Relations Specialist actively promotes the positive promotion of Greeley city-wide, regionally, and nationally. This position works collaboratively with designated leadership to develop, implement, and manage high-level strategic public relations and information plans using a variety of communication and engagement practices, including marketing and advertising, social media, websites, and community dialogue to ensure the public is well informed about the state of city projects, services, operations, and infrastructure.

*This position is a full-time, term-limited position funded for 2 years from the date of hire, with the possibility of becoming permanent if additional funding is approved at a later date.  This position is benefit eligible.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills:

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in public relations, marketing, or advertising.
• Minimum of four (4) years’ experience in a Public Relations role, specifically, media pitching, responding to inquiries, press conferences, and interviewing.
• Minimum four (4) years of media relations and pitching experience.

Preferred:

• Five (5) years’ experience in a Public Relations role, creating strategy, along with developing and building communication plans.
• Five (5) years of media relations and pitching experience.
• Bilingual/Spanish-speaking skills are preferred.
• Any combination of related education, experience, certifications, and licenses will result in a candidate successfully performing the essential functions of the job.

Skills and Knowledge:

• Established media relationships. 
• Knowledge of the business and organizational structure of Colorado municipalities.
• Collaboration skills, including the ability to work with others from different areas and backgrounds to reach a common goal.
• Computer skills, including the ability to utilize Microsoft Office programs (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) and learn and experiment with new software and systems.
• Interpersonal skills, including the ability to facilitate interaction, communication, and teamwork between others.
• Oral, written, and listening communication skills, including the ability to accurately interpret what others are saying and convey messages, information, concepts, and details accurately and clearly.
• Organizational skills, including the ability to set and meet goals and deadlines, manage appointments, create schedules, coordinate and facilitate meetings, and make decisions. 
• Ability to work under pressure, manage multiple concurrent and competing tasks and responsibilities, and adapt to changing priorities while maintaining personal effectiveness.
• Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines, and stay on task when completing special projects and daily assignments.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and reliable professional judgment, as well as collaboratively with a team to achieve desired results.
• Ability to maintain a strong work ethic, positive problem-solving attitude, and enthusiasm for the work performed.
• Ability to self-start and take initiative in completing daily tasks and special projects.
• Ability to focus on activities that have the greatest impact on meeting work commitments.
• Ability to establish and maintain partnerships with a variety of internal and external constituencies.
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ages.
• Ability to navigate a complex political environment.

Essential Functions:

• Strategic Campaign and Media Relations Development
  • Conceptualize, design, implement and manage high-level strategic media relations plans that meet the marketing, advertising, public relations, and public participation goals of the city. 
  • Forecast news cycles and identify areas of trending public interest. 
  • Work as an embedded partner in the daily operations of the city to facilitate the planning, process design, resource management (including budget), implementation, analysis, and reporting of strategic media relation plans and campaigns. 
  • Organize public relations events, serve as the city’s spokesperson on various topics, and seek opportunities for awards, partnerships, sponsorships, and keynote speakers.
• Public Relations Communication
  • Communicate with city directors and project management teams to understand current and future goals and objectives, stay apprised of projects, new developments, and city priorities; advise on communication practices and operational activities related to public relations support; and frame information in a way that positively reflects upon the City. 
  • Communicate with the general public by responding to phone calls, social media comments/questions, e-mail, face-to-face outreach at public meetings and events; educate and create support for city projects and priorities; answer questions and build trust in the city. 
  • Use feedback to find better ways to communicate and pitch stories in the future. Work with organizations, businesses, outside professionals, and community leaders to promote Greeley positively. 
  • Share information between organizations to build strong partnerships, trust and advance city priorities. 
  • Pitch stories to strategically advance city image, priorities, and projects, correct errors in coverage, answer media questions and respond to inquiries in a timely matter, coordinate media interviews with City subject matter experts.
• Build Connections
  • Strategically advance city image, priorities and projects through media attention and campaigns by using local, state, and national media. 
  • Build connections with key media organizations and journalists through a mix of traditional, digital, and social channels. 
  • Submit press releases, pitch stories, answer questions, and respond to media inquiries. 
  • Work collaboratively with the Communication & Engagement department leadership to build and maintain a professional network of reporters and media professionals; serve as a city spokesperson, coordinate and schedule media and speaking opportunities, and generally monitor public chatter and sentiment.
  • Identify and manage various audience groups and establish cooperative relationships with consumers, community, employees, and public interest groups.
  • Coach city representatives in effective communication with the public and employees.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements:

• Frequent and heavy contact with public and employees in person and by telephone; and may experience adverse or confrontational situations with internal/external customers;
• Exposure to frequent background noise;
• Employee may be asked to drive personal vehicle for business purposes;
• Employee is subject to working alone and/or with groups and/or attends meetings;
• Employee spends extended periods of time at fixed workstation;
• Employee is subject to conducting business in alternate locations within City buildings and in the community, sometimes in formal settings;
• Employee may be required to work overtime, holidays, evenings, shifts, or weekends;
• Employee may have frequent interruptions and be required to manage competing priorities while having inflexible deadlines;
• Employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions; work performed is sedentary, generally in an office environment;
• Environment is safe to having minimal hazards that are typically found in a general office environment where there is rarely little or no exposure to injury or accident;
• Requires ability to manage competing priorities with frequent interruptions;
• Communication skills enough to hear and convey information to/from the public via telephone and in person;
• Operate standard office equipment requiring continuous or repetitive hand/arm movements;
• Vision enough to interpret computer screens and documents to assist the public and complete work assignments; specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus;
• Manual dexterity enough to accurately input, retrieve, and verify work assignments; employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms.

EOE Statement: The City of Greeley provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

ADA Statement: We are committed to an inclusive and barrier-free search process. We provide accommodations for applicants requesting accommodation through the search process such as alternative formats of this posting.  Individuals with disabilities in need of accommodations throughout the search process should contact the ADA Coordinator at: HR@Greeleygov.com .

Conditions of Employment: Candidates must successfully complete all pre-employment screenings and employment eligibility verification. Pre-employment screenings include a drug test, a background and national sex offender search, a motor vehicle record search, and for some positions, a physical demands evaluation. For more information about City policies and practices during the recruitment process, including but not limited to EOE, Reasonable Accommodation, and pre-employment screenings, please visit our career page HERE.