Overview
Communications Officer
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Do you want to help Columbia with its goal of being a Good Neighbor in the local community?
Are you interested and invested in what’s happening across Upper Manhattan (Greater Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood)?
Do you want to help Columbia find and amplify the voices of local people, programs, and services that reflect the University’s mission and values?
Are you naturally inclined toward identifying the influencers in a local community?
Do you love event promotion and have keen digital skills to keep a website fresh and up-to-date?
If so, join the Columbia Neighbors team, where you can use your skills to their fullest. The Communications Officer for Columbia Neighbors is responsible for handling proactive and reactive event promotion, media outreach, web content creation, and website upkeep to help make the Neighbors Hub a go-to source for positive news at the intersection of Columbia University and its surrounding communities.
Reporting to the Director of Digital Content Strategy for Columbia News in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs (OPA), and working closely with the Executive Director of Columbia News & Columbia Neighbors, the Communications Officer works collaboratively across OPA—including the Columbia News and Government and Community Affairs (GCA) teams—and the University to create a helpful and informative source of information for our neighbors.
The Communications Officer must be a discerning critical thinker and self-starter who has the ability to collaborate with people in every role across the University. Excellent writing, editing, and verbal communication skills are key, as well as the ability to manage multiple projects on deadline.
Responsibilities:
• WEBSITE UPDATES: With a sharp eye for detail, the Communications Officer is responsible for general maintenance on the Neighbors website and other OPA/GCA web properties, including our Shop & Dine Local Guide, Program Resources, and voting sites, among others.
• CONTENT PRODUCTION: Works with digital content team in producing and packaging community-focused content for Neighbors website, videos, social media, e-newsletters, print collateral, and communication materials, including advertising copy, press releases, public relations materials, and promotional collateral, for key University priorities.
• EVENTS PROMOTION: As the Neighbors events lead, the Communications Officer proactively and reactively finds events of local interest to the community, updates the Neighbors website to advertise those events, and coordinates social/digital promotion of events. This includes distributing event details to reporters, editors, and the public through local community calendars relating to events on our campuses.
• INFLUENCER OUTREACH: Researches and identifies prospective partners, calendars, and influencers to promote public programs to the local community and works with media and social media teams to promote University priorities
Minimum qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum 2–4 years of related experience working in a communications role. A focus on government and community relations a plus.
• Must be comfortable communicating in digital vernacular and interfacing with digital communications tools, including content management systems, project management systems, and variety of event-listing websites.
• Must possess exceptional interpersonal and communications skills.
• Must have strong organizational skills and proven ability to effectively and efficiently manage multiple ongoing projects and issues.
Other Requirements:
Experience with website upkeep, CMS and CRM systems, including familiarity with Mailchimp, Slack, Sprout, G Suite, Canva, as well as media-related services and software, such as Muck Rack.
Bilingual English-Spanish language skills a plus.
To apply and learn more about this position, please click here:
http://opportunities.columbia.edu/cw/en-us/job/527641?lApplicationSubSourceID=
Columbia University is an equal opportunity employer/disability/veteran.