Senior Communications Specialist

Application Process:

To be considered, please submit the following

· Current Resume/CV

· Cover Letter

· Portfolio with three applicable business writing samples

(tip: these can be added at same point as you are adding your resume/CV during the application process)

About Student Life:

Student Life at the University of Southern California works to provide its 47,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students the opportunity to reach their educational, personal, and professional aspirations. The mission of USC Student Life is to strengthen a culture driven by student well-being. To do this, Student Life:

· Supports the individual student and student communities through the development of environments, services, and policies that reinforce shared strengths.

· Educates students to discover a deeper understanding of themselves and become change agents in the world.

· Engages students in transformative experiences to challenge their perspectives and become global citizens.

Opportunity:

The Senior Communications Specialist for Student Life works closely with the Vice President and Chief of Staff to plan, manage, and evaluate Student Life's engagement with students, families, alumni, faculty, staff, and the broader campus community. The Senior Communications Specialist is responsible for the Vice President for Student Life's communications including remarks, presentations, public statements, and crisis and event response, ensuring uniformity of messaging and alignment with Student Life's strategic framework and priorities. This position crafts strategic messaging to advance university-wide goals, with clear, concise, and impactful communications for diverse audiences. They manage departmental public relations efforts, maintaining continuity and consistency for the Student Life organization.

Responsibilities:

· Draft messages on behalf of the Vice President for Student Life in close collaboration with Student Life senior leadership and other campus leaders. Develop communications on a wide variety of matters that demonstrate clarity, accuracy, nuance, humanity and transparency. These communications will include speeches, presentations, videos, letters, and broader community messages in a variety of channels.

· Develop internal and external communication plans to identify objectives, strategies, target audiences, tactics, and key messages for initiatives and projects. Consult with stakeholders to identify needs and ensure objectives are met.

· Draft, oversee, and review content creation to ensure the development of clear and engaging communications for a broad range of constituencies. Develop content for announcements, websites, social media, newsletters, communications, FAQs, presentation materials, leadership talking points, and other communication vehicles.

· Drive student and family social media outreach. Monitor open rates and perform impact analysis for different communication channels.

· Act as the Student Life band ambassador to manage Student Life public relations efforts, including image, brand, and voice. Maintain continuity and consistency of the brand experience. Create a consistent voice, style, and identity.

· Define communication and distribution policies and procedures by developing and refining distribution channels and style guides for Student Life staff communicators. Provide consultation support to leaders, departments, and project teams.

· Develop and maintain collaborative working relationships across the university, coordinate with the University Communications Office on media inquiries and news releases. Build a strong understanding of key constituent groups by maintaining currency with projects, steering and advisory committees, events and councils, and campus-wide initiatives.

· Work closely with team members and leaders to implement and support effective solutions for communications. Maintain currency with technology, standards, and best practices. Support process improvement efforts within and across teams.

· Contribute to an inclusive environment that values differences by building and maintaining collaborative relationships with team members, peers, and leaders. Actively embody university values. Contribute to a culture of trust and transparency by sharing information broadly, openly, and deliberately.

· In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to USC's Unifying Values of integrity, excellence, diversity, equity and inclusion, well-being, open communication and accountability.

· Perform other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Experience and Education:

· Minimum Experience:

5 years of experience in corporate/executive communications, marketing, journalism, public relations, or related fields, including experience developing and implementing strategic communications plans

· Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree, preferably in Journalism, Communications, English or a related discipline

Qualifications:

· Extensive knowledge of industry best practices and a deep understanding of all aspects of communications (internal and external), branding, positioning, and messaging; ability to develop communications strategies across a wide range of platforms and audiences and evaluate their effectiveness.

· Excellent writing, proofreading, and editing skills.

· Experience working directly with executives or leaders in government, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, or corporations. Experience crafting executive-level communications.

· Exemplary understanding of the nuanced messaging required for various audiences and distribution channels.

· Demonstrated ability to collaborate with high-level academic and administrative leadership and senior staff to identify communication needs and to conceive and execute programs and services to meet such needs.

· Ability to translate leaders' high-level priorities into specific ideas and concepts, an understanding of tailoring messages for different audiences. Strong knowledge of executive communications practices.

· Demonstrated experience managing public relations and developing social media presence for an organization, and solid grasp of professionally utilizing social media platforms.

· Demonstrated ability to research, collect and organize data and material from diverse sources to create memorable speeches and/or messages to a diverse audience. Demonstrated ability to translate complex and difficult information into readable, understandable and impactful messages.

· Superior problem-solver, storyteller, and relationship builder. A trusted advisor.

· Experience with large and complex distribution lists.

· Demonstrated interest in and commitment to serving in an environment that prizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.

· The incumbent must have the ability to work autonomously, exercise sound judgment and discretion.

· Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in a broad and diverse communications organization and beyond. Ability to build, develop, and manage positive working relationships and rapport with diverse, high-performing teams.

· Proven expertise as both a strategic thinker and a project manager with a keen ability to get things done.

· Demonstrated ability to direct outside business partners and agency providers.

· Demonstrated ability to articulate goals, strategies, tactics, and benchmarks. Comprehensive, current knowledge of technology with the ability to fully utilize the capabilities of new media.

· Demonstrated ability to strategically improve and maintain internal communications structures within a complex organization.

· Ability to successfully manage multiple ongoing tasks and responsibilities of varying degrees of complexity simultaneously. Demonstrated experience in writing on deadline.

· A strong strategic orientation, commitment to excellence, and attention to detail. Ability to handle all information with sensitivity, discretion and solid judgment.

· Ability to interpret, analyze, and apply pertinent policies, procedures, regulations, and requirements.

· Experience working professionally in higher education and/or the fields of student affairs, development, and/or experience (preferred)

The annual base salary range for this position is $ 91, $ 101, When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

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Minimum Education:
- Bachelor's degree; Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
Minimum Experience:
- 5 years
Minimum Field of Expertise:
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, and proven copy editing experience
- Exemplary understanding of the nuanced messaging required for various audiences and distribution channels.
- Demonstrated experience managing public relations and developing social media presence for an organization, and solid grasp of professionally utilizing social media platforms.
- Experience with large and complex distribution lists.
- Ability to interpret, analyze, and apply pertinent policies, procedures, regulations, and requirements
- Ability to build, develop, and manage positive working relationships and rapport with diverse, high-performing teams.
- Proven ability to provide both detailed information as well as summaries to management-level individuals and groups, and experience presenting technical topics to non-technical audiences.

USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at , or by email at Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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