BirdLife Europe in Brussels is looking for:

Communications Assistant

1  INTRODUCTION

BirdLife Europe is the European and Central Asian Division of BirdLife International, and is one of the six regional offices of BirdLife International, a global Partnership of autonomous, national non-governmental conservation organisations, with a large grassroots membership in 120 countries and territories

BirdLife’s mission is to conserve wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, by working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.

BirdLife Europe has an international team of permanent staff covering conservation and science, policy and advocacy, capacity building, fundraising, communication, finance and administration supporting the 49 European and Central Asia Birdlife Partners. We are looking for a dynamic and committed communications assistant to complete the communications team.

2  OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Communications Assistant will work with the Communications team to promote and create more visibility for BirdLife Europe and BirdLife International nature conservation priorities towards donors, citizens and EU stakeholders, in particular in relation to the problem of Illegal Killing of Birds.

3  DUTIES

Develop and maintain BirdLife Europe blogs and websites

1.  Maintain, update and produce new content for the BirdLife Europe blogs and websites

2.  Actively manage and develop social media content and profiles

3.  Develop video, photo and infographic material, targeted in particular to a donor audience

4.  Produce in-house designed and web designed products

5.  Assemble, edit, format and distribute documents such as press releases, official letters, op-eds, publications (on- and offline) and newsletters

6.  Provide support to BirdLife Europe Partners on Communications-related activities

7.  Plan and organise events

8.  Monitor BirdLife Europe’s media coverage

4  QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

PLEASE, READ THIS CAREFULLY: Before submitting your application take time to score your qualifications for this job. Remember to be honest, this is the best way to increase your chances to get the job. You need to score each required qualification from 0 to 3: 0 = I do not have this qualification, 1 = basic, 2 = good, 3 = very good). Then sum up the scores to obtain the total.

Before submitting your application, please answer to the following questions and you will know whether you are qualified enough to apply to this job:

Question / Answer
Do you score only 2 or 3 in qualifications from 1 to 12? / NO: you are not qualified enough to apply to this job
YES: please pass to the following question
Is your total score more than 52? / NO: you are not qualified enough to apply to this job
YES: you can apply for this job

If you are qualified to submit your application, please attach the next table with your scores to the cover letter. Please consider that any application sent without individual and total scores or with any 0 or 1 in qualifications from 1 to 16 or with a total score of less than 50 will be automatically discarded.

Essential Qualifications (Score: 0 = I do not have this qualification, 1 = basic, 2 = good, 3 = very good) / Score
1 / Good general education – University Degree or equivalent in journalism or marketing, with particular focus on on-line media. The candidate must also have a very sound understanding of basic scientific concepts such as: biodiversity, climate change, habitat conservation and restoration.
Experience & Knowledge
2 / Minimum of 2 year experience in nature communications with demonstrated success, preferably in the not-for-profit sector
3 / Proven ability to write and deliver effective, audience-focused communications and campaigns
4 / Good capacity to design, implement and manage web pages, web feeds and blogs.
5 / Good knowledge of social media and web-based communications tools
6 / Good understanding of Nature conservation, in particular of the Illegal Killing of Birds problem
7 / Knowledge about BirdLife Partnership work and Programmes
Skills & Abilities
8 / Good written and oral communication and presentation skills required to build relationships with journalists, partners and stakeholders
9 / Ability to understand complex policy and science issues and to articulate these in a simple, catchy way including using story-telling, case studies, illustrations, infographics, videos and social media
10 / Good interpersonal, networking and team working skills
11 / High standard of computer literacy
12 / Fluent in English and French (additional languages are an asset)
Approach to work
13 / Demonstrable ability to create and follow work plan and prioritize own workload with minimum supervision.
14 / Demonstrable ability to react quickly to unforeseen/unplanned communications opportunities
15 / Flexibility and adaptability (multiple assignments, working under pressure, responsiveness to requests, follow-up of decisions)
16 / Openness and creativity: capacity to propose and integrate new ideas and approaches
17 / Ability and willing to work occasional evenings and weekends and to be contacted out of office hours in particular policy occasions
Personal disposition
18 / Ability to influence others with your point of view
19 / Strong self-motivation and curiosity
20 / Problem solving attitude and capacity to resolve potential conflicts.
21 / Assertiveness and confidence
TOTAL

5  SALARY

This is a junior position. Salary is established according to the internal BirdLife Europe salary grid under Belgian employment contract and includes holiday bonus, 13th month, pension scheme, luncheon vouchers.

6  HOW TO APPLY

Please submit the qualification scorecard, a full CV, a comprehensive cover letter (all in English) setting out your reasons for applying for the post and outlining the qualifications experience knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role to:

Closing date: 31 May 2015 at midnight CET. Please consider that applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded.

7  SHORTLISTING AND INTERVIEWS

Shortlisting is based on CV and cover letter. Successful candidates will be asked to attend face to face interviews and perform an additional test. Travel support or possibility of remote interview may be offered to candidates from abroad.

Please note that due to the large number of expected applications only successful candidates will be contacted.

Interview days: 11 June 2015, in Brussels

Start day: as soon as possible