29063 - Internal Communications Manager
About the Parole Board:
The Parole Board is an independent court-like body that carries out risk assessments on prisoners to determine whether they can be safely released into the community We do that with great care and public safety is our number one priority.
All Parole Board decisions are solely focused on whether a prisoner would represent a significant risk to the public after release. Not all decisions Members make are popular, but they make these decisions fairly and objectively.
The Board is made up of about 100 members secretariat staff based in our London Head Office and approximately 250 Members who make decisions on risk and hold hearings at prisons around the country.
The Parole Board is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. Staff who work for the Parole Board Secretariat are Public Servants and not Civil Servants.
About the role:
An exciting opportunity has opened for an experienced communications professional to join the Board’s Communications Team. Our people are our best assets, and you will lead on our internal communications and will be responsible for engaging our team of staff and Members in a fast-paced and challenging environment. You will proactively seek opportunities to engage our people on issues that are important to them.
Person specification:
You will create and deliver an internal communications strategy for office-based and remote workers to keep them updated on information they need to know and provide them with opportunities to feed their views back into the business.
You will be the go-to communications specialist for staff who are looking for advice on reaching out to our people.
The Board is always pushing its digital agenda and is now almost paperless. The successful candidate will look to utilise digital tools and create content and channels that are innovative and forward thinking.
You will be an advocate on behalf of our people when engaging with senior leaders. You will need to influence and work effectively with senior colleagues across the business, our staff engagement forums to ensure feedback is captured and used to further improve communications.
Main Duties:
- Develop an internal communications strategy and implement that across the business to drive up staff and Member engagement
- Provide expert advice to staff and departmental leads on appropriate channels to reach and target internal audiences.
- Oversee the development of a SharePoint system that will be a portal for all Member communications
- Source, create and deliver engaging content, sharing important messages that staff want and need to know using channels that work for them
- Engage our people throughout business changes and keep them updated on projects.
- Utilise digital channels to align with the Board’s digital focus and deliver creative content
- Work with training leads to support any learning being captured for future audiences.
- Co-ordinate monitoring of our communication activity by collecting and collating our impact data and analytics.
- You are expected to take part in the out-of-hours media rota service.
Experience required for the post:
- Highly credible Communications professional with an internal communications focus
- Experience in communicating with internal audiences
- You must have experience in writing and creating engaging content
- Excellent editorial skills and experience of writing engaging content which is consistent with an organisation’s priorities and values.
- Understanding and experience of tailoring messages to key audiences
- Experience working with digital tools and across a mix of channels to communicate and engage with people
- Excellent planning and organisational skills.
- Building good working relationships with people outside their team.
- Able to use insight and evaluation to improve team activities and content
It is desirable that you have:
- A relevant qualification in communications, marketing or journalism.
- Prior experience of using SharePoint and other Office tools
- Experience of working with audio or visual software. For example, video editing, design or desktop publishing
Behaviours
We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
- Leadership
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Check.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths. At the sift stage you will be assessed against Behaviours and Experience.
Should a large number of applications be received, the initial sift may be conducted using a lead behaviour. This will be the behaviour which is listed first in the job advert.
Any persons successful in gaining an interview will need to bring in photographic ID, and two items which prove address dated within the last 3 months. Failure to do this may result in the successful applicants offer being withdrawn.
The Parole Board offers a range of benefits:
Annual Leave
Generous allowances for paid holiday starting at 23 days per year, and rising as your service increases. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 2.5 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Pension
The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.
Training
The Parole Board is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.
Support
A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
For any moves across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers
Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.
Networks
The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
20/09/2019, 23:55 hours.
To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why.
For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).
If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:
- You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
- You were studying abroad
- You were living overseas with parents
In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.
Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.
We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.
Application form stage assessments
Interview stage assessments
A Great Place to Work for Veterans
The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans
Redeployment Interview Scheme
Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.
MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
· UK nationals
· nationals of the Republic of Ireland
· nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
· individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
· Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules
This Vacancy is closed to applications.