Communications Officer

Communications Officer – RCN02140

Negotiable Location

Fixed term until 10 January 2024

£35,124 to £39,678 (plus £4,872 London Weighting if applicable)

There is more to the RCN than you might think. We’re a trade union with a membership of over half a million nurses, midwives, nursing support workers and students. We support their practice, represent them, lobby on their behalf, and develop them. We exist to make a positive difference – to the working lives of our members and ultimately to standards in patient care. Our employees are drawn from many walks of life – we are nurses, marketers and communicators, administrators, IT professionals, policy and finance experts, lawyers… together we are so much more. We couldn’t do what we do without our people.

We’re accredited with Investors in People Silver Standard. Our people are our greatest asset, and we want people who can contribute to our purpose in line with our values.

As a crucial member of our busy and energetic communications department, you’ll use your knowledge of social media to support in the delivery of our social media strategy. You’ll use your writing skills and creativity to craft engaging copy and produce innovative content, and you’ll work closely with the Communications Manager to map out and schedule content for all our channels.

In this role, you’ll work closely with the Senior Communications Officer in the delivery of this year’s Nursing Support Workers’ Day – an annual awareness raising campaign which shines a light on nursing support workers across the UK and vital contribution they make to the health of the nation. You will be responsible putting a social content plan together for this day as well as drafting copy for a variety of different platforms, including web and email.

As a Communications officer, you’ll create and manage project-based communications, including media content, write speeches and briefings for key events and staff, and evaluate and develop RCN communications through effective analysis and reporting.

You’ll be a confident writer and editor, with a strong background in creating engaging content for a variety of audiences and you’ll be experienced in managing social media channels and content, with practice monitoring and evaluating engagement.

You’ll be used to working in a fast-paced and dynamic communications environment. You’ll be a skilled negotiator, and able to establish trust and communicate decisions effectively.

Knowledge and understanding of current political environment and key issues in nursing, health and social care issues.

To succeed at the Royal College of Nursing all you need to do is think bigger, better and brighter. And with an attitude like that, anything’s possible.

What we offer you

We expect you to look after our members. And we expect you to be rewarded for it. We offer an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme. We offer annual leave up to 32 days plus bank holidays and three additional days for the Christmas break plus generous maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental leave packages.

What we deliver for our members is wide and varied so when it comes to how we work one size doesn’t fit all. We also know that to empower our people to do their best work, they must be able to balance the demands of work and home. We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs and many of our employees enjoy flexible working enabling them to deliver results whilst having a good work life balance. Departments and directorates have their own hybrid ways of working which put the needs of the service they deliver – whether that’s to members or to colleagues – at their heart, in alignment with our hybrid working core principles. At the RCN it’s unlikely you will work from home for all of your working time. Equally no one is expected to work solely in the office unless your role requires it. You can find out more by having a discussion with the recruiting manager.

Our selection process

Please submit a supporting statement demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this role. You may not be shortlisted if you don’t.

We want your experience applying for a job with us to be the best it can be. We may hold our interviews and assessments in person or by video call If you foresee any problems, please let us know.

As a proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme, we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities.

Contact details

For more information or for an informal discussion about the role please contact Katy Ashford on 02076473425.

For more information about the recruitment and selection process please contact [email protected]

Closing date: 6 June 2023.

If we receive many applications after a week of advertising, this vacancy may close earlier.

Assessment date and interview: 15 June 2023.