Press Officer (Ref: 15295)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

About the Ministry of Justice

From keeping drugs out of prisons and cutting crime, to overhauling sentencing laws, supporting victims and creating new offences to protect women from violence – the Ministry of Justice is one of only a handful of Government departments that can truly dominate the news agenda.

And our Press Office, bursting with talent, is widely recognised as the gold standard within government for shaping stories and influencing news across print, broadcast, and online. With a diverse remit including prisons and probation, family justice, victims support and modernising the courts system, no day is ever the same in this busy office.

We are looking for creative, hard-working, passionate people to join our team, so if you’re looking for an exciting, challenging job, where you can develop with support from experienced communications professionals, keep reading.

About the role

Government press officers handle many of the news stories you read, watch, listen and react to every day. You will be operating at the very heart of government, helping to shape news coverage on issues that affect everyday lives. This role on our Newsdesk represents the front line of the Ministry of Justice’s media relations. You will be responding to multiple incoming queries from journalists, working at pace to find answers, curate lines, and delivering these to journalists. You will be expected to be able to confidently brief journalists and set out the Government’s position to them.

Alongside these responsibilities you will also take part in our out-of-hours duty rota. This will involve proactively monitoring for breaking news and coverage that might require correction or clarification, providing swift and effective responses to requests for comment and keeping the department abreast of developments.

Key Responsibilities

We currently have one role available on our reactive Newsdesk. The team handles journalists’ queries for the Ministry of Justice as well as our agencies including His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. All media officers will be responsible for:

• Reactive media management – dealing with breaking stories, drafting and providing statements and information to journalists, and keeping the department updated on news coverage.
• News management – the ability to quickly spot both potential problems and but also opportunities to insert a government voice positively
• Presenting summaries of the day’s coverage to the wider team and providing insight on media handling.
• Providing regular media handling advice to Ministers, officials and colleagues on sensitive, complex and high-profile issues.
• Working with other communicators in the MoJ on digital, stakeholder and internal communications.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with Ministers, officials, journalists, stakeholders and colleagues in other departments.

With the support of an experienced network of peers and a strong focus on professional development, you will develop skills in line with these areas.

You would also contribute to the Press Office out-of-hours service, for which overtime is paid.

While the posts are based on Newsdesk, there will be opportunities in future for successful candidates to move to other positions within Press Office.

About the Government Communication Service

By joining our team, you will also become a member of the Government Communication Service (GCS), a profession of over 7000 communicators working in government departments, agencies and arm’s length bodies. You’ll benefit from continuous professional development from our new learning and development curriculum, a network of skilled communicators sharing best practice, mentoring opportunities, and more!

For more information on how becoming a part of the Communications Profession can support your career and development please visit the GCS careers page.

For our top tips on how to write your application, please take a look at the GCS’s recruitment top tips for candidates guide.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

• Excellent understanding of the national news agenda, social media landscape and communications handling; strong news judgement and political awareness
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills - producing high quality written content such as press releases, op-eds and briefings, for a range of different stakeholders and audiences
• Proven ability to distil large amounts of complex information into clear key messages suitable for specific audiences
• Strong organisational and planning skills, comfortable managing multiple priorities and working to tight deadlines
• Strong networking skills with confidence in building and maintaining a network of internal and external contacts, including journalists
• Strong team collaboration skills, work effectively as part of a team; contributing to shared goals, supporting colleagues and fostering a positive team environment.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working either in a journalism/media/press office environment will be an advantage, although we are open to a range of backgrounds.
• Ability to plan communications strategically and long term, based on insights and always ending in solid and honest evaluations.

Salary

The salary range for this post is £40,014 - £42,859 plus generous overtime payments for participation in the out of hours rota.

Existing civil servants on level transfer will retain their level of pay unless this is lower than the starting salary as per MoJ T&Cs.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working hours system. Like most government press offices, we are busy and you may on occasion need to work different hours to usual, but you will not be expected to work overtime regularly and ensuring everyone has a healthy work-life balance is a priority for us. You will take part in the out of hours duty rota, which is rewarded through generous overtime payment, but there is flexibility, particularly for those with parental or caring responsibilities.

Security clearance and residency

If you are successful at interview, we will work with you to acquire security clearance. This is a straightforward process for most people but does, generally, require you to have been resident in the UK for at least the last five years.

How to apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a CV, provide short examples demonstrating the behaviours below in previous roles and give us your assessment of the main media issues facing the Ministry of Justice over the next six months.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection and interview process:

• Communicating and Influencing

Communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing; Express ideas clearly and with respect for others; Listen to and value different ideas, views and ways of working; Respond constructively and objectively to comments and questions; Handle challenging conversations with confidence and sensitivity.

• Delivering at pace

Regularly check performance against objectives, making suggestions for improvement where necessary; Identify what is required to ensure success, set clear goals and continually assess workloads considering individual needs; Have a positive and focused attitude to achieving outcomes, despite any setbacks.

More details on these can be found in the Civil Service behaviours (PDF).

We'll also assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Insight

Understand how to reach the biggest and/or most appropriate audience for an announcement using a mix of media channels. Maintain an awareness of the news agenda.

• Ideas

Work up ideas for stories and case studies to help increase media interest in a positive news story.

• Implementation

Draft high-quality press releases that maximise media coverage and punchy statements that rebut criticism effectively.

• Impact

Monitor media coverage and evaluate your success in reaching the target audience and delivering key messages.

More details on these can be found in the Government Communication Professional Competency (Technical Skills) Framework.

Notes for Business Office

Behaviours

Test at application stage only:

• Behaviour 1 – Communicating and Influencing

Q: Please describe an occasion where you have had to write about a complex issue in a simple and straightforward way.

Max. word count: 250

• Behaviour 2 – Delivering at Pace

Q: Please describe an occasion when you have successfully dealt with competing pressures and describe how you prioritised these.

Max. word count: 250

Technical skills

• Technical 1: Insight - Understand how to reach the biggest and/or most appropriate audience for an announcement using a mix of media channels. Maintain an awareness of the news agenda.

Application and Interview

Q: Please set out the main issues you think the Ministry of Justice will face in the news over the next six months.

Max. word count: 250

• Technical 2: Ideas - Work up ideas for stories and case studies to help increase media interest in a positive news story.

Interview only

• Technical 3: Implementation - Draft high-quality press releases that maximise media coverage and punchy statements that rebut criticism effectively.

Interview only

• Technical 4: Impact - Monitor media coverage and evaluate your success in reaching the target audience and delivering key messages.

Interview only

Experience

Work history/CV (not sure what the difference is to be honest!)

Strengths

Challenger

Resilient

Additional assessments at interview:

• Written exercise
• Other – prioritisation exercise

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GCS Insight - Understand how to reach the biggest and/or most appropriate audience for an announcement using a mix of media channels. Maintain an awareness of the news agenda.
• GCS Ideas - Work up ideas for stories and case studies to help increase media interest in a positive news story.
• GCS Implementation - Draft high-quality press releases that maximise media coverage and punchy statements that rebut criticism effectively.
• GCS Impact - Monitor media coverage and evaluate your success in reaching the target audience and delivering key messages.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,014, Ministry of Justice contributes £11,592 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)
• 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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
• Telephone : 0345 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/15295?entityId=15295