COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
Date Posted: April 11, 2023
Application Deadline: May 9, 2023
Start Date: July 3, 2023
Salary: $36,000
Province: Ontario
Region: Metro Toronto Area
City: Toronto/GTA
Employee Benefits: hybrid work environment; extra holidays, time-off in lieu, pet-friendly office, professional development opportunities
Organization’s Field/Discipline: The Arts/Human Rights
Job’s focus: Creative & Administrative
Job Type: Employee, 32 Hours per week; three months probation
Career Level: Intermediate
Organization Description
PEN Canada, the Canadian Centre of PEN International
PEN Canada is a charitable, nonpartisan organization of writers and readers that celebrates and defends freedom of expression at home and abroad. PEN Canada promotes literature, fights censorship, assists exiled writers in Canada and campaigns on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned or exiled for exercising their right to freedom of expression. It is one of approximately 140 centres of PEN International across the globe.
PEN Canada believes that literature is the shared inheritance of all humanity and opposes all forms of marginalization and discrimination. PEN is dedicated to creating a community that is equitable, inclusive, and accessible.
Job Description
The Communications & Social Media Coordinator is responsible for managing PEN Canada’s social media platforms, e-newsletter, and website. Working closely in a fast-paced and small team environment the Communications and Social Media Coordinator will provide communications and social media strategies to organize, create and post consistent, timely communications content across all of our online platforms, website and other media as required, to firm deadlines, with the goal of increasing engagement and awareness of PEN Canada and its mission.
This vital role is supervised by our Communications Chair, reports to the Executive Director, works in consultation with the Executive Director and Office Manager and at times, works directly with our programming community partners on joint campaign efforts.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Working in collaboration with the team above, you create and administer routine and time-sensitive online content (graphics, post-text, etc)
- Project manage the design and building of our new website
- Observe and protect in-house and stakeholders’ timelines for content release
- Create an in-depth social media plan for the year
- Design, produce, and publish a steady and varied menu of dynamic content consistently
- Create an accessibility plan and ensure PEN Canada social media and website are accessible to all
- Track and consult with the team on stakeholders content of relevance to PEN’s work
- Communicate professionally and promptly with the team
- With team consultation, report on and manage all online public/private messages promptly, pursuant to PEN’s mission and values
- Engage, respond and elevate members and stakeholders’ online content as advised
- Formalize a standing public communications calendar for the team
- Coordinate our monthly newsletter
- Prepare press releases for announcements; both on website and in publications
- Write content for various campaigns
- Aid in the creation of our annual report
- Aid in all communications about PEN Canada’s programming, membership, events, fundraising and news about the PEN Canada website
- Draft policy protocols for time-sensitive/urgent/unscheduled content
- Maintain all online assets for currency and archiving
- Monitor and report on key analytics and online performance targets, as required
- Attend a weekly staff meeting
- Attend/provide live-online engagement reporting for PEN Events, as available
- Collaborate with additional media teams as required
- Additional duties pending mutual agreement
QUALIFICATIONS
- Degree or diploma in Communications, Marketing, PR, and/or Project Management
- Degree or studies in Literature, Media Studies, Graphic Arts
- Minimum 2 years’ experience in Arts/Nonprofit communications (includes freelance)
- Minimum 2 years’ experience in nonprofit online engagement and graphics design
- Excellent verbal and written skills in Canadian English, additional languages a plus
- Detail-oriented; excellent proofing and quality-control skills
- Can provide an online portfolio of sample work for review
- Experienced user of Google Workspace, Canva, iStock, MailChimp, WordPress, Twitter, IG/Meta/FB Pages, LinkedIn, LinkTree, Buffer or similar content aggregator
- Experienced with cross-consultation/diverse teams & advisors with constantly evolving task lists; strong ability to prioritize
- Willing to provide time-sensitive responses and collaboration on urgent issues
- Willing at times to protect your hours for occasional evenings/weekends/events
- Confident in setting and communicating respectful boundaries for agreed hours
- At least two professional references
ADDITIONAL ASSETS
- Passionate learner, loves to read and to edit existing materials
- Working knowledge of the modern literary world
- A passion for free expression issues globally
- Keen to help make complex issues and subject matter more visible and accessible to a wide and diverse audience
- Willing and able to undertake self-directed work
- Curious about and excited to engage with sector professionals, writers, academics, and journalists on a variety of points of view and lived experiences
HOW TO APPLY
Qualified candidates should email with “Communications & Social Media Coordinator” in the subject line their cover letter (attention Theresa Johnson), CV, a link to an online portfolio, and at least two work-related references (including email and phone contact details) as a single PDF or Word document attachment to: tjohnson@pencanada.ca. For anyone requiring any accessibility or accommodations to apply, please contact the same email.
No phone calls or agencies please.
Due to our limited resources, only candidates selected for an interview will be notified. PEN Canada is an equal opportunity employer. We thank all applicants in advance; however only candidates selected for an interview will be notified.
