Staff Writer

Date Posted: 12/04/2020
Req ID: 1935
Faculty/Division: Faculty of Arts & Science
Department: ARTSC: Ofc of the Dean
Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)

Description:

About us:
The Faculty of Arts & Science is the heart of Canada’s leading university and one of the most comprehensive and diverse academic divisions in the world. The strength of Arts & Science derives from our combined teaching and research excellence in the humanities, sciences and social sciences across 29 departments, seven colleges and 46 interdisciplinary centres, institutes and programs.

We can only realize our mission with the dedication and excellence of engaged staff and faculty. The diversity of opportunities and perspectives within the Faculty reflect the local and global landscape and the need for curiosity, innovative thinking and collaboration. At Arts & Science, we take pride in our legacy of innovation and discovery that has changed the way we think about the world.

Your opportunity:
The Office of Communications & Public Affairs develops communication plans and campaigns to support the goalsand objectives of the Faculty of Arts & Science. Amazing things happen here every day and we love to tell the stories that promote the strengths and achievements of our community. Our areas of focus include news and media relations, marketing and design,digital content management and communications planning and output that responds to the needs of our diverse audiences including students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors.

The Staff Writer will be responsible for identifying and covering specific themes arising from the Faculty’s vision and goals. This includes identifying, from across the Faculty, stories that will engage community members both inside and outside the Faculty in the vital issues driving or hindering each theme. The Staff Writer is responsible for crafting high impact stories and illustrating these stories with digital images and photographs. The incumbent also takes a leading role in conceiving of and developing new content strategies and tools that collectively supports the A&S News enterprise and all print and digital platforms and publications managed within A&S Communications. More precisely, the Staff Writer is responsible for generating ideas on how to engage the Faculty’s community more deeply in positioning the Faculty and celebrating our individual and collective impact on the world around us.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Researching and recommending story ideas that advance priorities and initiatives
• Gathering relevant or newsworthy content
• Liaising with departmental staff to support effective content/story development
• Conducting interviews with leaders, faculty, staff and students for external publication
• Generating original concepts and writing copy
• Writing news and feature stories
• Editing content for brochures, newsletters, websites and/or handbooks
• Writing key messages and/or speeches for staff and faculty

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or acceptable combination of equivalent experience.
• Minimum four years of recent and related experience working as a journalist, writer or reporter with wide-ranging experience in communicating the meaning, impact and world relevance of a broad spectrum of complex ideas and themes to a variety of audiences.
• Experience research, interviewing, writing, editing and reporting.
• Experience utilizing new media as communications tools is required.
• Experience and proven success in providing superior service and support in a busy, deadline-driven, demanding environment.
• Experience working with a wide range of people from a variety of professional and social backgrounds.
• Experience using content management systems (e.g. Dreamweaver, Drupal).
• Experience with basic image editing software (e.g. Photoshop).
• Experience working in an educational setting is preferred.
• Excellent and efficient writing skills and the ability to deliver content of a high quality across a broad range of complex topics, and in formats appropriate for a range of audiences on a variety of communication channels and media platforms.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational and communication (e.g. oral, written, presentation) skills are essential, as is the ability to build and maintain relationships and interact with all levels of academic and administrative staff.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Word and Excel.

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Articulate
• Approachable
• Communicator
• Organized
• Proactive
• Problem solver
• Resourceful
• Team player

This is a term appointment ending November 26, 2021.

Closing Date: 12/14/2020, 11:59PM EDT
Employee Group: USW
Appointment Type: Budget - Term
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 11 -- $65,669 with an annual step progression to a maximum of $83,978. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Communication/Media/Public Relations
Recruiter: Carol Kayitaba

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All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Diversity Statement
The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.

As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP.

Accessibility Statement
The University strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.

The University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities.

If you require any accommodations at any point during the application and hiring process, please contact uoft.careers@utoronto.ca.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

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