About the job

Job summary

Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment?

Are you someone that has journalistic and broadcasting experience or experience of working in a lively press office?

If so, then we have an exciting opportunity for 2 driven individuals to join us, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government’s maritime safety policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea.    

Safer lives. Safer Ships. Cleaner Seas.    

Our vision is to be a world-leading organisation, accelerating the transition to sustainable shipping with non-negotiable safety standards. We put our people, our customers and our planet at the heart of everything we do.   

We welcome applications from all communities, and we don’t discriminate against any identity. We’re interested to hear from you, regardless of your background.   

Job description

If successful, you will be part of a lively team that manages our media activity across the MCA. Advising business areas on media handling and responding to enquires from the media. You will maintain and develop external relations, promoting our key priorities and messages protecting our reputation through both conventional and social media channels.

You will handle incoming media enquires effectively and with a professional manner. Developing your skills whilst using our internal systems, understanding what can and cannot be given to journalists. Being sensitive to circumstances, whilst maintaining openness and transparency.

There is an out of hours duty press rota which you will be required to join and for which an allowance would be paid. This causes the minimum salary to increase to £39,103. In addition, this role can involve short notice deployments and sometimes very long hours during incidents.

Due to the nature of the role, a full valid driving licence is required.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Maintaining and developing good media relations with journalists across the UK from a broad range of publications, broadcasters and trade press, local, regional and national.
  
• Developing and delivering key lines to take and disseminating them to media contacts as required. These might be for background information for documentaries or feature articles.
  
• Identifying proactive opportunities and creating press releases, articles and features as required in conjunction with the Head of Comms, Senior Press Officer, the rest of the team and marketing colleagues.
  
• Advising MCA colleagues on media handling - briefing for interviews, providing 1-2-1 practice where necessary, shadowing them at media events to advise.
  
• Advising MCA colleagues on media handling for policy documents including submissions to ministers.
  
• Participating in on-call duty rota and ready to be deployed as necessary for major incidents. This can be at short notice where a press officer is required on scene to support MCA staff and volunteers. Running press releases, briefings organising interviews and footage shots on scene.

For further information, please see the attached role profile.

Additional information 

This role will be based in the Southampton HQ.  MCA supports flexible working and operates a hybrid working model between home and office for this role, giving you greater flexibility over where and when you work.   

The expectation is that you will spend a minimum 60% of your working time based at your principal workplace or out on official business. Details of the arrangement will be discussed further with your line manager. 

Person specification

To become successful in the role you will need to be someone who has had previous experience in broadcasting or other journalism in a busy newsroom.

Or you will need to have previous experience as a press officer, with excellent organisational skills, and ability to manage various conflicting priorities in a busy environment, including social media technology and channels.

You will need to have excellent verbal and written English skills and the ability to use these skills to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.  

Click here to get a copy of the MCA Staff Benefits Brochure   

Find out what it's like to work at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency   

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. 

How to Apply   

CV and Personal Statement:   

Within your CV and personal statement please demonstrate your knowledge and experience of:   

• Good spoken and written English skills.
• Previous experience working in broadcasting or other journalism and/or experience being a press officer, in a busy environment, including social media technology and channels.

Your personal statement will be limited to a maximum of 500 words. 

It is essential when submitting your personal statement that you provide as much detail as possible, and utilise the full word count given, against the essential criteria outlined above as this will be used in conjunction with your CV to assess candidate suitability to move to the next round in the recruitment process.    

Sift and Interview Dates:  

The sift is due to take place from Monday 26th February 2024. 

Interviews are likely to be held week commencing Monday 11th March 2024. 

This interview will be conducted online via Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.   

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.   

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:  

• An interview and written exercise  

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within. 

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.