THE POSITION
The Ventura County Health Care Agency seeks a poised, articulate, bilingual professional with outstanding communication skills to act as the agency public information officer. The ideal candidate will be able to speak, act, and respond in situations with various audiences including elected officials, community groups, and individuals. They must have a positive attitude, strong interpersonal skills, work effectively in a team and fast-paced environment, show initiative and adapt well to change; as well as be organized and detail oriented.
Under general direction, this class is responsible for managing the flow of department information internally and externally and for establishing public relations standards, goals, priorities, operational plans, policies and procedures. The incumbent will plan, coordinate and organize the Health Care Agency's communications with the public and media and implement special events and community outreach and education programs and perform related duties as required.
The county is seeking a candidate who has considerable experience managing organizational communication initiatives and public information programs. Ideal candidates will possess the following competencies and reflect the demonstration of these competencies within their application materials:
- Written and verbal Communication
- Adaptability
- Cultural Competence
- Professional Integrity
- Attention to Detail
- Community Engagement
- Information Sharing
- Initiative & Creativity
- Design Sense
- Team & Project Management
- Customer Service
- Presentation Proficiency
- Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
THE COMMUNITY
Ventura County is located on California's "Gold Coast," approximately 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 20 miles southeast of Santa Barbara. Residents enjoy rolling hills and sweeping ocean views in a nearly perfect Mediterranean climate with an average annual temperature of 74.2 degrees. The beauty and weather combined with a wonderful quality of life are among the many reason our residents choose to call Ventura County "home."
THE AGENCY
The mission of the Health Care Agency is to provide comprehensive, cost-effective, compassionate health care for our diverse community, especially those facing barriers, through an exceptional workforce, education and forward thinking leadership. The vision of the Health Care Agency is to set the standard in health care excellence. Healthy people in healthy communities throughout Ventura County.
PAYROLL TITLE:
Agency Public Information Officer I: $2,836.29 - $3,970.81 Biweekly
Agency Public Information Officer II: $3,529.61 - $4,941.45 Biweekly
Agency Public Information Officer III: $4,103.17 - $5,744.44 Biweekly
DEPARTMENT/AGENCY: Health Care Agency
Agency Public Information Officer I/II/III are Management classifications and are not eligible for overtime compensation. Incumbents in this classification are eligible for benefits at the MB-3 level.
The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future Regular (including Temporary and Fixed-term), and Extra Help vacancies in the Health Care Agency. There is currently one (1) Regular full-time vacancy.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OPENING DATE: 10/16/24
CLOSING DATE: Continuous and may close at any time
FIRST REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS: Week of November 4, 2024
Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Oversees the public information and community outreach and education programs for the Health Care Agency; aligns program goals and priorities with the Agency mission and strategic plan; coordinates with the County Public Information Officer as appropriate;
- Provides oversight of the agency's website development, social media management, and marketing.
- Handles high profile incidents and exercises a high level of independent judgment and discretion in advising executive management on public and community relations matters. Addresses the media, community groups, and general public on behalf of the Agency regarding activities and programs;
- Oversees the preparation and release of Agency information to the media, including newspaper, television, radio and other media outlets;
- Plans, organizes and oversees all major Agency events; administers public relations programs that promote the department's standing in the community; participates in budget administration for related programs;
- Supervises the work of assigned staff. Evaluates work performance, prepares and signs performance evaluations. Participates in personnel decisions including hiring and disciplinary actions, assists in resolving employee grievances, and approves leave requests. May provide second-level supervision;
- Plans, organizes, schedules, assigns and reviews work; establishes priorities, deadlines, and work standard;
- Develops and implements policies and procedures pertaining to public relations activities within the Agency. Provides training to department staff in media relations;
- Prepares a variety of correspondence and reports;
- Develops and produces promotional and educational materials as needed;
- Makes speeches and presentations to community groups; represents the Agency at meetings and functions; and
- Performs other related duties as required.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Extensive experience in communications management in the public sector or similar environment which has led to the acquisition of the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
An example of a qualifying education and experience is:
- Bachelor's degree in English, Journalism, Business/Public Administration, Marketing, Public Relations, Mass Communications, or other related field AND
- Agency Public Information Officer I: Two (2) years of recent, paid, and progressively responsible professional experience in journalism, public relations, or the media managing the communication and information for a public or private sector organization.
- Agency Public Information Officer II: Two (2) years of recent, paid, and progressively responsible experience serving as a public information officer in the public sector or similar environment equivalent to that of an Agency Public Information Officer I.
- Agency Public Information Officer III: At least three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in an organization with primary responsibility for organizing, coordinating, and overseeing outreach projects and programs to provide the public with the information to promote an organization's events and activities.
NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Some experience developing and editing brochures, newsletters, promotional materials for internal and external publications
- Some experience writing news releases, press releases
- Some experience creating and managing content for a variety of social media platforms
- Excellent written communication skills must be demonstrated in the completion of the employment application and supplemental questionnaire
DESIRED
- Bilingual (English/Spanish) or Trilingual (English/Spanish/Mixteco)
- Experience working with governmental bodies, special districts, and/or non-profit organizations
- Experience with the design and production of communication materials
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES
Comprehensive knowledge of: Media relations, news writing and production, and the operation and needs of the media industry; Media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods including alternative ways to inform via written, oral, and visual media; the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rule of composition, and grammar; principles and processes for providing customer and personal services including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction; business software tools; business office procedures, practices and protocols and health care agency programs and resources.
Comprehensive ability to: manage diverse responsibilities; analyze complex issues, evaluate alternatives, and recommend effective solutions; actively listen; communicate orally and in writing, make public presentations to the media and other agency representatives on Agency issues and decisions; establish and maintain good working relationships with media representatives, community organizations, staff, and volunteers; plan, organize and establish goals and objectives; exercise sound judgement and decision making; supervise, motivate, train, and evaluate the work of others; adhere to deadlines and short time constraints; produce accurate information using appropriate tools/media; compose news releases, articles, brochures and pamphlets; maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
Supplemental Information: Work is primarily performed in an office environment, but incumbent may be required to travel to various sites.
FINAL FILING DATE: This is a continuous recruitment and may close at any time; therefore, apply as soon as possible if you are interested in it. Your application must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources in Ventura, California, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the closing date.
To apply online, please refer to our web site at www.ventura.org/jobs. If you prefer to fill out a paper application form, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura Human Resources, 800 South Victoria Avenue, L-1970, Ventura, CA 93009.
NOTE: If presently permanently employed in another merit or civil service public agency/entity in the same or substantively similar position as is advertised, and if appointed to that position by successful performance in a merit or civil service style examination, then appointment by Lateral Transfer may be possible. If interested, please click here for additional information.
APPLICATION EVALUATION - qualifying: All applications will be reviewed to determine whether the stated requirements are met. Applicants meeting the stated requirements will be invited to continue to the next step in the examination process.
TRAINING & EXPERIENCE EVALUATION - comparative: A Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E) is a structured evaluation of the job application materials submitted by a candidate, including the written responses to the supplemental questionnaire. The T&E is NOT a determination of whether the candidate meets the stated requirements; rather, the T&E is one method for determining who are the better qualified among those who have shown that they meet the stated requirements. In a T&E, applications are either scored or rank ordered according to criteria that most closely meet the business needs of the department. Candidates are typically scored/ranked in relation to one another; consequently, when the pool of candidates is exceptionally strong, many qualified candidates may receive a score or rank which is moderate or even low resulting in them not being advanced in the process.
NOTE: The selection process will likely consist of an Oral Exam, which may be preceded or replaced with the score from a Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E), contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool. In a typical T&E, your training and experience are evaluated in relation to the background, experience and factors identified for successful job performance during a job analysis. For this reason, it is recommended that your application materials clearly show your relevant background and specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is also highly recommended that the supplemental questions within the application are completed with care and diligence.
ORAL EXAMINATION AND RELATED WRITTEN EXERCISE– 100%: A job-related oral examination will be conducted to evaluate and compare participating candidates' knowledge, skills, and abilities in relation to those factors which job analysis has determined to be essential for successful performance of the job. Candidates must earn a score of seventy percent (70%) or higher to qualify for placement on the eligible list. As part of the oral exercise, candidates may be expected to produce written passages and/or demonstrate written communication skills. Written documents produced by candidates may also be discussed with the panel in the oral examination.
If there are three (3) or fewer qualified applicants, an oral/practical examination will not be conducted. Instead, a score of 70% will be assigned to each application, and each applicant will be placed on the eligible list.
Candidates successfully completing the examination process may be placed on an eligible list for a period of one (1) year.
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A thorough pre-employment, post offer background investigation which may include inquiry into past employment, education, criminal background information and driving record may be required for this position.
For further information about this recruitment, please contact Sabrina Anderson by e-mail at Sabrina.Anderson@ventura.org or by telephone at (805) 654-2642.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.
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