PR Officer / Senior PR Officer
This position is no longer open.
The Marketing and Communications Department at the Lebanese American University is looking for a PR Officer / Senior PR Officer to join a dynamic team of multidisciplinary professionals with a common desire to contribute to the successful implementation of the university’s integrated marketing and communications initiative.
Summary
The PR Officer / Senior PR Officer will build and maintain the positive reputation of the University through planned PR campaigns and activity. He/She will produce and distribute stories that project LAU’s mission and vision, academic strengths, and student life, in line with LAU’s strategic plan, LAU’s brand pillars, and the individual school/institutes plans. The PR Officer / Senior PR Officer will build and maintain strategic PR plans for the assigned schools, programs, institutes. He/She will ensure the integration of the PR priorities for the assigned accounts, by facilitating the dissemination of the messaging in social, editorial, online.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
- Promotes and publicizes events and activities held at the University by covering events, developing PR tools (write-ups, articles, press releases) and disseminating the PR tools.
- Develops PR campaign plans for events.
- Develops Crisis Management plans.
- Develops Media Relations plans.
- Pitches stories to the assigned media by developing PR approaches (op-eds, story angles, interviews) and/or tools (videos, infographics, etc.).
- Develops PR plans for the assigned schools, programs, centers or institutes.
- Ensures the execution of PR campaigns that integrate editorial and social media with media relations.
- Cultivates the relations with select media as assigned by the supervisor, liaises with media regularly, responds promptly to queries, engages with a variety of media to build stronger ties.
- Assists in the building and maintenance of LAU’s media network, assists in developing the media list of local, regional and international media outlets, identifies emerging media and builds new relations.
- Aids in crisis management, and in the development of crisis management strategies.
- Assists in the building and maintenance of LAU’s network of influencers (in public affairs, in private organizations) relevant for events and PR opportunities.
- Monitors potential campus life and social media for potential PR communications issues.
- Assists in the development of relationship-building strategies with the media.
- Assists in organizing and distributing invitations to the media and influencer lists for ceremonies and events.
- Assists the media with interviews on campus, filming needs, contacts, and security clearances.
Minimum Qualifications & Skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism, literature, communications arts, communications, public relations, or a related field. Advanced degree is a plus.
- Minimum 12 years of experience, 8 years in similar role (educational role is a plus)
- Experience in writing and editing, for different subject matters and in various editorial voices
- Strong media network
- Strong command of written and spoken Arabic
- Ability to work effectively under pressure
- Strong ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously
- Strong commitment to deadlines
Additional Qualifications:
While not strictly necessary, each of the following qualifications will be considered a plus:
- Fluency in English
- Familiarity with LAU campuses, faculty, staff, students or alumni
- Familiarity with the higher education field
Interested qualified candidates should send a letter of interest indicating in the subject PR Officer / Senior PR Officer, their CV and portfolio of their work to: vacancy1@lau.edu.lb
Please provide the exact month and year while listing your professional experience.
The closing date for receiving applications is Friday, June 30, 2017.
No applications will be accepted after this date, and only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
The Lebanese American University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity