GAISCE – THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD / JOB SPECIFICATION
Position: Events and Engagement Officer
Reporting to: Marketing and Communications Manager
Contract: Full-time, 3-year contract with a 6 – month probationary period
Salary: €32,000 – €34,000 (DOE)
Location: Dublin (some travel may be necessary)
Gaisce – The President’s Award is looking for a motivated and experienced individual, up for a challenge, to lead and deliver on its events and engagement programme, including award ceremonies together with a wider awardee engagement strategy with President Award Leaders, Gaisce Award Partners and other key stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will be highly motivated with the proven skills to deliver on the ambitious programme of events and activities that Gaisce engage in each year. They will have strong project management skills combined with an aptitude for problem solving and multi-tasking, demonstrating flexibility together with a strong background in a communications role.
About Gaisce – The President’s Award
Gaisce – The President’s Award is a self-development programme for young people aged 15-25 which enhances confidence and wellbeing through participation in personal, physical and community challenges. Gaisce is a direct challenge from the President of Ireland to young people aged 15-25 to dream big and realise their potential. Gaisce is non-competitive: participants are encouraged to choose their own activities and goals with the support of a trained, adult President’s Award Leader (or PAL). There are three levels of Gaisce – Bronze, Silver and Gold. The more time and energy participants give, the greater their reward.
The Gaisce programme is delivered by over 1,500 active PALs working and volunteering across a variety of more than 700 organisations (‘Gaisce Award Partners’), primarily in the fields of youth, community and education. More than 22,000 young people register annually to do their Gaisce Award. In over 30 years of existence, more than 150,000 Gaisce Awards have been achieved.
Completing a Gaisce Award is a significant achievement for a young person and remains significant often long after the award has been presented. For some young people, achieving a Gaisce Award is nothing short of life changing. In recognition of the unique position of Gaisce awardees, Gaisce has developed an awardee engagement strategy designed to connect and actively engage awardees in the Gaisce ‘movement’.
About this Role
Reporting to the Marketing and Communications Manager, the role of the Events and Engagement Officer will be to manage all of the events hosted by Gaisce throughout the year, including our award ceremonies, and manage the programme of events that we attend in the capacity of exhibitor. The role will also involve implementing Gaisce’s engagement strategy with participants, President’s Award Leaders and Gaisce Award Partners, strengthening and fostering meaningful relationships between Gaisce and its key stakeholders. The candidate with be expected to take an active and key role in the communications function generally, participating in and delivering on key projects as required.
Key Responsibilities
Event Management
- Manage Gaisce’s calendar of events taking ownership of those events hosted by Gaisce
- Own the planning and implementation process for all events and engagement activities
- Liaise with all third parties in relation to external events that Gaisce attend.
- Manage multiple events and engagement activities at the one time whilst maintaining high levels of quality and professionalism at all times.
- Establish and maintain a consistent brand image for Gaisce at all events.
- Provide monthly activity reports aimed at informing key stakeholders on all Gaisce events.
- Manage the events budget across all internal and external events.
External Communications/Stakeholder Engagement:
- Deliver Gaisce’s engagement strategy through establishing, growing and managing Gaisce’s relationship with key stakeholders in pursuit of the organisation’s strategic objectives to grow awareness of and accessibility to the Gaisce programme, achieving set targets.
- Facilitate awardee communications, cultivating and building awareness of Gaisce’s awardee engagement programme.
- Be responsible for awardee data management utilising a CRM, ensuring records are up-to-date, complete, accurate and in accordance with best practice in data protection.
- Work within the wider Marketing and Communications Team and across the organisation, ensuring the stakeholder engagement strategy and its aims are fully understood as a key Gaisce programme.
- Manage and develop awardee (and, where relevant, participant) volunteer programmes and engagement opportunities, liaising with colleagues as appropriate and employing best practice volunteer management at all times.
- Monitor, evaluate and continually review the awardee engagement strategy, providing regular analytical reports detailing return on focus and engagement.
- In collaboration with colleagues: –
- Ensure Gaisce’s online, material and peer support offering to President Award Leaders (PALs) and Gaisce Award Partners is fit for purpose and achieves objectives;
- Implement Gaisce’s recognition policy for President Award Leaders, including the organisation and management of ceremonies.
- Survey PALs and Gaisce Award Partners, analysing findings to inform support and recognition offerings;
Brand Management
- Act as brand guardian across all events and communications, ensuring brand consistency and brand guidelines are adhered to both internally and externally.
- Work with the wider communications team to maintain and grow the catalogue of branded templates and resources, including but not limited to PPT, word templates, infographics, boilerplates and case studies.
Other:
- Undertake other duties as may be reasonably required from time to time and in line with the nature of the organisation;
- Act in the best interest of Gaisce – The President’s Award and in line with the vision and mission of the organisation.
Person Specification (E: essential; D: desirable)
Knowledge, Training and Qualification
- Graduate or equivalent (E)
- Highly IT literate with strong grasp of CRM software and data management (E)
- Strong knowledge of key issues related to working with alumni and/or volunteers (D)
Experience
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in events, stakeholder relations, development, non-profit/C&V (preferably youth) and/or a relationship-oriented role (E)
- Established relationship manager with experience running a constituent engagement programme with a non-profit organisation (community and/or education) (D)
- Volunteer management experience (D)
- Volunteer management training (D)
Skills and Attributes
- Highly motivated with the ability to work independently and as part of a team. (E)
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build strong working relationships and interact with stakeholders in a professional and appropriate manner (E)
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills (in English) (E)
- Ability to think in a clear and persuasive manner (E)
- Strong IT skills and understanding of digital communication, including web, email marketing and social media (E)
- Strong strategic, analytical and evaluation skills (E)
- Organisation, event planning, co-ordination and time-management skills (E)
- Proven ability to create realistic plans to achieve objectives, targets and deadlines (E)
- An aptitude for problem solving and multi-tasking, demonstrating flexibility (E)
- Ability to work in a team, cross-organisationally and on own initiative (E)
- Strong project management skills and proven experiencing of establishing and running a successful and multi-faceted engagement programme (e.g. alumni, volunteering, etc.) (D)
- Familiarity with the wider community and voluntary sector (youth sector a particular advantage) (D)
- Familiarity with the Gaisce programme (D)
Gaisce’s Core Competency Framework
Gaisce has identified six key abilities required across the organisation to ensure the organisation can deliver and excel. These are:
- Communication
- Personal & Professional Development
- Planning, Scheduling and Delivery
- Problem Solving
- Relationship Building
- Teamwork
Key Relationships
- Marketing and Communications Team
- Operations Team
Gaisce’s Values
Gaisce is motivated by the following four core values:
Empowerment | Inclusion and Equality | Respect | Excellence
We are committed to ensuring these core values are embedded across all areas of our work, and in our practice and processes.
Empowerment
Gaisce seeks to ensure that our programme contributes to making a difference: in the lives of young people who participate; to the communities those young people belong to; and to wider Irish society.
Inclusion and Equality
Gaisce seeks to ensure diversity in regard to: the young people participating in our programme; our partners; and our staff and council membership, with a view to achieving equality of access, participation and outcome for people from groups covered by the equality legislation and those who experience inequality on the basis of their socio-economic status.
Respect
Gaisce seeks to ensure high standards in its working relationships, by valuing and taking account of the diversity of our staff and stakeholders.
Excellence
Gaisce seeks to ensure our work adheres to best practice standards and legal requirements and strives to continually innovate in achieving our mission
Terms
This is a 3-year fixed term appointment with a 6-month probationary period. The appointment is covered by the Single Public Service Pension Scheme and membership of the scheme will be compulsory for the successful candidate. There is a holiday entitlement of 25 days in the first twelve months, excluding public holidays.
Application
You can download an Application Form HERE
Applications for the post are by application form only. Completed application forms should be sent either by email to recruitment@gaisce.ie with the subject line ‘Events and Engagement Officer Role’ or by post (marked ‘Private & Confidential’) to: Gaisce – The President\’s Award, Ratra House, North Road, Phoenix Park, Dublin D08 YD62. Queries can be addressed to the same email address.
Closing dates for applications is 5pm, Friday 8th June 2018, with a view to interviews being held week commencing 18th June 2018.
All applications received within the deadline will be screened against the role requirements and the person specification.
Gaisce, Gradam an Uachtaráin – the President’s Award is committed to best practice and operates on the basis of equal opportunities. Applications are therefore invited from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates. Appointment will be based solely on merit and canvassing will disqualify.