COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR MEDIA RELATIONS

Are you interested in helping to create a Brighter World? 

McMaster University fuels curiosity, inquiry, and discovery. Every day, we push the boundaries of knowledge through our world-class, interdisciplinary research and our ground-breaking approaches to teaching and learning. Our students, researchers and staff are among the best and brightest.  

Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs (CMPA) is a dynamic area of the university that coordinates its activities and works as a team to build relationships, reputation and resources. it is responsible for McMaster’s communications and strategic content strategy (including media relations, issues management, internal communications, neighbourhood relations), marketing and branding, and public affairs with all three levels of government.    

As one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, McMaster is committed to advancing inclusive excellence and employment equity in the workplace. We encourage qualified candidates to apply from equity seeking groups such as women, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, persons with a disability, persons who identify in the LGBTQ2S+ community and others who reflect the diversity of Canadian society.    

We are actively seeking a Media Relations Coordinator to join our Communications team. The successful candidate will help to champion the unit’s mission to build and preserve the university's reputation through a variety of internal and external communications work. This position would be responsible for helping to write articles on new research findings, support for pitching newsworthy ideas directly to journalists and facilitate coverage by news outlets. The Media Relations Coordinator will also assist in responding promptly to media queries, helping to further establish strong relationships.  Other duties include daily media monitoring, capturing analytics and generating monthly reports.  

Reporting to the Associate Director, Reputation, the Media Relations Coordinator will support a variety of content creation duties for written and digital publications, communications for the department and university. The Media Relations Coordinator also supports the implementation of creative strategies and content to grow audience engagement, particularly in emerging platforms while also updating and maintaining material for other departmental and University publications and contributing to other projects within the department as required.  

The position contributes to a wide scope of communications produced by Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs, including development communications and proposals to students, community, and partners, as well as other audiences targeted by marketing efforts. This involves interacting with various stakeholders to ensure content produced reflects McMaster University’s positioning and branding to diverse audiences. 

Accountabilities:  

• Writes articles on research findings to pitch to media 

• Works daily on media relations activities, both proactive and reactive 

• Prepares experts for media interviews, including helping to hone clear messaging 

• Manages social media account for media team. Uses all communication outlets to maximize media coverage, and contribute to ideas to better leverage these channels for media relations purposes 

• Cultivate and manage relationships with key journalists  

• Contribute to media outreach strategies and communications plans for key projects and initiatives 

• Manage media attendees during interviews and events 

• Prepare content for Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs website 

• Track and analyze quality and quantity of media coverage 

Qualifications  

• Bachelor's Degree or Community College Diploma in Journalism, Communications or related field.  

• Requires a minimum of 2 years of prior experience in a public relations, communications, journalism and/or marketing environment 

• Advanced level of proficiency in digital communications 

• Experienced in WordPress Content Management System an asset 

• Experienced in using Meltwater or other media reporting tools an asset 

• Superior interpersonal and communication skills (e.g. written and public speaking) 

• Time management and multi-tasking abilities 

• Superior attention to detail