Organisation: The University of Newcastle
Job Title: Manager, Marketing and Communications
Word Limit: 3.5 pages
Location: Newcastle
As validated throughout an accomplished career history, including my current success as Senior Communications Officer with Hunter Institute of Mental Health, please accept my application for the currently advertised position of Manager, Marketing and Communications at The University of Newcastle. Confirmed by my career history, I possess nine years of invaluable experience working in various marketing, communications and event management positions and confident that I can deliver on the high level support this role demands.
As demonstrated in my current position of Senior Communications Officer at the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, I have been instrumental in the strategic development and delivery of successful, contemporary programs of work, campaigns and projects. Recent success with a digital video campaign targeted at reducing the barriers within the community and their understanding of mental health, I initiated, developed and produced a communications plan that delivered a widely successful campaign. This production was presented on various online tools such as social media, community forums and organisation website and I was able to deliver the company awareness message to a widely demographic audience. In order to determine success in this campaign, I utilised the analytical tools available through social media that provided numbers reached, engagement of campaign and the diversity of audience along with the significant increase in website traffic of the digital campaign. The position of Senior Communications Officer was newly created upon my employment and has provided me with the opportunity to implement key performance standards across the company to increase brand and program recognition.
During my tenure at Lifestyle Solutions in my role as National Communication Specialist, I was a key factor in reducing a hostile company culture. With a closed culture instilled throughout the corporate ladder, I initially worked on pinpointing the key triggers to commence working on improvement strategies. By creating an employee evaluation survey completed by all staff, I began to see the common denominator of concern was the lack of communication and sharing of knowledge within the company. Upon analysing the driver, I then designed and implemented a weekly newsletter that provided staff with company messages, new policies and success factors throughout the national company. The result of my strategy was a significate increase in staff engagement, productivity and staff sense of security within their role and organisation.
An open and effective communicator, I am driven to provide clear information to my colleagues about completing deadlines within designated timeframes. My organised approach in any environment makes me accessible to colleagues and assists me to monitor personal workload deadlines. In addition to my experience and personal qualities, I have a solid educational foundation and a passion for maintaining efficient and profitable operations.
With any external campaign, it is critical to initially develop a profile of the desired end user and outcome; I have done this by engaging with the demographical target audience through community consultations and analysis of previous data to create successful communication plans.
Through post campaign review of the market data to understand segments, customer needs and behaviours, I have been the driver of communication plans that deliver exceptional traction with the target demographical reach. The utilisation of my analytical skills has provided the deep knowledge and expertise required gaining continual community and stakeholder commitment. For example, I implemented an online evaluation survey that provided instant information and feedback on community events attend. This tool also captured the age, sex, improvements and so forth, I initiated the availability of this analysis tool at the event to ensure full audience involvement in the capturing of market data. There is a strong drive to increase the engagement of male stakeholders at these events, I recently organised for a sports identity to speak at a community event following feedback analysis I had previously captured. The success of my strategy resulted in the highest male attendance received to any community event to date. By using the data captured after each event, presentation or digital campaign, I have used this as a platform to base further campaigns.
Possessing confirmed strengths in collection and analysis of marketing data to be applied, I have demonstrated success in working in collaboration with clients and colleagues to establish new systems/frameworks to successfully roll out strategies and plans. Currently in my position with Hunter Institute of Mental Health, I am responsible for the collating and reviewing of all website, social media and evaluations tools to provide continuous improvement methods. Further to this, I am responsible for all data and analytical reports required to be reported back into the sector, partners and stakeholders.
Supporting productive working relationships, I have demonstrated myself to be an active team member with a proven track history of cultivating relationships and removing obstacles to build trust and enhance productivity achieving improved workplace communication and team relationships. I have worked without direct supervision, organising my day and work tasks independently, remaining flexible and adaptable. I have been instrumental in contributing to exceptional teams throughout my career history. Committed to team performance and often assisting others, I am prepared to work overtime or complete additional tasks to help team members or management.
Last year in my position as Senior Communications Officer at Hunter Institute of Mental Health, I initiated a rewarding and constructive relationship with festival event managers to implement a Mental Health Stream into a non-health focused two day event. Working with national stakeholders, I negotiated the details of the project, created programs for speakers, and promoted this accessible service to the wider community. Success of this project was driven by my excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills including strong negotiation and stakeholder management abilities. In this newly created company position, I have been instrumental in working across the existing three teams and the various programs they are managing. Building relationships internally is critical for company growth and community success so I have provided a transparent environment to the team to encourage interpersonal relationships. By working by this method, I have been successful in capturing the desired communication strategy of each program and work with them to educate and deliver on communication plans and promote their visions into the market.
Displaying confident and competent analytical thinking skills, I have a proven ability to work within complex frameworks. This has developed strong business acumen that I pride myself on. In all of my positions within my career to date, I have shown capability to not only analyse but also prioritise elevated levels of information and convert objectives into actions. Possessing the aptitude to prioritise problems and gather the right information to analyse has resulted in the recognition of identifying symptoms and causes to reach the best conclusions for all parties affected.
It was in my current position as Senior Communications Officer with Hunter Institute of Mental Health that I displayed my ability to deliver excellent problem-solving skills. Recently there was contact made from a leading journalist who was preparing to write a defaming editorial about our organisation that I was required to handle. The journalist was insistent that we were not operating in line with best practice for the wider community, I was able to defuse the situation, push back on the attack and shift focus away from the misinformed data they had at hand and re-educate based on facts. The outcome of my ability to problem solve this situation was that the journalist never took an article to print regarding our organisation. Furthermore in this position, I have been a driver of initiating change management within the organisation. As this was a new role, I have identified, developed and implemented all policies and procedures surrounding marketing and communication strategies and methodology. Due to lack of understanding within the organisation, I decided to educate stakeholders in understanding the importance in the difference between community program awareness and company brand recognition. As a result of this openness and ability to facilitate change, I am in the process of researching market perception and reviewing a potential organisation rebranding.
Exhibiting high-level motivation, personal drive and integrity, I have demonstrated my ability to multitask, remain disciplined and focused whilst maintaining self-awareness and a strong commitment to personal development. Passionate to make a career transition within The University of Newcastle, I am actively pursuing the position of Manager, Marketing and Communications offering my 100% flexibility, dedication and commitment to the business objectives of The University of Newcastle. Acting professionally at all times, I consistently operate within the boundaries of organisational processes and legal and policy constraints, whilst making decisions for the corporate good without favouritism or bias, placing the aims of the organisation above personal ambitions.
Demonstrating my commitment to remain up to date knowledge of workplace obligations, I provide within my career history the experience of leading through involvement of all staff members and stakeholders in a cultivating and respectful practices. As a proven leader, I have been instrumental in fostering behaviours that promote, support and maintain a safe, healthy, equitable, diverse and respectful workplace; including responding appropriately to adverse accidents, incidents, behaviours and issues.
Demonstrating a commitment to supporting constructive working relationships, I manifest this by valuing individual difference and diversity and recognising working styles of individuals and factoring this into the management of tasks. During communication with external and internal customers, I treat everyone with respect and courtesy verifying my ability to building long-lasting professional relationships. Consistently, I receive positive feedback from all stakeholders within my work settings on my positive and proactive approach, my clear understanding of requirements, and the professional manner in which I conduct myself in a business setting.
Displaying excellent organisation and planning skills, I manage a personal workloads within demanding environments with conflicting priorities. Polished in time management and organisation skills, I contribute my career success to date with a capacity to set work priorities and deadline schedules..
With a natural ability to establish rapport with a diverse range of clients, I have provided a service that is both personalised and respectful within my position at Hunter Institute of Mental Health. Throughout my tenure as Senior Communications Officer, I have demonstrated my ability to communicate both verbally and written with clients and in every interaction confirm my commitment to the achievement of quality customer service.
I consistently support workplace objectives and recognise how my work contributes to the achievement of organisational purpose. As demonstrated throughout my career, I practice sound judgement and decision-making with an awareness of implications. Contributing to solutions and future, I harness information and opportunities when performing my day-to-day duties, working diligently to improve existing practices to improve efficiency. Committed to team performance and often assisting others, I am prepared to work overtime or complete additional tasks to help team members or management. To facilitate this business objective, established as a collaborative team member, I have formed constructive relationships with all stakeholders ensuring processes followed and culture within the company upheld.
Throughout my career thus far, I have been effective in putting my exceptional skills into practice drawing on my personal and academic experiences in all situations, aiming to identify and implement possible improvement and striving to continue to grow my knowledge base. Both my past and current employment roles have all relied on my ability to deliver required outcomes within tight timeframes under changing priorities, drawing on my academic knowledge and concepts and applying these to practical situations.
Within the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, as a Senior Communications Officer, I practice informed decision-making and possess sound judgement. Contributing to solutions and progress, I harness information and opportunities when performing my day-to-day duties, constantly working diligently to improve existing practices to improve efficiency.
With a capacity to deal with cultural diversity and communicate effectively with people of different ages and backgrounds in the workplace, I have developed my competence to influence. Due to the volume and variety of interaction across all methods of communication, I have developed the essential key skills in customer service with an influential tone.
