Working Title: Communications Coordinator

State Role Title: Public Relations & Marketing Specialist III

Position Type: Full-time Staff (Classified)

Position Status: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Exempt: Not Eligible for Overtime

College/Division: Student Life and Involvement

Department: 100358 - University Career Center

Pay Rate: Maximum Starting

Specify Range or Amount: $47,250

Is this a JMU only position? No

Is this a grant-funded position? No

Is this a Conflict of Interest designated position? No

Beginning Review Date: 06/20/2025

About JMU:

James Madison University is a publicly funded university with a beautiful campus and a supportive community that is committed to preparing students for the future. The university offers excellent comprehensive benefits which include paid vacation, sick, parental, and community service leave in addition to 19 paid holidays a year; affordable health insurance; retirement through the Virginia Retirement System. We also offer a work-life balance and integration program, Balanced Dukes, that is designed to support the overall wellbeing of our employees and a Tuition Waiver Program that allows employees to have tuition waived for undergraduate and graduate level courses taken at JMU.

Visit our Prospective Employee site to learn more about what makes JMU a great place to work: bit.ly/JMUEmployment

General Information:

The Communications Coordinator develops and implements a comprehensive communication strategy for the University Career Center, promotes the UCC through social media, digital content, and experiences, supervises students creating content, and serves as an integral team member of the 20+ UCC staff.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1) Strategy: Develop and implement a comprehensive communication strategy for the department. Streamline process for disseminating information from liaisons and other UCC staff to contacts outside of the department. Develop processes for feedback on promotion and promotional events. (25%)

2) Promotion: Promote the JMU University Career Center in 3 major areas: social media, digital content, and experiences.

• Social media area:
  
  • Maintain and coordinate the social media presence of the JMU University Career Center
  • Oversee the generation, editing, publishing and sharing of career-related content that builds meaningful connections and encourages engagement between UCC constituencies and the Career Center.
  • Collaborate with other departments to build the JMU Career Center’s social media following and reputation, identifying opportunities for partnership and coordinating efforts
  • Stay up to date on constantly evolving social media trends, data/analytics and best practices to create the best possible social media strategy
  • Contribute to a strategy and implementation that will engage a wide range of audiences, considering ways to reach students in every major and each level in college, as well as recruiters, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff
• Digital content area:
  
  • Work with the Director and Associate Directors to develop and implement an annual communication plan that raises awareness for the JMU UCC, increases engagement with Handshake (our job and internship posting platform), and supports UCC programming
  • Assist with the writing, designing and deploying of mass emails and newsletters to students, employers, and university faculty/staff members
  • Oversee our departmental website's content and usability.
  • Create content that appeals to a variety of audiences, including students, employers and university faculty/staff members
  • Manage JMU UCC’s digital content platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and our website)
  • Create and maintain the graphic and brand elements associated with the JMU UCC to ensure consistent use and delivery across all channels and maintain overall brand integrity
  • Create compelling career-related content that can be shared, such as emails, videos, graphics, and text
• Experiences area:
  
  • Develop research and outreach strategies to discover and keep up to date with the attitudes of students, employers, alumni, and faculty/staff towards JMU and how they want to engage, connect and communicate with each other around career-related topics
  • Coordinate special UCC outreach events to increase awareness
  • Collaborate with UCC Outreach and Engagement unit to organize UCC presence at tabling events for current and prospective students
• Manage and edit print and online resources (such as student guides, handouts, newsletters and promotional materials). Manage departmental marketing budget and calendar. Write press releases or feature stories to highlight Career Center successes. Promote to employers and on behalf of employers who are engaged in on campus or virtual recruiting activities. Work with the Employer Services team on employer communication and marketing needs and make recommendations on how employers can best promote their organization and job opportunities to students. (35%)

3) Supervision: Recruit, train, supervise, and evaluate undergraduate students who serve on the UCC media team and primarily drive contact on student channels. Establish workflow and editorial review processes for the media team, considering graphic design, publicity, photography, website, and video projects for the office. Provide professional development opportunities for the media team. (20%)

4) Administration: Participate in departmental meetings, professional development, and committees as needed. Lead discussions with departmental colleagues to assess promotional needs of the organization and share updates on media team projects. Demonstrate effective communication and attitude of collaboration with colleagues, and supervisor. Represent the University Career Center to students, families, and employers at events. Develop and maintain working knowledge of the Handshake career management platform, to communicate with students and employers. Run analytics and reports on engagement with UCC communication including click through and open rates for messages in Handshake. (10%)

5) Networking: Form a network of university, local, and regional contacts to communicate with and build interest in features on UCC services and events, and students’ career-related successes. Foster a collaborative relationship with other communications professionals on campus. Work closely with University Communications colleagues to determine appropriate contacts for media requests. Monitor university social media outlets to represent UCC and maintain positive perceptions. (10%)

Qualifications:

Required:

• Experience developing communication strategy for an organization, unit or department with multiple internal and external stakeholders
• Experience creating web content, videos, graphics, and/or text for use on social media and for digital contexts (including emails, newsletters, webpage, etc.)
• Experience with project management and supervision
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with a network of professionals in crafting and delivering impactful messages

Additional Considerations:

• Communications experience in higher education, career services or college recruiting
• Knowledge of Communication, Marketing, Media and Design, English or Writing and Technical Communication

Additional Posting Information:

Please provide a link to an online portfolio to support your application that provides evidence of your ability to design content, including digital materials, videos, graphics and/or social media pieces and communicate impactful messages for a variety of internal and external constituencies.

Conditions of Employment:  

Employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.

E-Verify Notice: After accepting employment, new hires are required to complete an I-9 form and present documentation of their identity and eligibility to work in the United States. James Madison University uses the E-Verify system to confirm identity and work authorization.

EEO Statement:

James Madison University is committed to creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive work and educational community that is free of all forms of discrimination. This institution does not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national origin, parental status, political affiliation, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status.

We promote access, inclusion and diversity for all students, faculty, staff, constituents and programs, believing that these qualities are foundational components of an outstanding education in keeping with our mission. The university is interested in candidates whose experience and qualifications support an ongoing commitment to this core quality.

Anyone having questions concerning discrimination should contact the Office for Equal Opportunity: (540) 568-6991.

Reasonable Accommodation:

If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance searching or applying for jobs please contact us at (540) 568-3597 or jobs@jmu.edu. You may also visit the JMU Human Resource Office, located at 752 Ott Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 and we will be happy to assist you.