Trainee Communications Assistant

Are you a creative and talented individual who is willing to learn and keen to get your foot on a NHS career ladder?

Do you want to work within a dynamic team at the heart of a world class NHS mental health Trust? Do you have passion for the NHS and a desire to develop communications skills that help challenge stigma around mental health, communicating the work of the NHS to patients, service users, stakeholders, staff and members of the public?

This is a great opportunity to begin a career within the NHS and get on-the-job training in a busy public sector environment.

If you are a ‘can do’ team player who is enthusiastic, has a positive attitude and the desire to make a difference – we want to hear from you.

As a member of the Communications Team, you will play a crucial role in supporting the Communications and Engagement team to deliver consistent, high-quality communications.

You will be responsible for handling incoming enquiries to the team, acting as an effective and professional first point of contact. You will help design communications campaigns that will reach our wide variety of stakeholders. You will also be responsible for helping to maintain the Trust’s corporate social media accounts, developing content appropriate for the Trust external audiences, posting on the Trust’s behalf, responding where appropriate and notifying the team of any issues.

You will be encouraged to develop writing skills, knowledge and experience in all relevant aspects of communications and engagement. As part of your development, you will also take on responsibility for small projects.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong verbal communication skills for articulating ideas to colleagues and clients
• A high attention to detail and accuracy
• Knowledge and confidence to use social media platforms and develop creative content
• An ability to work independently and flexibly
• Capacity to prioritise and work across multiple projects
• Excellent team work skills
• Creative skills for spotting communications opportunities and contributing new and innovative ideas
• An ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We are committed to providing high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for the care and treatment we provide. Our highly motivated and successful communications team is expanding and has a number of exciting new opportunities for the right individuals.

Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2). We also provide services and operate across other locations in South London.

Benefits:
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance.

Some of our benefits are:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, flexible working and supporting a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working.
• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching and other talent programmes.
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands.
• Other benefits include: Counselling services, wellbeing events, long service awards, cycle to work scheme.
• Support the day-to-day work of the communications team to deliver a high quality, responsive service.
• Act as the first point of contact for all online, electronic and telephone enquiries into the Communications team and deal with them in a timely and effective manner.
• Maintain the Trust’s corporate social media accounts, developing content appropriate for Trust external audience, posting on the Trust’s behalf, responding where appropriate and notifying the team of any issues.
• Assist with the uploading of information onto the Trust website and intranet
• Support external and internal events, including booking venues, organising invitations and maintaining a log of attendees and feedback.
• Develop creative skills such as writing press releases, newsletters, briefings and other digital content.
• Source quotes and brief external providers (e.g. print agencies).
• Log any incoming media enquiries, taking down detailed information and passing to the appropriate team member for them to manage and action.
• Produce letters, reports and other documents as required by the team.
• Maintain databases held by the team.
• Liaise with staff and support the team to come up with a range of solutions that best suit the target audience.
• Create engaging and compelling written and digital content for a variety of audiences and channels.
• To represent the Communications team and the organisation at internal and external events such as the Annual Public Meeting and other stakeholder events.
• Form effective relationships with staff at all levels across the organisation as well as with external suppliers such as printers and external designers.