Senior Communications Assistant

Essential Duties

1.Oversees and coordinates administrative, program, and office activities. Establishes, selects, implements, and coordinates office procedures and systems.

Serves as principal source of information to students, staff, and faculty on policies, procedures, programs, and office activities. 2. Oversees, instructs, and coordinates activities of support staff. Oversees the preparation of materials for grants, contracts and budgets.

Monitors expenditures and reconciles financial statements. 3. Provides editorial support for a journal/publication. Proofreads and edits material for grammatical and factual accuracy.

Tracks copy through various editing and production stages. Communicates with authors, printers, and others concerned with published work. 4. Determines administrative, facility, and equipment needs for symposia, lectures, seminars, and conferences.

Assembles and arranges for necessary items. Determines sources of data. Compiles, synthesizes and manipulates data.

Summarizes findings and writes reports or portions of reports. 5. Greets visitors. Answers and screens telephone calls.

Assesses nature of business. Responds to requests for information and provides assistance. Screens and responds to mail. 6.

Formats, keyboard, proofread, and edits correspondence, reports, manuscripts, grants, and other material. Assembles attachments and corresponding material. Reviews outgoing material for completeness, dates, and signatures.

Composes substantive correspondence and written material. 7. Coordinates travel arrangements. Schedules and coordinates meetings and appointments.

Orders and maintains inventory of supplies. Takes minutes or dictation. Performs additional functions incidental to office activities.

Required Education and Experience

Six years of related work experience, four of them in the same job family at the next lower level, and high school level education; or four years of related work experience and an Associate's degree; or little or no work experience and a Bachelor's degree in a related field; or an equivalent combination of experience and education.

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

Position Focus:

The Senior Communications Assistant is the primary point of contact for individuals seeking information about Yale, including callers, visitors, media personnel, staff, faculty, students, and the general public.

The Office of Public Affairs and Communications (OPAC) is the central organization responsible for developing, coordinating, and managing news, information, and stories about Yale and institutional communications strategy (external and internal), reputation management, and crisis communications. OPAC serves as the official voice of Yale University.

We seek an individual who can provide high-level operational support to OPAC. This position serves as the gatekeeper and primary contact for all visitors to the department - in person or on the phone.

This individual would demonstrate initiative, independence, and the ability to prioritize work and multi-task in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Exhibiting professionalism and positivity at all times. Provide operational support with demonstrated sensitivity and confidentiality.

Primary point of contact for individuals seeking information about Yale, including callers, visitors, media personnel, staff, faculty, students, and the general public. They assess the nature and urgency of each request, providing information or directing inquiries to the appropriate staff members or campus departments. Additionally, they manage the OPAC email account and voicemail system.

Research, format, edit, compile, and distribute Yale news clips daily. They conduct initial searches for Yale mentions in the media using tools like Cision.

Collaborate with the media relations team to distribute press releases to the media during regular business hours. They are a valuable resource to the communications staff for ad hoc searches.

Assists the media relations team in generating quarterly analytical reports. Work closely with the media relations team to highlight significant university stories and initiatives and curate the "Yale in the News" webpage.

Compile information regarding potential media services vendors before departmental contract renewals, set up demonstrations with key OPAC partners, and provide cost estimates to initiate contract negotiations. Coordinates on-call schedules and assists in drafting and sending all-office announcements and event invitations.

Oversee the maintenance and updates of internal documents, including the OPAC operations team manual. Manage various office procedures while ensuring compliance with university protocols.

Manage office calendars/schedule meetings. Provide calendaring support to the Associate Vice President of OPAC and Assistant Vice President for Digital and Brand Strategy for large and small group meetings and scheduling with VPs and Senior VPs.

Process P-Card charges and out-of-pocket reimbursements, set up new suppliers and purchase orders, and submit Supplier Invoice Requests. The Communications Assistant serves as a principal source of information for staff regarding policies, procedures, programs, and office activities.

Coordinate travel arrangements, produce travel itineraries, and manage expenditures for travel. They also support onboarding efforts for new employees and provide training to new operations team members.

Event planning and hosting support is another facet of their work, including logistical needs for meetings, assembling meeting materials, ordering catering, and ensuring efficient setup and cleanup for meetings and gatherings.

Manages the internal inventory of departmental computers and equipment and is the primary liaison with Yale Information Technology Services for resolving technology-related issues.

Attend meetings, draft minutes, format and edit sensitive and confidential correspondence and reports.

Perform other duties necessary to support the mission of OPAC.

This position is eligible for a hybrid schedule.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:

Bachelor's degree

Posting Disclaimer

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the particular position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments.