Community Support and Communications Officer

Somerset Sight, your local sight loss charity, is expanding. We are looking for a positive can- do person with passion and energy to raise the charity’s profile whilst supporting our face to face service provision throughout the county. 

The person will be well organised, proactive, empathetic and have the ability to work flexibly and in partnership with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders. They will grow and support our existing social groups many of which are led by volunteers, lead on expansion of additional groups with the help of volunteers, and increase other provision, such as IT and cookery classes, throughout the county, using our model based on existing learning. 

The person will make regular contributions to publicity and communications, raising the profile and sustainability of the charity and all it does, by gathering authentic stories for publication and sharing. 

This will be a 24 hour per week flexible role, head office based and reporting to the office manager, with much face to face contact with stakeholders. 

The successful candidate must be able to travel extensively across the local area to fulfil the requirements of the role. 

 Competitive salary 

 Experience 

The ideal candidate will 

Have experience in successfully managing and expanding community activities, shaping services and writing relevant reports 

Have high level of communication skills, literacy and able to articulate, produce and get traction on relevant and appropriate stories in different formats 

Willingness and ability to travel throughout the county. 

Empathise and support those with visual impairment many of whom are elderly 

Enjoy meeting and supporting service users and responding to their needs 

Have experience and a track record in successfully recruiting and managing volunteers, able to galvanise interest and enthusiasm 

Be IT literate with enthusiasm to upskill, use of social media and other platforms 

Attend regular internal and external meetings as agreed 

Plan, report, evaluate to improve support for service users, agree service development with CEO 

To be flexible and carry out other associated duties as may arise, develop, or be assigned in line with the broad remit of the post. 

Promote Somerset Sight Values at all times 

Understand and implement confidentiality, data protection, safeguarding, H and S and other statutory requirements. 

Main purpose 

To develop and expand current social groups 

To collate and communicate authentic stories from service users and volunteers for regular publicity purposes on various channels 

To initiate and lead on additional new social groups across the county 

To expand community services within and outside social groups 

To recruit manage and retain new volunteers 

Skills and Abilities 

Confident, polite and clear verbal and written communication skills, Excellent telephone manner 

Exceptional organisational skills and ability to plan, manage and prioritise a varied and complex workload 

Ability to cooperate and work well with colleagues and stakeholders 

Knowledge of Microsoft Office and ideally Microsoft 365 

Ability to engage and motivate others 

Ability to travel extensively across the local area is essential to fulfil the requirements of the role 

Personal Attributes 

Reliable, honest, energetic, committed team player with excellent time management skills. A good timekeeper. 

Ability to prioritise work load 

Ability to problem solve and make evidence -based decisions 

Self-motivated and able to work independently and in team towards achieving strategic targets 

People-orientated, empathetic, and able to create rapport with people from all backgrounds 

Commitment to equal opportunities and an ability to apply awareness of diversity issues to all areas of work 

Clean UK driving license if appropriate. 

General : 

To work to all Somerset Sight policies and procedures including CRM system. 

To participate in regular monthly team meetings supervision, training and support sessions 

To work closely with colleagues 

To carry out other duties as may reasonably fall within the scope of the post. 

 

Please send CV with covering letter, stating why you are interested in the role and the skills/experience you will bring to