Health Care Agency Public Information Officer

The Ventura County Health Care Agency seeks a poised, articulate, bilingual professional with outstanding communication skills to act as the agency public information officer.  The ideal candidate will be able to speak, act, and respond in situations with various audiences including elected officials, community groups, and individuals. They must have a positive attitude, strong interpersonal skills, work effectively in a team and fast-paced environment, show initiative and adapt well to change; as well as be organized and detail oriented.

Under general direction, this class is responsible for managing the flow of department information internally and externally and for establishing public relations standards, goals, priorities, operational plans, policies and procedures.  The incumbent will plan, coordinate and organize the Health Care Agency's communications with the public and media and implement special events and community outreach and education programs and perform related duties as required.

The county is seeking a candidate who has considerable experience managing organizational communication initiatives and public information programs. Ideal candidates will possess the following competencies and reflect the demonstration of these competencies within their application materials:

 
THE COMMUNITY
Ventura County is located on California's "Gold Coast," approximately 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 20 miles southeast of Santa Barbara.  Residents enjoy rolling hills and sweeping ocean views in a nearly perfect Mediterranean climate with an average annual temperature of 74.2 degrees.  The beauty and weather combined with a wonderful quality of life are among the many reason our residents choose to call Ventura County "home."
 
THE AGENCY
The mission of the Health Care Agency is to provide comprehensive, cost-effective, compassionate health care for our diverse community, especially those facing barriers, through an exceptional workforce, education and forward thinking leadership. The vision of the Health Care Agency is to set the standard in health care excellence.  Healthy people in healthy communities throughout Ventura County
 
PAYROLL TITLE: 
Agency Public Information Officer I: $2,836.29 - $3,970.81 Biweekly 
Agency Public Information Officer II: $3,529.61 - $4,941.45 Biweekly 
Agency Public Information Officer III: $4,103.17 - $5,744.44 Biweekly 
 
DEPARTMENT/AGENCY:  Health Care Agency
 
Agency Public Information Officer I/II/III are Management classifications and are not eligible for overtime compensation.  Incumbents in this classification are eligible for benefits at the MB-3 level.
 
The eligible list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future Regular (including Temporary and Fixed-term), and Extra Help vacancies in the Health Care Agency.  There is currently one (1) Regular full-time vacancy.
 
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OPENING DATE: 10/16/24
CLOSING DATE:  Continuous and may close at any time
FIRST REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS: Week of November 4, 2024

Examples Of Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Oversees the public information and community outreach and education programs for the Health Care Agency; aligns program goals and priorities with the Agency mission and strategic plan; coordinates with the County Public Information Officer as appropriate;
• Provides oversight of the agency's website development, social media management, and marketing.
• Handles high profile incidents and exercises a high level of independent judgment and discretion in advising executive management on public and community relations matters.  Addresses the media, community groups, and general public on behalf of the Agency regarding activities and programs;
• Oversees the preparation and release of Agency information to the media, including newspaper, television, radio and other media outlets;
• Plans, organizes and oversees all major Agency events; administers public relations programs that promote the department's standing in the community; participates in budget administration for related programs;
• Supervises the work of assigned staff.  Evaluates work performance, prepares and signs performance evaluations.  Participates in personnel decisions including hiring and disciplinary actions, assists in resolving employee grievances, and approves leave requests.  May provide second-level supervision;
• Plans, organizes, schedules, assigns and reviews work; establishes priorities, deadlines, and work standard;
• Develops and implements policies and procedures pertaining to public relations activities within the Agency.  Provides training to department staff in media relations;
• Prepares a variety of correspondence and reports;
• Develops and produces promotional and educational materials as needed;
• Makes speeches and presentations to community groups; represents the Agency at meetings and functions; and
• Performs other related duties as required.

Typical Qualifications

These are entrance requirements to the exam process and assure neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.
 
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Extensive experience in communications management in the public sector or similar environment which has led to the acquisition of the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.

An example of a qualifying education and experience is:

• Bachelor's degree in English, Journalism, Business/Public Administration, Marketing, Public Relations, Mass Communications, or other related field AND
• Agency Public Information Officer I: Two (2) years of recent, paid, and progressively responsible professional experience in journalism, public relations, or the media managing the communication and information for a public or private sector organization.
• Agency Public Information Officer II: Two (2) years of recent, paid, and progressively responsible experience serving as a public information officer in the public sector or similar environment equivalent to that of an Agency Public Information Officer I.
• Agency Public Information Officer III: At least three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in an organization with primary responsibility for organizing, coordinating, and overseeing outreach projects and programs to provide the public with the information to promote an organization's events and activities. 

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Some experience developing and editing brochures, newsletters, promotional materials for internal and external publications
• Some experience writing news releases, press releases
• Some experience creating and managing content for a variety of social media platforms
• Excellent written communication skills must be demonstrated in the completion of the employment application and supplemental questionnaire

DESIRED

• Bilingual (English/Spanish) or Trilingual (English/Spanish/Mixteco)
• Experience working with governmental bodies, special districts, and/or non-profit organizations
• Experience with the design and production of communication materials

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES
Comprehensive knowledge of: Media relations, news writing and production, and the operation and needs of the media industry; Media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods including alternative ways to inform via written, oral, and visual media; the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rule of composition, and grammar; principles and processes for providing customer and personal services including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction; business software tools; business office procedures, practices and protocols and health care agency programs and resources.

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