Corporate Communications Specialist

This position is responsible for assisting in the creation and maintenance of the voice of JD Finish Line with a particular focus on employee audiences and change management. The role will primarily focus on internal communications, with opportunity to assist with external messaging and engagement events. This individual should effectively exhibit JD Finish Line’s core values of Customer, People, Winning, Community, and Financial Responsibility in everything they do by performing the following key duties:

• Independently manage, develop, write and distribute internal communications, talking points and more, assisting various departments in communicating critical information to employees in a timely, succinct manner. This may include communicating information that is confidential prior to distribution, high-level change management roll-out plans, engagement activities and other important topics using several mediums to convey messaging.
• Keep company intranet up to date as well as help concept and maintain the future of the platform, inclusive of new pages, etc.
• Aggregate and create content for the company’s global employee newsletter, highlighting JD Finish Line’s story, voice and culture.
• Research and revamp current approach to communication entities to better educate and capture employee attention.
• Develop cross-department and cross-functional relationships to assist collaborative communication planning.
• Assist in the development and execution of the annual Engagement Survey, including planning, leadership readiness, etc.
• Manage, promote, participate and help lead company engagement events and celebrations that closely align with core values as well as DE&I and company initiatives.
• Lead Employee Recognition programs (tenure, quarterly awards, etc.) to increase engagement, retention and morale across the organization.
• Create, implement and maintain an editorial calendar for consistent company LinkedIn postings, mirroring and elevating what is presented to the internal employee audience to external/potential new hire audience.
• Participate in crisis communication planning at times of unanticipated events, occurrences, and other situations.
• Maintain confidentiality and sensitivity to all issues.
• Additional duties and projects as required.

Required Education and/or Experience

Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university, preferably in journalism, communications, public relations or a related area of study. 1-4 years of relevant experience in a corporate communications role strongly preferred; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Required Computer and/or Technical Skills

Should have basic to intermediate knowledge and abilities with Google Suite Products.

Core Competencies:

Communication Skills

Must be an effective communicator with internal and external individuals at all levels. This includes spoken, written, electronic, and presentation skills. Communication should be consistently constructive and professional. Also, must be detail oriented with strong writing, editing and proofreading skills where accuracy and consistency are critical.

Decision Making and Problem Solving Skills

Able to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Able to analyze results at a micro and macro level and present findings. Makes routine decisions following established policies and procedures; collaborates with manager to gain assistance when complex issues arise. Must think independently to develop solutions, most often related to company wide communications. Must exercise practical knowledge, discretion and good judgment that may impact the organization as a whole.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Frequently, communications programs require an additional time commitment that may require additional work hours to meet deadlines and carry out events as necessary.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Sit for more than 6 hours per shift
• Use hands to finger, handle and feel
• Reach with hands and arms
• Talk and/or hear
• Stand for up to 2 hours at a time periodically
• Walk or move from one location to another
• Occasionally may need to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, or crouch
• Lift and/or move up to 10 pounds regularly and up to 25 pounds occasionally
• Punctuality and regular attendance consistent with the company’s policies are required for the position.
• Average work week is 40-45 hours, which can vary depending on business need.
• The work environment for this position is a moderately noisy office setting.
• Up to 10% of the time spent traveling (by air or land).

The company reserves the right to modify this job description with or without notice. Employees may be asked to perform additional duties outside of normal job scope on a temporary basis per company policy.