Communications and persuasive writing

Communications Intern Science Atlantic is a non-profit association for post-secondary faculty, researchers, and students in Atlantic Canada. Now in our 60th year, priorities of our five-year strategic plan (https://sciatl.org/StratPlan2018-22) include member engagement, developing partnerships, and increasing communications. Our goals in 2022 are to increase engagement of new and existing members, partners, and donors, and implement systems that improve online communication and connection. Who you are: You are a dynamic and organised person with excellent communication (written and oral) and relationship building skills. You excel when working as part of a team and you care about engaging people in achieving meaningful goals. You enjoy developing persuasive communications, and you like to apply your problem-solving skills in new situations. You get the “big picture” and how your work fits in meeting organisational goals. You are self-motivated, able to approach situations with a fresh eye, dependable, and can effectively work remotely with a team using a variety of project and team management software platforms. Possible projects: As part of a team with the Program and Membership Support Officer, Executive Director, and student employees, the Communications Assistant will be able to develop a custom placement focussing on their skills and interests. The successful candidate will work on three to five of the following: ● Overall, as part of the team, understand and contribute to organisational goals for the period of the placement ● Take over development and implementation of communications strategy (currently being developed by a recent PR graduate; there will be 4-6 weeks of overlap) ● Help us communicate the right messages to the right people: we have multiple audiences that have different opinions of why Science Atlantic matters: students, faculty, sponsors, senior academic leaders (Deans, VPs, Presidents), donors) ● Research current and potential donors to gain insight into needs, beliefs, and habits, and draft donation appeal pieces ● Research potential funding bodies and assist with preparing grant applications that communicate our value (another current student employee is researching potential fundraising options which is a new activity for us; they will finish in April) ● Provide social media mentorship to a part-time undergraduate student employee (this student works for us year round but has no social media training or experience and would gain from a Humber student’s expertise) ● Assist with developing surveys ● Review and improve our style and editorial guide, and do short presentations/workshops at staff meetings to improve our skills ● Leverage website, blog, and internal communications channels to improve relationships with supporters, members, and others ● Analyse the performance of communications for effectiveness in meeting goals ● Format and updating by-laws for print and web ● Coordinate translation of documents ● Assist with developing and updating policies for the organisation ● Possible: Develop onboarding communications for a new online community (the software we chose is being reconsidered so this may not happen in 2022) Example of a current student project: Develop a pitch for why post-secondary institutions should join our organisation. Competencies: ● Excellent communication skills ● Proficient in Microsoft Office and Google docs ● Highly organised and able to prioritise multiple tasks ● Able to work well in a team of staff and volunteers, mainly virtually ● Creative and flexible; strong critical thinking and problem solving skills ● Responsible and dependable ● Assets: o Familiarity with online communications platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mailchimp, WordPress (or similar) o Familiarity with team management tools (we use Notion, Slack, and Clockify) o Bilingual (English and French) Please provide: cover letter, resume, and sample of work Due to funding constraints, this opportunity is open to domestic students only.

Virtual Projects for Office Administration

Positions available: 1 We are interested in researching virtual community platforms to replace our current platform to improve member communication and engagement and to streamline administrative processes for the limited staff. We are also in need or information management assistance to improve our record keeping processes. PROJECT SCOPE Three significant outcomes are possible in this project (scope is flexible based on feedback from the professor): Evaluate our existing online community system (currently Google Groups) and provide feedback on how to improve community connection; this could include recommending a different software platform Review our existing record-keeping system, provide and execute recommendations for improvement Review and improve our internal methods of staff communication and project management, in order to effectively include a term-by-term rotation of student employees Our goals: To enhance our impact on the STEM post-secondary community To increase volunteer and member engagement To improve community communication and access to information To increase the effectiveness of the staff and administrative functions of the organization Through this project, it is expected that the student(s) will benefit from: Acting in a consulting capacity for a dynamic non-profit organization Assisting an organization meet its strategic priority of cultivating partnerships within and outside the organization Analysing and providing recommendations to improve staff communication and effective project management Applying research and problem-solving skills to improve a community’s online communications and information sharing capacity Contributing to a project that is significant to the success of an organization and the engagement of its community members

Human Resources Work Placement

Number of individual positions available: 1 We’re looking for assistance to build our existing HR processes. Depending on the time/number of students, the main focus of the project will be one or more of: - Review our current onboarding and new hire orientation processes and propose recommendations for improvements. - Analyze existing HR policies, identify gaps and outline steps that can be taken to improve the work environment through policy. - Help establish performance evaluation criteria and regular evaluation processes for regular staff (student evaluation processes are in place through funders and/or schools). - Assist in employee engagement surveys. Our goals: - Improve existing HR processes and policies to help ensure the organization meets requirements for diversity, ethics, and training. - Develop a process for performance and salary reviews to ensure staff receive effective feedback and fair compensation. - Develop a process to understand employee engagement. Through this project, it is expected that the student(s) will benefit from: - Acting in a consulting capacity for a dynamic non-profit organization. - Assisting an organization meet its strategic priority of having a secure staff (Priority 1.1 in our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan). - Gaining experience in improving an onboarding process for future employees. - Applying research, analysis, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. - Creating examples of HR policies and evaluation processes that can be shown to potential future employers as examples of work. - Developing employee engagement surveys. - Contributing to a project that is significant to the success of an organization and the wellbeing of its employees.

Community Development

We have just conducted a research project asking Atlantic Canadian faculty about their experiences in the post-secondary STEM community and presented them at our Annual Members Meeting. Participants broke into discussion groups and brainstormed ways to: create a more inclusive post-secondary STEM community expand the reach of our existing committees through the introduction of “Divisions” support new faculty in Atlantic Canada explore mentoring opportunities In the coming months, we will be calling for volunteers to participate on action committees to turn these ideas into action. PROJECT SCOPE The main focus of the project will be to: Review our existing processes for recruiting members and volunteers and provide recommendations Identify ways we can continue and improve member and volunteer engagement Evaluate our existing community software platform and provide feedback on how to improve community connection now and post-pandemic Our goals: To enhance our impact on the STEM post-secondary community To increase volunteer engagement To improve community communication and access to information Through this project, it is expected that the student(s) will benefit from: Acting in a consulting capacity for a dynamic non-profit organization Assisting an organization meet its strategic priority of cultivating partnerships within and outside the organization that will strengthen an interprovincial community Analyzing a member engagement process and providing recommendations to improve connection to the organization and community Applying research and problem-solving skills to improve a community’s online communications and information sharing capacity Contributing to a project that is significant to the success of an organization and the engagement of its community members