Communications Assistant, John Lewis and Waitrose

Full job description
About the role
Are you interested in starting your career in PR? Would you like to work for an iconic brand like the John Lewis Partnership and join their external communications team? We have two exciting opportunities available in our External Communications team: - One to support John Lewis, specifically the Home and Tech team - One to support Waitrose. Please see the specifics of the job outline to read up on the difference between the two roles. The External Communications team is responsible for all aspects of the external communications strategy for the Partnership and its two brands. Our clear ambition for communications: to be the conscience of the business and champion of the brands. The Communications Assistant is a great introduction to the PR/ Communications Profession. The role supports the Communications Manager, and the rest of the Comms team by supporting all the comms campaigns and media events the team are working on. As well as story generation and focused media relations, this role includes managing the coverage, managing requests, overseeing the media sample loan system, maintaining the image bank, and compiling and distributing the weekly coverage report report.
Salary range - £26,000 - 32,000.00

Contract type - This position is permanent.

Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home-based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business.

The John Lewis team: As this role handles many product-based requests that can only be handled in the office, the successful candidate will likely need to be in the London office four days a week and be happy to offer a degree of flexibility depending on the media requests received.

The Waitrose team: The successful candidate needs to offer a degree of flexibility to be across the London office and the Bracknell office - with a minimum of three days in the office

Key responsibilities

To support the team by driving the following:

Daily media and influencer coverage recording and reporting
Supporting image requests
Leading on all media sample loans, responsible for updating the system and event support
Maintaining the seasonal content library
Compiling and distributing the weekly coverage report
And more specifically:

Events: Support the successful delivery of market-leading PR events for

the media, influencers and external stakeholders.

Campaigns: Support the team with campaigns, product blasts, news ideas and trend stories to secure brand bundling coverage.

Papers and planning: organise the team for our weekly paper review and support with ideas for planning, both proactive and reactive.

Loans: Facilitates an effective sample loan system for media samples which efficiently responds to media, securing the coverage and reduces cost and waste.

Gifting: Order, collate and send all influencer and media gifting. Support the team with wider influencer outreach.

Evaluation: Support campaign evaluation documents and regularly report on coverage achieved and industry news to support evaluation processes.

Effectively support the wider team with the running of the brand PR social media accounts.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

Previous work experience or employment, either in-house or PR agency

A general understanding of the media and how they work

Very well organised with great attention to detail and thrives under tight deadlines

Highly developed writing and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate with clarity and consistency

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About The Partnership
We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.