Wildfire Information Officer

Role Responsibilities

Reporting to the Media and Digital Specialist, this position creates and manages social media content for Alberta Wildfire and provides assistance as required to both the provincial information unit and the ten forest areas.

The primary role is to assist in delivering urgent information, education and awareness to the general public and communities within Alberta.

You may also assist provincial information officers and may travel to wildfire events and other incidents.

This work requires an overall knowledge of forest operations; wildfire prevention; FireSmart and strong communication skills; knowledge of media operations; public relations; social media; shooting and editing video; and risk/crisis communications.

The individual will apply their knowledge and experience in communications and digital content creation to inform communities, stakeholders and the public of wildfire hazard, current wildfire and wildfire prevention tools and tactics, and assist in raising the awareness of the other programs across the province.

This position performs all work in accordance with relevant government and ministry legislation, policies, and guidelines laid out by Communications and Public Engagement as well as policies applicable to Forestry and Parks.

Wildfire Prevention and Operations:

• Assist in delivering wildfire prevention and operations information for Alberta.
• Developing engaging wildfire prevention and operations communication materials for social media.
• Creating video content for use online or by media.
• Promoting an awareness and understanding of wildfire prevention, detection, pre-suppression and suppression activities through existing social media channels, and encourage and enhance community/public involvement.
• Engaging directly with audiences on social media, including answering questions and clarifying information.
• Providing emergency and crisis communications for Albertans.
• This position is responsible for ensuring public and first responders are getting clear and concise communications that may affect their immediate safety and well-being. 
• Acting as a member of a provincial wildfire information team as required.

APS Competencies

Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. We encourage you to have an in depth understanding of the competencies that are required for this opportunity and to be prepared to demonstrate them during the recruitment process.

This link will assist you with understanding competencies: https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/custom_downloaded_images/psc-alberta-public-service-competency-model.pdf.

Agility- Ability to anticipate, assess, and readily adapt to changing priorities, maintain resilience in times of uncertainty and effectively work in a changing environment.
Build Collaborative Environments- Leads and contributes to the conditions and environments that allow people to work collaboratively and productively to achieve outcomes.
Systems Thinking - The work done within the APS is part of a larger integrated and inter-related environment. It is important to know that work done in one part of the APS impacts a variety of other groups/projects inside and outside the APS. Systems Thinking allows us to keep broader impacts and connections in mind.
Creative Problem Solving - Ability to assess options and implications in new ways to achieve outcomes and solutions

Qualifications

Minimum Requirement:

• Two-year diploma in a related field; no experience required; or equivalent as described below.
• Equivalency: Directly related education or experience considered on the basis of:  1 year of education for 1 year of experience; or  1 year of experience for 1 year of education.

Assets:

• Good understanding and application of public relations skills, risk communications, educational marketing, and the ability to liaise with community organizations, industry, media, government agencies and other stakeholders.
• Knowledge of social media trends and best practices is required.
• Ability to shoot, edit and package video content.
• Knowledge of responsibilities of all government agencies, especially during an emergency situation is key.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills, including demonstrated abilities to collaborate and negotiate with varied and diverse clients and stakeholders.
• Professional judgement and decision-making skills, including the ability to determine priorities and to represent the division on working groups involving multiple stakeholders and sensitive strategic and political information. 
• Knowledge of key messaging – including the ability to take highly technical or complex issues and make them clear and concise to be accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders.

Additional Requirements

The following conditions are not required at time of application, but must be provided prior to start date:  

• A valid, unrestricted Alberta Class 5 Driver’s License, or equivalent   
• A minimum 3-year Driver's Abstract, showing a record of seven (7) demerits or less (obtained within 30 days of your commencement date and presented to management prior to commencement)    
• A current Defensive Driving certificate

​​​​​​​Minimum recruitment standards outline the minimum education and experience required for appointment to a job classification. 

Refer to https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-public-service-minimum-recruitment-standards.

Notes

This competition is for seasonal wages positions with weekly hours up to 36.25.  

What We Offer
 

• Wage employees receive 11.2% in addition to regular wage earnings in lieu of paid holidays and vacation leave:   
  • 5.2 percent of regular wage earnings instead of paid holidays   
  • 6 percent of regular wage earnings instead of annual vacation pay.   
• Shift differential and opportunity to work overtime, evening, and weekend shifts.

About Your Work Environment

• Candidates are required to have their own means of transportation to and from the work site.

About Your Application  

• Terms of employment in your resume are to be identified in months and years, highlighting applicable duties or achievements at the respective role.  
• Those selected for an interview are requested to bring three (3) work-related references.

Any costs associated with obtaining the required documents/checks as noted or interview travel expenses, will be the responsibility of the candidate. Out-of-province applicants can obtain the required documents/checks from the province they currently reside in.