Do you have a passion for building engaging and effective communications? Do you like when forms, processes and systems result in an amazing user experience? If you excel in the areas of communication, customer service and administrative expertise, and want to work in an innovative and growth-centered environment… this is the job for you!

About the Office of Human Resources (OHR)

Montgomery County Government’s Office of Human Resources (OHR) is committed to building a talented and skilled workforce, enhancing the employee experience, and assuring service excellence for County residents. OHR recruits and selects, administers benefits, manages performance, and delivers professional development, health and wellness programming to 10,000 employees. OHR is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and values diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and cultures. OHR encourages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), immigrants, women, LGBTQIA , individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply.

The Strategic Communications team, residing in the Director’s Office cluster, provides development, execution and management of communication, marketing and change management strategies as well as department and County employer brand images. The team is seeking a detail-oriented and collaborative Human Resources Specialist to provide content support across our communication portfolio.

With guidance and leadership from the Strategic Communications Manager, the Specialist will take on a variety of communication assignments across HR programs, develop and execute all components of an effective communication campaign, and recommend creative approaches for meeting OHR’s communication goals in fulfilling its mission: to build a strong and resilient County workforce.

What we are looking for:

The successful candidate will be a strong executor with a can-do attitude who can work autonomously, focus on detail and achieve results. They must possess excellent written and verbal communications skills and be able to take an idea or objective and transform it into a polished deliverable. The ideal candidate can help promote OHR’s organizational values, which center on being results-oriented, empowering, agile, collaborative and human-centric.

How you will contribute:

Major responsibilities and duties include but are not limited to:

• Serving as primary team member in developing, branding and editing the following communication deliverables: forms, internal emails, surveys, guides, SOPs, and document templates.
• Developing, branding and editing other communication deliverables as assigned, including but not limited to: newsletters, external emails, memos, presentations, flyers, marketing materials, social media posts, web content, and system user-designed interfaces.
• Managing OHR’s partnership with MC311, Montgomery County’s centralized call center, to continually improve OHR’s service touchpoints.
• Interacting with key stakeholders to craft clear, concise messages for a variety of internal and external audiences.
• Assisting in drafting and distributing updates to policies, regulations, and legislative packages.
• Ensuring that internal communications projects are within the specified timeline and meet desired outcomes.
• Working with graphic designers and/or creating designs in Canva or Adobe Creative Suite for marketing materials or visual infographics.
• Measuring the results of communications effort through quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
• Creating and revising content for all initiatives, and continually researching new and innovative delivery channels.
• Serving as a backup to team members’ portfolios.
• Managing OHR’s social media outlets and mailbox.
• Drafting, editing, and distributing urgent communications as operationally needed.

Who We are Looking For:

• You can work autonomously to complete tasks and projects, but also thrive in a collaborative environment.
• You possess strong writing and editing skills, and communicate clearly across a variety of mediums.
• You readily grasp new technologies and platforms.
• You love making services better for the people who use them, and you have successfully brought better services to life.
• You are well-organized, and understand the importance of details in achieving a visionary goal.
• You demonstrate empathy and care for the customer in front of you.
• You embrace a growth mindset as you seek better ways to deliver more value and efficiency.

OHR reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position/IRC.

Montgomery County Government is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the Office of Human Resources via email to OHR@montgomerycountymd.gov. Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

Montgomery County Government also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, please refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for interview.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.

Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in communications, human resources management, business or public administration or related field.

Experience: OHR may fill positions at the HR Specialist I, II, or III level as follows:

• For Grade 18, we require one year of applicable professional experience in Personnel Administration.
• For Grade 22, we require two years of applicable professional experience in Personnel Administration.
• For Grade 25, we require three years of applicable professional experience in Personnel Administration, Human Resources, or Communications.

Equivalency: An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted.

There is no Preferred Criteria. All applicants will be reviewed by OHR for minimum qualifications. Those applicants who meet minimum qualifications will be rated Qualified, placed on the Eligible List, and may be considered for an interview.

Preference for interviews will be given to applicants with experience in the following:

• Communication Campaigns
• Communication Development
• Social Media Management
• Project Management
• Web Content Management
• System or Process Design
• Graphic Design