Youth & Early Career Engagement Specialist

Job Title: Youth & Early Career Engagement Specialist

Reports to: Executive Director, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition

Duration: October 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025, with possibility of renewal

Current Salary Classification: $22-25/hour

About the Position

The Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC) is an alliance of organizations, networks, institutions, and communities working together to better understand and advance ocean literacy in Canada. COLC is nationally and internationally recognized as a catalyst and centre for ocean literacy collaboration, research, and innovation. COLC is administratively based at the Ocean Frontier Institute, led by Dalhousie University.

Launched in late 2018, COLC’s initial project was to lead a Canada-wide research initiative to better understand Canadians’ varying relationships with the ocean and to examine how ocean literacy is understood and practiced across the country. In June 2020, COLC published the final regional and national reports of the Understanding Ocean Literacy in Canada study, establishing the first research baseline of ocean literacy in Canada. The findings from this study directly informed the co-development process of Land, Water, Ocean, Us: A Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy published in March 2021, making Canada the first country in the world with a national ocean literacy strategy. Currently, COLC is leading the implementation of the National Strategy through the coordination of joint action projects, such as Ocean Week Canada for example, and co-leading global initiatives such as the Ocean & Society Survey, and Ocean Decade Vision 2030 Challenge 10 white paper.

About OFI: OFI is one of the world’s most significant ocean science research and training collaborations with partnerships extending globally, across many sectors such as university, government, research institutes, industry, NGO, and philanthropic. OFI administers several ocean research and training programs, including the Canada First Research Excellence Fund program, Transforming Climate Action: Addressing the Missing Ocean, a partnership between Dalhousie University, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Université Laval, and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Job purpose

The Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC) is seeking a highly motivated and skilled early career-aged (30 or younger) engagement specialist to join our dynamic team. Reporting to COLC’s Executive Director, the Youth & Early Career Engagement Specialist role is focused primarily on: coordinating collaborative opportunities for youth and early career people in Canada to participate in Ocean Week Canada annual events; help to co-identify and co-design new and innovative opportunities to attract and engage more diverse youth and young professionals into ocean-climate conversations, spaces, and opportunities in Canada; support research webinars and support materials specific to public ocean perception research and impact measurement; content development and dissemination of creative web, social media, and traditional written communications to reflect, engage, and inspire youth and young professionals; work directly with COLC’s leadership team and both its national and international partner community to help design, facilitate, and/or support intergenerational dialogue at significant conferences, forums, and events that advance ocean literacy and the broader Ocean Decade goals.

The ideal candidate should possess excellent communication and organizational skills, the ability to work collaboratively with a team and partner community, as well as independently with a strong attention to detail, time management, and accountability. The ideal candidate will have a passion for environmental conservation and for being a positive and active contributor to collective impact work.

Duties and responsibilities

Event Coordination:

• Support the organization, coordination, and facilitation of events during Ocean Week Canada that are focused on engaging youth and early career professionals
• Identify potential early career/youth-focused partnerships and collaboration opportunities and work closely with these event organizers, partners, and participants to maximize youth and early career engagement in these events
• Support the planning and organizing of special events at conferences and forums that are focused on intergenerational dialogues and collaboration
• Ensure diverse representation and inclusivity in Ocean Week Canada activities, with a focus on youth and early career professionals

 Outreach & Engagement:

• Research, identify, and co-develop new and innovative opportunities to attract and engage more diverse youth and young professionals into ocean-climate conversations, spaces, and opportunities in Canada
• Work with COLC’s leadership team to strengthen youth and early career engagement in existing initiatives that COLC is co-leading to advance ocean literacy in Canada and globally, including for example: Ocean Week Canada, Blue Schools Canada, Ocean Literacy Research Community, and the Ocean Decade
• Share outreach material with target audiences to help strengthen societal-ocean connections
• Continuously seek and incorporate feedback from youth and early career professionals to refine and improve engagement strategies
• Work closely with the COLC team to design and facilitate intergenerational dialogues at conferences, forums, events, etc. 
• Participate in relevant meetings, conferences, and events to network and advocate for youth and early career engagement in ocean-climate initiatives

Research and Impact Measurement:

• Identify current best practices/toolkits/engagement resources for engaging youth and early career professionals
• Identify effective approaches for co-designing intergenerational experiences and opportunities for mutual growth
• Collaborate with COLC’s researchers to identify evaluative metrics that are important to young and early career-aged people 
• Analyze data and produce reports that highlight key findings and insights related to youth engagement in ocean-climate issues

Content Development:

• Collaborate with and support COLC’s communications team in creating web, social media, and traditional traditional written communications to reflect, engage, and inspire youth and young professionals   
• Ensure that all content aligns with COLC’s mission and resonates with targeted youth and early career demographics

General:

• Active engagement in regular partner meetings with Early Career Ocean Professionals ECOP Canada and the Blue Futures Pathways team at the SOI Foundation
• Attend meetings and provide general support to the COLC team (Education, Communication, Research, Impact Measurement, and Operations departments) on various tasks and projects as needed
• Stay updated on current trends and best practices in youth engagement, ocean literacy, and climate action, and apply this knowledge to enhance COLC’s initiatives

Qualifications

This position requires the applicant to have recently graduated from a relevant undergraduate/ graduate program (e.g., education, communications, public relations, environmental science or related field).

Competency requirements:

• Excellent communication and writing skills, with the ability to write clearly and concisely for a variety of audiences
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn
• Experience using graphic and marketing software (such as Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Mailchimp, Google Ads)
• Experience with social media platforms (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram) and website content management systems (WordPress, Squarespace, etc.)

Strong Assets:

• Bilingual in English and French
• Understanding of ocean and climate science, education, and communication
• Understanding HTML and CSS is an asset

Working conditions

Occasional work after hours and on weekends may be required.

Occasional travel within Canada may be required.

The employee will be eligible for either remote work or hybrid work (combination of in-person work on campus and remote work) as agreed by all parties based on operational requirements and university guidelines.

How to apply

Interested applicants are invited to submit (1) a résumé and (2) a cover letter to COLC’s Operations Manager, Roxanne Barney, at roxanne@colcoalition.ca. Please submit your completed application as a single PDF file and use a subject line that includes “Youth & Early Career Engagement Specialist - LAST NAME”. Feel free to include any additional references or work samples.

The deadline for receiving applications is September 22, 2024. 

We thank all applicants for their interest. We will review all applications and conduct interviews with select candidates the week of September 23-27, 2024. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. All applicants must be eligible to legally work throughout Canada at the time of applying. This posting may remain open until a qualified candidate is hired.

Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition and Dalhousie University are equal opportunity employers. We are committed to building a diverse team, where everyone can work safely in a barrier-free environment. We encourage candidates from historically marginalized groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and those who identify themselves as 2SLGBTQIA+ to apply.