So, you want my job? Digital and creative comms officer, Department for Work & Pensions

Name: 

Maddy Stottor.

Job: 

Digital & creative communications officer, Department for Work & Pensions.

Starting salary/salary band for the job? 

£37,000.

What qualifications do you need? 

Good design skills and a real interest in social media. A degree isn’t essential, and you don’t need to have lots of graphic design qualifications – experience and skills will count for more.

What level of experience do you need? 

I’d been working in communications more broadly for about four years before starting here and specialising in digital comms.

Is previous experience in a public sector comms role necessary/useful? 

It might be useful, but definitely isn’t necessary. I’d worked mainly in the charity sector previously, and didn’t know a great deal about the department’s policy areas or what the Civil Service would be like. Now, having been here for a year, I’ve learned a huge amount about not just my department’s work, but also the Civil Service and Government more generally – it’s a great environment to learn, with lots of training opportunities and the chance to work on secondment for different departments.  

What are the main day-to-day challenges? 

Our department is very big and very busy – we work with lots of different campaign teams as well as Press Office and internal communications, and coordinating those competing priorities while making sure that we’re producing really high-quality content can be challenging.

What is the best part of the job? 

Seeing your work online and knowing that it’s helping important messages reach hundreds of thousands of people. (And the people!)

What is the most unusual fact you know as a result of this job? 

How to say "Get to know your pension" in Welsh ("Dewch I wybod eich pensiwn")!

If you get an interview, do say… 

"I’m really good at working at pace." Our team is very busy, and our priorities can change very quickly day-to-day or even hour-to-hour – so, being able to work calmly and effectively in that kind of environment is helpful.

If you get an interview, don’t say… 

"What’s a workplace pension?"

If you’re good at this job, you might also be well-suited to…

This role covers everything from copywriting and editing to data analysis and design – working in this team gives you the experience you need to work in any other area of comms you choose. 

Please note: Interviewees for 'So, you want my job' are not leaving their current role