THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. 

GREEN PARTY ORGANISER FOR NOVA SCOTIA

The Green Party of Nova Scotia requires a PROVINCIAL ORGANISER.

It is expected that the position will require, on average, 10 hours of work per week. the total number of hours will vary from week to week.

The successful candidate understands – and is good at – the work required to grow and strengthen a growing public organization.

It should be noted that the position will be the only employee of the Green Party of Nova Scotia. As such, it is hoped that the successful candidate will be interested in growing with the party to take on successively greater responsibility and amount of work, as the party grows, and enters particularly demanding periods of time, such as general election campaigns.

CHARACTERISTICS:

Primary:

• Organized
• Communicative – Positive and friendly
• Attentive to detail
• Has an awareness of the type of structures and documents required of a public organization, including by-laws, minutes of meetings, policies, procedures, etc. Experience of this type in a political environment is an asset.
• Trustworthy – capable of being entrusted with personal information (phone numbers, residential addresses, email addresses) and some limited financial information for the members of the party.
• Prioritisation/self-care – The position (and in fact, this job description) contains more work than can reasonably be done by any single person in the amount of time allocated. We hope to employ a person who will be efficient and productive in the time allowed, but who will also be able to understand which work is critical and which work is only nice-to-have, so that the employee meets the most important priorities of the organization without burning out or suffering other personal ill effects.
• Self-directed / self-starter – The position will work very independently, and hence will require a person who does not need constant supervision.

Desirable:

• Database experience – particularly CRM databases. The GPNS uses CiviCRM, but is evaluating more advanced options, such as the Green-Party-of-Canada-developed “GVote” software. Experience with either or both is an asset.
• Basic familiarity with Google utilities, such as Google Drive and Google Forms.
• Basic website management experience
• Fundraising experience
• Understanding of privacy considerations and requirements.
• Social media experience

ASSIGNMENTS/TASKS

Primary:

• Arrange monthly meetings of the party Executive committee, including producing agendas (content provided by others) and minutes of meetings.
• Co-ordinate the work of organizing the party’s Annual General Meeting, including room bookings, agendas, notice, minutes, etc.
• Work with the Party’s Membership Secretary to manage the party’s membership database.
• Manage the Party’s formal records – Constitution, By-Laws, Minutes of Meetings. At the moment, this means managing an online (cloud) filing system. However, legacy paper records from previous years will need to be stored in an accessible format, as well.

From time-to-time:

• Unique assignments associated with general election and/or by-election campaigns
• Unique assignments associated with special events: booking rooms, co-ordinating travel, arranging refreshments, co-ordinating with speakers or other special guests, other tasks as necessary.
• Provide first-line-of-contact services, monitoring the party’s primary contact email address and phone number, to answer basic questions and forward all others on to the relevant people within the Party.
• Basic graphic design / communications – event flyers, posters, or electronic graphics that may be needed from time to time to publicise events or campaigns of the Party
• Co-ordinate volunteers throughout the province. This will generally include the maintenance of a list of current volunteer opportunities, connecting new volunteers with locally-active Green members, and providing basic “on-boarding” services, perhaps through occasional videoconferences or other format.
• Holding on to and keeping track of party supplies – banners, T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.
• Other tasks/responsibilities as determined by the Executive of the party, within the general field of administration and co-ordination.

WHAT THE POSITION IS NOT:

• The position is not a policy-writing position.
• The position is not a position that requires membership in a Green, or any, political party. However, it is understood that the work required of this position will further the goals of the Green Party of Nova Scotia. A successful candidate will be excited to do a job that does just that, and will be generally committed to the six principles of the Global Greens: (https://www.globalgreens.org/globalcharter)
• The position is not expected to be a “messaging” position – to the limited degree that the position will be doing communications work, the messages will be completely determined by the Party, and the successful candidate will not be expected to respond to media enquiries beyond the most basic items.

LOCATION:

• The position does not have a specific location of work, and will entertain applications from candidates located anywhere in Nova Scotia. However, it should be noted that in-person meetings will be required from time to time, and travel costs will not generally be reimbursed for meetings held in a relatively central location (Kings, Lunenburg, Hants, Halifax, Colchester and/or Pictou counties), though the party will do its best to diminish such costs, through strategies such as carpooling. It should be noted that all members of the party, included elected party volunteers such as the Leadership and the Executive, are subject to the same cost limitations.
• The successful candidate will have access to an internet connection, their own equipment necessary to access the internet (including by video), and basic office software, and reimbursement is not available for these basic requirements. If the requirements of the job extend beyond these basic requirements, reimbursement or some other arrangement will be made.

Salary & Benefits (GPNS)

• The position offers a wage of $16.75/hour, in line with the most recent calculations for a living wage (based on a 40-hour work-week) in Halifax. It is expected that this wage will be increased by the cost of living for Halifax, or wherever the successful candidate lives. Raises associated with time-of-service and experience are not expected.
• The employee will be paid for all hours worked – no unpaid overtime is expected. However, the actual hours required of the position will vary from week to week. It is expected that the employee will be paid for 20 hours’ work every two weeks ($335), and that hours under/over the expected 10 per week will be tracked and managed by the employee, with weekly reporting to the party. Should the excess or deficit grow to exceed two weeks’ salary, the party and the employee will agree upon a resolution.
• All required Canadian and Nova Scotia benefits will be paid.
• No health care, dental care or other supplementary benefits will be provided.
• Two weeks of paid vacation are provided. In this context, that means that the party expects that its employee will take at least two weeks’ worth of non-working time at some point each year. During those periods, regular bi-weekly paycheques will continue to be provided. However, it may also suit the employee and the party to arrange some other mechanism for ensuring that the employee both takes sufficient time off and receives appropriate vacation pay.

Training

• The employee will be provided with training sufficient to do the tasks requested of the employee. However, it should be noted that the party does not have a significant budget for training expenses. Therefore, it is expected that the employee will generally seek out and determine required training. The employee will be paid for training time, though it should be noted that training is not expected to take up more than 50% of the employee’s time in any week, or 5-10% of the employee’s time overall.

Supervision

• The employee will be provided with a single person who will be the point of contact within the Executive committee of the party. This person will be one of the Officers of the Party (One of the two Presidents, General Secretary or Treasurer). This person will be authorised to guide the employee’s priorities, task list, travel, and training. Should the relationship or communication between that person and the employee be unsatisfactory for some reason, the employee will always have contact information for, and the right to address concerns to, in order, the Human Resources Committee (three members), and the Executive Committee (19 members).

Our regrets, but only candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted.

If anyone is interested in offering to drive or joining in a carpool, please use the comments below to connect with each other. As a reminder, the Special General Meeting will be held in Pictou, 9 am – 5 pm, on October 27, with registration opening at 8:30. The night before, Friday night, there will be a casual social gathering that you are welcome to attend starting at 7 pm at the Stone Soup Cafe.