We are offering a fast-track route to an Account Manager role within our political monitoring team. This is a deadline-driven role that involves scanning and summarising the day’s political proceedings into well-written, easily understood reports. This is not an in-depth policy job; we run a production shift akin to a busy newsroom, gathering and scanning large volumes of text for relevance to our clients. For this reason, we’re looking for a candidate who is already well-versed in the day-to-day workings of Holyrood and its proceedings. The successful person will have an interest in public policy beyond academic study, experience of scanning/summarising and fast typing. The induction and training process will involve shadowing an existing staff member while training up on client interests and the different monitoring tasks that happen simultaneously across each shift. This post is subject to a three-month probationary period.
Shifts: 37.5 hours per week, Monday – Friday, 08:00 – 16:30
Rate: £17,062.50 during training rising to £19,000 on completion of traineeship + overtime
Contract: Permanent with 3-month probationary period
Start date: Applicants should be available to start in the first half of January.
Duties will include:
- Monitoring daily outputs from the Scottish Parliament, Westminster & European institutions;
- Monitoring news sources, websites and research bulletins for client relevance;
- Summarising data, pro-actively searching sources and providing links to online information;
- Compiling information into daily and weekly briefings;
- As part of an account team, managing relationships with key client contacts and maintaining regular communication (both face-to-face and phone/email) to ensure all their requirements are being met;
- Assisting in the preparation of up-to-date policy profiles and research;
- Keeping effective notes and records as well as maintaining client data;
- Identifying new business opportunities and developing services to enhance portfolio;
- Reporting from party conferences and attending policy and networking events as required;
- Providing a helpful and responsive helpdesk service for client requests.
Skills & Knowledge Required: The successful candidate will be:
- Extremely knowledgeable of Scottish Parliamentary processes and activities
- Able to demonstrate experience of fast-paced working environments
- An instinctive teamworker able to produce accurate work under pressure of time
- Able to demonstrate an ability to exceed customer expectations and develop rapport with clients
- Organised and able to respond to fast-changing situations while still meeting deadlines.
- Proficient in text handling and the use of Microsoft Office packages such as Word, Excel and Outlook
About Us
We are Newsdirect, an independently-owned political intelligence company providing daily monitoring of political news and parliamentary proceedings. We specialise in reporting proceedings of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, but staff also monitor Westminster, the European institutions and the broader political arena. We work from offices on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and in Cardiff Bay, close to the devolved assemblies that we report on.
Our service is all about the intelligent scanning of the day’s news and political output. Though we’d love to spend the time analysing and pondering the nuances of a particular speech or policy announcement, that’s not our core service. We need to hit the ground running early in the morning (07:00), getting eyes onto the daily digest of news, questions, motions and speeches while being vigilant to the potential relevance for each of our clients. For this reason, text handling and fast typing is just as important as political knowledge and we’re looking for staff who like to work in an organised and collaborative way.
Our clients include large public agencies, influential trade bodies, well-known companies and campaigning charities. Our reputation is built on the talent and dedication of our research and reporting teams who work closely together to provide a seamless service. Staff training is of the utmost importance to us, with everyone participating in a structured development programme - from intern to senior account manager - with regular support sessions and weekly team meetings.
Our Team
- Account Managers look after a portfolio of clients and delivery of their contracted daily and weekly reports;
- Reporters are responsible for news scanning and write-ups and the provision of a live summarising service for parliamentary proceedings;
- All staff contribute to daily monitoring reports, writing up news, collating forward business and researching future events;
- The senior team (Team Leaders, Head of Monitoring, Head of Research and Director) provide additional and strategic support.