Sports Information Specialist

Varies by teams’ schedule:

In addition to a competitive compensation structure , Palomar College also offers additional benefits.

Publicizes and promotes Palomar College athletic teams and student athletes; develops and distributes numerous media guides, team programs, press releases and other materials; updates and compiles information for results, statistics and historical records; creates, lays out and maintains content on Athletics website and various social media platforms; attends home team and designated away events to perform a variety of functions in support of the athletic program; represents the District as a voting member of athletic associations.

To be eligible for this position, you must meet and provide evidence of the following minimum qualifications:

Experience: Five years of experience working for an athletic department, media outlet, public relations or marketing organization.

Note: For work experience, a “year” is defined as equivalent to 40 hours per week for 12 months.

AND

Education/Training: Equivalent to the completion of the twelfth grade. Training in scorekeeping and statistical input for various sports may be required (i.e. Presto, Stat Crunch, Hudl, etc.)

Transcripts must be included to receive credit for education and/or to substitute education in lieu of experience (i.e. Bachelor’s degree = 4 years of experience). Click here for Guidelines for Equivalency for Classified Positions.

Only coursework completed at, and degrees awarded by, accredited institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education will be considered as satisfying the minimum qualifications. Coursework and degrees that are completed outside of the United States are required to have transcripts evaluated (evaluation to U.S. equivalency and a course by course analysis) by an appropriate U.S. credentials evaluation service. For a list of credentials evaluation agencies accepted by Palomar College, visit the National Association of Credentials Evaluation Services (NACES) website at https://www.naces.org/index, or the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc. (AICE) website at http://aice-eval.org/.

Palomar College serves over 30,000 students from a variety of backgrounds and we are proud to be a Hispanic Serving Institution. Our student body is rich in its diversity. Click here to see a quick overview of our student demographics on our recent Student Fact Sheet.

Palomar College is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and antiracism (DEIAA). We are dedicated to empowering students to succeed and are guided by our core values; some of which are the following:

All positions require cultural competency which includes the sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students, faculty, and staff.

• Experience with and/or a demonstrated knowledge of a wide variety of college- or professional-level team sports.

• Coursework beyond the minimum in journalism, communications, English or a closely related field from an accredited college or university.

• Experience with graphic creation for social media and/or scoreboards.

• Experience with live stream and broadcast production.

Possession of an appropriate, valid California driver’s license by time of appointment.

Supervision Received From: Director, Athletics

Essential responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Develops ideas for, writes and distributes press releases, game stories, feature stories, and athlete and coaching staff biographies; writes, designs, edits, lays out and coordinates production and distribution, both in hard copy versions and electronically, of numerous Palomar College sports team rosters, schedules and media guides/programs ranging from simple to elaborate in scale.

2. Conducts media relations activities; creates and maintains effective working relationships with members of the sports media; provides media outlets with detailed sports results, stories, background information, statistics, records and photos for publication proactively and as requested.

3. Keeps, compiles, inputs and transmits statistics for individual games and cumulative seasons; keeps official score at home games for basketball, baseball, softball and other sports; manages press box for football games.

4. Assists in meeting compliance standards of governing authorities related to the activities of the athletic program including the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC), Southern California Football Association (SCFA) and Southern California Wrestling Association (SCWA); may represent the District as a voting member at conference meetings.

5. Coordinates assignments of sports photographers; coordinates and compiles photos of student athletes and coaches; maintains sports photography portfolios.

6. Updates the Athletics website and various social media platforms by utilizing web applications to maintain and post a wide range of athletic information, including press releases, game stories, feature stories, scores, photos and statistics.

Marginal Functions:

1. Serves as Palomar College Athletic Hall of Fame historian including developing lists of nominees and data for the selection committee, overseeing the induction ceremony and acting as liaison to inductees.

2. Performs related duties and responsibilities as required.

Knowledge of:

1. Principles, practices and applications of marketing, public relations, public affairs and media relations.

2. Associated Press (AP) and other journalistic standards, methods, procedures and techniques used to write press releases and stories and develop publicity materials.

3. Advanced principles and practices of sound journalistic and business communication; correct English usage, including spelling, grammar and punctuation.

4. Advanced knowledge of sports rules, National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) scorekeeping, and statistical guidelines for a variety of sports.

5. Practices used to compile detailed team and individual statistics for a wide variety of sports.

6. Digital camera use and operation and lighting and setting conditions that affect photo quality.

7. Research methods and data analysis techniques.

8. Provisions of the California Public Records Request Act.

9. Rules, regulations and decisions of NCAA and other associations/conferences governing athletic programs.

10. Standard web applications applicable to areas of assigned responsibility.

11. Modern office practices, procedures and equipment including computers and applicable software programs.

Skill in:

1. Marketing, promoting, publicizing and generating media interest in sports and student athletes.

2. Utilizing AP and other journalistic standards to draft and distribute press releases and feature and game articles.

3. Writing, designing, laying out and coordinating production, both in electronic and hard copy versions, of athletics promotional publications, such as media guides, game programs, brochures and flyers.

4. Creating, calculating, compiling, maintaining and interpreting detailed statistics and individual and team historical and current records.

5. Representing an organization to game officials, coaches, administrators and athletes from other colleges and conferences.

6. Developing and maintaining contacts with sports media personnel.

7. Operating a computer and other standard office equipment and using web publication, spreadsheet, word processing and enterprise software.

8. Organizing and maintaining specialized files.

9. Maintaining confidentiality of student files and records.

10. Maintaining sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, age, cultural, physical or mental disability, medical condition, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, race and ethnic backgrounds of community college students, faculty, and staff.

11. Exercising tact and diplomacy in dealing with sensitive, complex and confidential student issues and situations.

12. Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with those encountered in the course of work.

Environmental Conditions: The employee works under typical office conditions, and the noise level is usually quiet to moderate. The employee is required to attend a number of sporting events where the noise level may be loud. Work during evenings and weekends, including attendance at athletic events, is required.

Physical Conditions: Essential and marginal functions may require physical fitness requirements necessary to perform the job functions with or without accommodation, such as the ability to sit, stand and walk; use hands to repetitively finger, handle and feel computers and standard business equipment; and reach with hands and arms. Requires frequent travel to District and other locations.

The hiring committee will determine if interviews will be conducted in person at the College or via Zoom. Travel expenses are not reimbursed by the College. If a second-level interview is required, second-level travel reimbursement is only available for eligible candidates. HR will notify those who are eligible when second-level interviews are scheduled.