As such, this has created an opening here at NixonMcInnes for someone to cover my role while I’m away. It’s an amazing opportunity to work with the loveliest people I know.

We’ve had some fantastic candidates so far and the window for applying is only open until the end of this week.

We’re looking for someone who knows their PM onions inside out, can work as part of a team here, know when to prod (and when not to) and is keen to work in a democratic culture like ours.

The role is varied – and includes managing pitches, projects and internal initiatives from inception to delivery, keeping a sharp eye on budget, deliverables and quality. Alongside the PM stuff, the role involves working with the entire team, owning company wide resourcing to ensure that the company continues to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible by ensuring the right work gets to the right people at the right time.

The critical stuff we need is:

_Brilliant people skills are essential – you’ll be working with everyone in the business
_At least 5 years experience managing digital projects and programs
_Ability to manage multiple projects in one go
_Solid client handling skills – knowing when to be firm and when to be soft
_Risk identification and mitigation
_The usual office skills – spreadsheets a must
_Sound knowledge of the social web
_Good web skills – you’ll be using a number of online systems

We’d love to hear from you if this is something that interests you – you can read more about the role and apply via Wired Sussex.

While our many of our consultants are working on large internal social business and change initiatives for our clients, a glut of campaigns from key clients means we have an immediate and pressing need for experienced freelance social media consultants to work on ‘traditional’ social campaigns.

Please get in touch with Matt in our team if you meet the following criteria and have availability in Nov, Dec and into January and beyond.

• Overall: we love working with people that are clever, trustworthy and fast! :)
• Experienced in leading and delivering Social Media Marketing / Online PR campaign activities for major brands – with strong recent portfolio
• Leading and contributing to idea generation and development of creative concepts (that can work in the real-world) with teams including clients
• Confident, nice and authentic personal style, including with clients
• Bulletproof personal management, organisation and ability to get on with things
• Must be able to do 60% or more of time located at NMHQ in Brighton (we are 9 mins walk from Brighton station)
• You get the human bit of the social, the heart and the passion

We offer:

• Brilliant, pioneering clients
• Lovely, clever team members to learn with
• Prompt payment
• An ongoing stream of work
• Beer on Fridays

Please contact Matt – matt matheson at nixonmcinnes – with your CV, guidance on rates and any relevant recent links.

As an aside, if you are more on the business consulting side of things, have Social Business (whatever you define that as) experience, and have the extensive experience and internal experience in very large organisations necessary to convincingly lead initiatives then do also drop Matt an introductory email.

Thank you.

Occasionally people get in contact with NixonMcInnes and ask if we have an intern scheme. The answer is complicated. We do and we don’t. This post is an update for anyone interested in experiencing life here at NM.

Does NM have an intern programme?

Technically no. We have no formal process or procedure for taking on interns, but in the past two years we have hosted three interns. This has either been through a formal process and arranged by Wired Sussex (this was how we found the wonderful Caz), or through people that we know.

Is NM working on an intern programme?

YES! It’s been a project of mine for the past couple of months to flesh out what a more organised scheme would look like and then to make it happen. The good news is that I’m almost there, the bad news is that a thorny issue (see below) needs to be resolved before we go ‘live’.

I’m really keen to develop a programme that’s fun for those coming into NM, but also something that is beneficial for us. I also wanted an application process that focussed on the applicant’s personality rather than their social media smarts. For us the benefit of hosting an intern isn’t farming them out on client tasks, but to learn from them, to be inspired and to expand our understanding of technology and people.

This could be a teenager shooting down myths, explaining how he and his friends actually use mobile phones, or it could be a stay-at-home parent highlighting the technological challenges faced by a modern family.

Why the hold-up?!?!

When Will and I sat down to map out our ideal intern programme we were adamant that it should be diverse. As stated above we don’t want people for their Twitter numbers. We want interesting and interested people from all walks of life.

When I presented version 1.0 of the programme to the team a couple of weeks back the main debate was around paying interns. Some argued that without subsidised travel and/or payment of some kind we would never have diverse applications as certain people simply couldn’t afford to spend a week with us. Others argued that passionate individuals, whatever their background, would make it happen.

We need to think about the financial impact to us whatever route we take, and also bear in mind best practice and the relevant legal/employment issues. It’s annoyingly complex but I’m confident that once it’s sorted the programme will be stronger for having answered this question.

What would an intern do?

This is still being fleshed out but loosely speaking you would be doing a bit of everything. You would have a manager for the week whose job it would be to get you involved in internal brainstorms, external client meetings and probably some mundane tasks in between. We also want interns to produce something over the week. This might be a blog post, a small robot replica of Will, or a presentation to the team on a topic of your choice.

How long would an intern placement last?

Five days. Monday to Friday. Normal working hours, which for us is normally 9 to 5.

This sounds interesting, how can I apply?

Until I’ve answered the question above, any applications received (people normally send an email into info@nixonmcinnes.co.uk) are being responded to and stored in a folder in my inbox. When everything is squared away we’ll be announcing the application process on this blog, on our various Twitter profiles and maybe by sandwich board if I can rustle one up.

What if I have an opinion on what the intern programme should or shouldn’t be?

Leave a comment below. I’m genuinely interested in what people would want from a week with NM, so will answer questions you have and probably ask some back.

We are looking for the right person to join our fun and lively team of social media experts for a temporary 9 month contract.  Are you, or is someone you know our new Office Manager / Bookkeeper?

This is a temporary part time role (4 days a week) from mid March until mid January.

We would like to introduce the newest member of our team to you.

Please welcome, Murray Cox (we affectionately like to call him Muzza).

Murray joins us as a Social Media Consultant; heading up the new Content & Conversations practice within NixonMcInnes.

Murray is an ex-BBC online journalist who brings 15 years of mainstream media experience including 11 years spent in online news. Working in a variety of roles, including as an online journalist and producer, Murray has represented organisations including the BBC, Yahoo! and News International. During a stint in Australia in the late 1990s Murray worked on the initial launch and roll-out of MSN, underlining his heritage in online media.

Quote from Murray: “Every company is becoming a media company by virtue of their unfiltered, freely-published conversations with the outside world: my role is to help our clients create compelling content that engages, and so keep them at the forefront of this bold new digital world”

Quote from Will: “The shift in how big businesses engage with consumers makes the credit crunch look like a toddler’s garden party. Our mission is to help the smartest companies be bold, transparent and to drastically improve the quality of their engagement with real people: content in this is key.”

See the online coverage from PR Week.