Public Affairs Specialist

We recognize our competitive advantage -- our people. We believe in our people, who share our vision of meeting the needs of our employees, customers, and communities and who carry out the continued success of the company.

Our employees are committed to the company's foundational values: integrity, excellence, teamwork, environmental stewardship, and community commitment. In turn, we invest in our employees, providing opportunities for challenge and advancement and offering a competitive compensation package.

Posting End Date: 02/28/2025 at 11:59PM HST

BRIEF POSTING DESCRIPTION:

The M NI GOVT & COMM AFFAIRS Department of the M GOVT RELATIONS Division at Hawaiian Electric Company has 1 Management vacancy available. (Role: Professional)

JOB FUNCTION:

Develops, implements, and coordinates community relations strategies and programs, to further the Company’s goals and objectives, including identifying critical community issues and concerns that potentially impact the Company and recommending actions designed to address them.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Develops and implements strategic community outreach plans and tactics aimed at advancing most significant Company initiatives. Actions focus on raising awareness about and gaining community support for the Company’s plans to reach its renewable energy goals including but not limited to its hazard mitigation efforts, Climate Change Action plan and planning for new generation resources. Develops plans that incorporate insight gained through building key relationships with residential customers, community members and leaders, community associations and boards, and other civic, community, and charitable organizations. Strategies also incorporate plans and tactics to meet increased regulatory, government, community, customer expectations for outreach and engagement – this helps to both build relationships, while keeping projects on cost and on schedule. Evening and/or weekend work may be necessary.
• Recruits, manages and supervises large groups of company volunteers for high visibility community projects, ensuring safe work practices and conditions. Provides communication and information tools to prepare them to respond to customer and community inquiries about company goals, projects and services.
• Apprise, inform, and educate management and employees about customer and community concerns that may impact operations, to assure that the Company is fully aware of the environment in which it is operating and doing business.  Preparing to inform management and employees about customer and community concerns requires the solicitation, monitoring, and assessing of customer and community issues, causes and sentiments, as well as community newsletters and other communications to track community sentiments and feeling. Provides proactive advice to the company to achieve public acceptance.
• Functions as the company’s liaison with customer and community stakeholders for major capital projects and smaller-scale projects. Provides community relations guidance, consultation, and strategy development for these projects to project personnel and assists in preparation of presentations for project managers. Makes presentations, public/community notifications, as well as presents testimony before public groups and agencies in sometimes hostile environments to explain the Company’s position and address sensitive community concerns. Responds to escalated concerns from community members impacted by projects. Provides cultural support for Company projects in culturally sensitive areas and assists project leads with compliance with historic preservation issues. 
• Provides support to education and consumer affairs programs and services to foster positive relationships; increase awareness and understanding of electrical energy; and promoting conservation and efficiency programs to the general public, educational sector and groups of strategic significance to the Company.
• Assists with responding to inquiries from federal, state, and county elected officials and government agencies.
• Participates in Company emergency response activities as assigned, such as a Liason Officer; including any activities required to prepare for such emergency response.  Other duties and special projects as assigned.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Knowledge Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in business, a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Working knowledge of key community organizations and business in general.
• Working knowledge of federal, state, economic, business and political climates.
• Demonstrated knowledge of communications and information dissemination tools and techniques, including PowerPoint.
• Working understanding of the ways people communicate, listen, learn and react.
• Working knowledge of personal computers and related software applications such as; spreadsheets, word-processing, etc.
• Working knowledge of digital communications platforms and channels, including social media.
• Working knowledge of budgeting and forecasting processes.
• Expert knowledge of Company operations; working knowledge of utility industry operations; basic familiarity with varying communities the Company serves, and the issues facing it and the industry.
• Sound understanding of individual, group and organizational behavior.

Skills Requirements

The community relations function relies on a high level of people and communication skills necessary to form and maintain positive and genuine relationships under potentially adverse conditions. It also requires a high level of business skills, organization, and communication savvy.

People and Skills 

• Leadership skills and ability to work with a variety of individuals dealing with sensitive, difficult or confrontational issues and hostile environments. 
• Ability to handle sensitive, difficult, or confrontational issues with professionalism while using tact, courtesy and discretion. Must enjoy working with people.
• Strong interpersonal skills to influence and persuade various groups or individuals.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage volunteer groups at company-sponsored activities.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strong positive relationships with community and government personnel.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, remain flexible in a demanding work environment, handle multiple tasks concurrently, and adapt to rapidly changing priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to work well with people at all levels and from diverse departments in the company. Ability to work collaboratively as a member of a team. 
• Demonstrated ability to effectively represent company position in the community regardless of personal position.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully go into a community “cold” and gain long-term respect and credibility.

Business and Communication Skills

• Excellent understanding of the value of community relations to the success of an organization.
• Excellent writing skills. Ability to write clearly, concisely and accurately and to meet deadlines.
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills, including the ability to think on one’s feet and respond to media and customer inquiries in clear, credible and concise terms.
• Analytical and conceptual skills to assess issues, to recommend proper actions and to coordinate/follow through on implementation of details.
• Ability to take financial, statistical and other highly technical information and accurately simplify for broad consumption.
• Able to maintain a flexible schedule including evening and weekend work in the community to ensure success.
• Established reputation for personal credibility and possessing high ethical values and conduct.

Experience Requirements

• Three to five years of experience in public affairs including but not limited to government relations, community engagement or community volunteer experience.
• Several years (3-5) of project management experience, desired. 
• Experience in providing testimony and fielding questions at public hearings and community meetings.
• Experience in the area of strategic planning, business process improvement, new business development, or related field, desired.

Role: Professional 

Number of Vacancies: 1 

Location: Kahului – Maui

Hiring Range: The hiring range for the PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST [Req ID 9549] position is $85,700.00 to $109,300.00. The person selected will be placed according to his/her skills and qualifications. 

About Hawaiian Electric Companies
Hawaiian Electric Companies provide electricity and services to 95 percent of the state's 1.4 million residents. The company is also one of the state's leading employers and a major contributor and supporter of community and educational programs.

The demand for power that has fueled the growth of the Hawaiian Islands has been met by Hawaiian Electric Companies for well over a century. And as the next millennium unfolds, the company is committed to providing quality service and seeking clean local energy sources to power generations of Hawaii families and businesses to come. Visit us at http://hawaiianelectric.com.

Interested individuals should apply online. The application must clearly indicate the demonstrated experience/knowledge/skills/abilities the candidate possesses which specifically qualifies him/her for the position.

Applicant Certification
By submitting an application for the position, candidates:
1. Authorize the Hawaiian Electric Companies to confirm all statements contained in the application and/or any materials submitted and made a part of the application as they relate to the position and to the extent permitted by law;
2. Authorize and consent to, without reservation, the Hawaiian Electric Companies sharing any and all information regarding previous or present employment, educational training or personal information from their records and from any other source with the hiring department or subsidiary company;
3. Release, discharge, and hold harmless, Hawaiian Electric Companies, from any and all liability for any damage which may be claimed as a result of furnishing such information to the hiring department or subsidiary company;
4. Authorizes release and transfer of all personnel records to be maintained by the hiring company in the event of an inter-company transfer; and
5. Authorize, direct, and consent to Hawaiian Electric Companies and/or its authorized agents to conduct investigations into candidates' background. These investigations may include, but are not limited to searches for information about applicants; record of criminal convictions to the extent permitted by law, education records, professional certifications, personal character references, and employment history.

EEO Statement
Hawaiian Electric Companies is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. We actively seek diversity among our employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, sex/gender (including gender identity/expression), ancestry/national origin, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, sexual orientation, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, domestic or sexual violence victim status, or other protected categories in accordance with state and federal laws. We further encourage individuals with disabilities, minorities, veterans and women to apply.

Hawaiian Electric Companies complies with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Any request for reasonable accommodation needed during the application process should be communicated by the candidate to the HR Service Center at (808) 543-4848.

Affiliate Disclaimer
Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, and Hawaii Electric Light (“Company”) are Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) regulated companies. The disclosure relating to Affiliate Transaction Requirements that follows is made pursuant to the PUC’s Decision and Order No. 35962, issued on December 19, 2018, and subsequently modified by Order No. 36112, issued on January 24, 2019 in Docket No. 2018-0065.

By submitting your application, you understand and acknowledge that, if you are hired by the Company and subsequently transferred, assigned or otherwise employed by an Affiliate, said Affiliate will be required to make a one-time payment to the Company in an amount up to twenty-five percent (25%) of your base annual compensation.  

In addition, if you are hired by the Company and subsequently transferred, assigned or otherwise employed by an Affiliate or an Affiliate-Related Entity, for a period of one year, you cannot appear in negotiations or otherwise interact directly with the Company or work on the same matter that you worked on while with the Company. 

Affiliate is defined as “any person or entity that possesses an ‘affiliate interest’ in a utility as defined by section 269-19.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes (“HRS”), including a utility’s parent holding company, except as otherwise provided by HRS section 269-19.5(h).”

Affiliate-Related Entity is defined as “a third party that provides electricity-related services in a regulated utility’s service territory that has a material financial, operational, or ownership interest with an unregulated affiliate of the utility and of whom the utility has reasonable knowledge.” 

For a current list of all Affiliates and Affiliate-Related Entities, please see:
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/about-us/key-performance-metrics/financial/affiliate-transactions

This list may be amended, updated or revised from time to time without notice.