BR-2308 Tech4Wildlife Communications Undergraduate Intern

Overview

WWF Overview

For 60 years, WWF has worked to help people and nature thrive. As one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, WWF works in more than 100 countries, connecting cutting-edge conservation science with the collective power of our partners in the field – more than one million supporters in the United States and five million globally, as well as partnerships with communities, companies, and governments.

Our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion at WWF is an organization as diverse as the world we protect; where the richness of all our unique views, experiences, and backgrounds combines to create the most sustainable and inclusive conservation outcomes possible — bringing the greatest benefit to the planet and every person who lives on it.

Across the many cultures and individuals that represent WWF, we are unified by one mission, one brand, and one common set of values: Courage, Respect, Integrity and Collaboration.

BRIDGE – Building Relationships, Inclusivity, Diversity, Growth, and Excellence

WWF’s diversity-focused internship program, BRIDGE, aims to recruit professionals early in their careers who bring fresh thinking and innovation to the environmental and conservation sector and are well positioned to develop into the next generation of leaders. Our mission is to increase exposure of students from underrepresented populations to conservation and environmental careers, provide professional development opportunities, reduce the barriers to attracting a diverse pool of internship candidates, and develop a pipeline for future WWF hires from underrepresented populations.

Position Summary

WWF is seeking an intern to help WILDLABS expand our signature #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge event focused on conservation technology. This intern will assist with media outreach, community engagement leading up to the event, and content creation that highlights the exciting conservation tech stories found within our community and at WWF, for both professional conservation audiences and the general public.

This intern will work closely with the WILDLABS editorial lead to pitch and create original content focused on the WILDLABS community and WWF's own conservation tech projects (this may include content such as articles, photo essays, videos, and social media threads), build a database of past challenges’ photos that can be shared with media outlets, and increase engagement within our community through promotional comms materials, direct outreach, and live events. This intern will also have the opportunity to connect with communications team members from all of WILDLABS’ partner organizations, including WWF, to build a promotional strategy across these international conservation networks, and to connect with journalists from media outlets to pitch conservation tech-focused features. Finally, this intern may also work alongside other WILDLABS team members across projects that have collaborative potential; for example, if this intern is interested in pursuing stories of biologging, they may find ways to link our ongoing biologging research work with the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge.

Responsibilities

Internship Description:

Content:

• Pitching and creating content highlighting our conservation tech community’s global projects and WWF-specific projects. Content may include articles, photo essays, videos, and social media threads and stories.

• Leading the #Tech4Wildlife social media strategy by creating our social media calendar leading up to the event.

• Investigating how the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge can expand to Instagram in 2023 and writing up a strategy for conducting it on this platform concurrently with Twitter.

Media Outreach:

• Building a database of photo permissions from previous years’ challenge entries for use in media outreach campaigns.

• Conducting outreach to major media outlets to pitch and promote conservation tech stories.

Communications and Event Promotion:

• Assisting with the creation of our bi-monthly digest, as well as individual mailers about the event.

• Coordinating with comms teams across WILDLABS’ partner organizations, including WWF, to build a promotional strategy.

• Attending WILDLABS virtual events to engage the community with the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge, and conducting one-on-one outreach to community members to encourage participation.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Must be an actively enrolled student and not received degree at time of internship start date.

• Pursuing an Associate’s or Bachelor’s program in communications, conservation science, or journalism. Those studying outside these fields are still high encouraged to apply.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal), including ability to liaise across teams and cultures.

• Interest in conservation technology (i.e. camera traps, drones, biologging tags, machine learning, eDNA, etc.).

• Ability to plan, organize and prioritize workload.

• Ability to learn about new topics quickly and transform them into content that can speak to general audiences while capturing the importance of scientific or technological information.

• Flexible to needs of working with an internationally-based team across timezones.

• Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration:

• Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular.

• Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable.

• Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement.

• Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Speaking or reading a language other than English.
• Previous experience in media relations, social media, or journalism.

Learning Outcomes

• Developing engaging, informative, and impactful content that connects with both conservation tech audiences and general audiences.

• Collaboration with others across disciplines, teams, and major international conservation organizations.

• Handling and supporting a wide portfolio of topical areas and deliverables, ranging in level of urgency and timeliness.

• Building a portfolio of content to highlight your skills.

• Learning about and gaining a deeper understanding of strategic and programmatic communications, through a conservation lens.

• Firsthand exposure and experience to communications, wildlife programs, and conservation technology in one of the leading conservation NGOs in the world.

WWF interns will be provided a set of professional development opportunities, aimed at increasing their exposure to conservation and sustainability careers. This includes:

• Development discussions with their manager;

• Up to two online courses through Cornell University’s eCornell program;

• Speed mentoring with different WWF teams;

• Opportunity to present their work to intern peers and WWF staff;

• Session on resume and interviewing best practices.

Interns will also have access to an array of networking opportunities. This includes meetings with WWF’s CEO, the senior management team, Employee Resource Groups, and representatives from other departments.

Location:

US-Remote: WWF employs interns in all states with the exception of: Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming.

Compensation:

Paid - $17 per hour (full-time, 35 hours per week)

Internship Dates:

Internship will run from June 5, 2023 to August 11, 2023

How to Apply:

Please submit a resume & cover letter through our Careers page, Requisition# BR-2308. In your cover letter, please describe your relevant skills and experience for this position and include a discussion of 1) how you have demonstrated a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and 2) what you hope to gain from the internship.

If selected for the role, you will need to provide 1 letter of recommendation as part of the WWF application process.

* Please note that intern must have U.S. work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa.

WWF is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace and requires all US-based staff to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. WWF will consider requests for accommodation from the vaccine requirement based on disability, medical contraindication, sincerely held religious belief, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.

As an EOE/AA employer, WWF will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status.