As a former Ottawa Citizen editor and speech writer for the PMO, Algonquin’s new director of communications has extensive experience under his belt.
Yet, since starting the job on July 6, Scott Anderson said one of his biggest challenges yet in not only finding has not been what you’d expect.
“Finding my way around and getting to know people (was) my biggest challenge in the beginning at an organization of this size,” said Anderson, during an interview in his fifth floor office in C-building.
Having started to get a handle on this first obstruction, Anderson has been able to focus on his new responsibilities here at the college. These include managing internal and external communications for the college as well as government relations and event planning.
And while it may not sound like the communications department does a whole lot that affects students, they’re actually behind many initiatives aimed at helping them get around and succeed in their environment.
“We manage the social media feeds for the college, the main ones,” said Anderson. “So there’s a lot of time spent, especially around this time of year, helping students find their way around, get to the right places (and) understand how the college works.”
Algonquin president Cheryl Jensen said the hiring process for the job was lengthy, lasting about six weeks, and is ultimately happy with the results. She said that Anderson not only writes important communication announcements well, but brings a good perspective on communications to the table.
“We’ve been able to hire extremely talented people to the Algonquin team, and Scott is one of them,” said Jensen.
And so far, Anderson’s favourite part of the job is simply the people he’s working with.
“I really love my team, it’s a great team,” said Anderson. “It’s always a bit of a mystery what kind of a team you’re going to end up with, but I won the lottery on that one.”
Anderson joins Algonquin after accumulating over 20 years in the communications field. He spent seven years as editor-in-chief of the Ottawa Citizen until 2007, before working with Postmedia Network Inc. Anderson then worked in the PMO as a speech writer and senior advisor until July 2015.