Croeso

Andy, Web Editor
South Norfolk Council

"Before working for the council, I'd had three years of relevant experience, so I decided to apply for the web editor role. Since working for the council I have had the opportunity to do training within my area of work (web design) and also to gain a Prince II practitioner qualification in project management.

My job involves creating, editing and publishing content on the council's two websites (a public website and and internal intranet).  A typical day would include some or all of the following tasks: adding content such as committee papers, job vacancies, news stories etc. to the sites; working with authors (officers in the council at all levels) to prepare their content for publication; taking part in procurement exercises for new web systems (eg, content management systems); designing the sites to meet usability and accessibility guidelines.

Although no particular qualification was required when I came into post, I would say that a sound knowledge of HTML, the ability to use image editing software (eg, Photoshop) and some copy-editing/copy-writing experience are all really useful if you are thinking of applying for a similar role.

Having previously been made redundant I'd say the best thing about this job is security. There are also some opportunities to be creative and learn new skills to enhance future career prospects.

The most challenging thing about the role is getting across the message to staff and councillors that both the website and intranet can be tools of enormous benefit to them in their jobs, and not just extra work in maintaining their content.

In future I would like to concentrate more on the editorial side of web content management (ie, writing for the web)."