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Public affairs consultants either work in-house for an organisation (e.g., a charity, pressure group, business, or professional association), or for a consultancy acting on behalf of a range of clients. Public affairs consultancies may be independent or part of a larger public relations (PR) or communications company. Several specialist public affairs consultancies have been taken over by larger organisations in recent years, although they often continue to function independently within the parent group.
The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) website lists around 60 firms which are solely public affairs consultancies. The website also details how large these partnerships are and the clients they work for.
Most consultancies are fairly small, very often with less than 20 staff. The majority of consultancies are based in London or Brussels, although there are also a significant number in Edinburgh and, to a lesser extent, Cardiff and Belfast.
Several of the larger PR agencies have a specialised public affairs or government relations division.
Search graduate jobs on this site.
Specialist recruitment agencies, such as Peter Childs and Ellwood and Atfield advertise vacancies on their websites, but they rarely handle entry-level vacancies and are usually aimed at candidates with previous experience e.g. two to three years' experience of working for an MP.
Only a minority of vacancies are advertised, so you will need to make speculative applications to consultancies. Most will keep a good CV on file to refer to when a vacancy does occur. Be prepared for the fact that you may be called in for an interview even if there is no current vacancy. Use the following information sources for contact details:
See also job hunting tips and applications, CVs and interviews.
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