Despite the state of the economy and deep public sector cuts, the outlook of those working in public affairs is positive. According to a recent public affairs survey carried out by research consultancy ComRes on behalf of recruitment specialists VMA Group, there is a mood of optimism as practitioners think there will be greater opportunities for their organisation; they do not expect there to be more redundancies; and they believe their company’s financial situation will improve in the coming year.

Discussing job security, Victoria Fawcett, consultant, VMA Group, public affairs practice, says: “On the whole public affairs practitioners do not appear to be particularly worried about being made redundant in the next 12 months. Indeed 74 per cent of all practitioners say that they are not very, or not at all worried about being made redundant, compared to 22 per cent who say that they (down from 27 per cent in 2011). This level of confidence is shared across all the age groups and is fairly consistent amont practitioners from in-house, agency and freelancer organisations.”

Level of worry at being made redundant in the next 12 months

Source: State of Public Affairs Report 2012, ComRes

Regarding the skills required to be a good public affairs practitioner, there appears to be a consensus that being able to communicate effectively is key. Social media skills are seen as less important than may be predicted. In PRmoment’s recent analysis of the European Communication Monitor 2012 the importance of having social media skills was highlighted. However, for those working in public affairs, it seems this is considered to be only the ninth most important attribute of a practitioner, although this has moved up a place from 2011. Generally, the most important attributes for being a good public affairs practitioner have not changed since 2011. Julia Thomas, senior consultant, VMA Group, public affairs practice explains: “The top three important attributes remain the ability to effectively communicate the organisation’s/client’s message, and solve problems and network. Similarly, experience outside the communications industry and numeracy skills are seen to be the least important.”

Most important attributes of public affairs practitioners

Source: State of Public Affairs Report 2012, ComRes

However, Thomas does highlight one change: “The one attribute that has seen a shift in the level of importance is having influential contacts. This is seen to be less important than it was last year, it records a mean score of 5.76 compared with 6.26 in 2011.”

Background
 

This feature draws on the State of Public Affairs Report 2012 conducted by ComRes on behalf of VMA Group. ComRes surveyed 393 public affairs practitioners online between 23 April and 8 June 2012. Information was gathered about the individuals’ roles and organisations in order to provide a detailed profile of the sample. Results have been tracked from the previous year’s research in March 2011.