In the past few years, Citizens Advice have upped the calibre of their external affairs work. They have shifted to a more adaptable way of working, forming multidisciplinary teams that combine key influencing skills in an agile way. They have focused more tightly on impact, professionalised their media operations and developed best-in-sector approaches to tricky issues like the management of crisis communications.
Prospectus were mandated to recruit a Director of External Affairs to lead their news and public affairs teams and executive support team. The Director needed to be a bold yet supportive leader who could take their external affairs work to the next level. We undertook a search to find leaders who brought a track record of securing high-level media coverage that resulted in real impact. Strong candidates needed to be experienced in using a range of channels of influence and modern forms of media and understand the way Westminster and Whitehall operate. Politically savvy, outcome-focused, and committed to data-driven policy work, candidates needed to be able to evidence a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the way they recruit and build teams, and in the way they lead policy work.
We attracted over 50 applications and a shortlist of ten were taken forward to interview, with a good diversity of gender and ethnicity. After a competitive process, Ruwani Purcell was appointed bringing experience from her time as Deputy Director of Communications at Teenage Cancer Trust, and Head of Campaigns, Media and PR at Parkinson’s.