Public | Nonprofit Sectors
Public Affairs Executive Search
Sourcing Top-Tier Talent for Clients In the Public Affairs Industry
Public Affairs Executive Recruitment Solutions
Keller Executive Search is widely recognized as a leader in the public affairs recruitment field. We consider it our mission to connect organizations with talented PA and PR professionals who have the skills and leadership qualities to overcome challenges, build influence, and lead their businesses to success.
Public affairs is a growing market with professionals in this field increasingly sought after. As the number of societal and environmental issues that organizations can interact with grows, and things like regulations increase, there is a higher need for the involvement of PA experts across the sector and the brands within it. This is also the case for interaction with emerging industries and technologies. As a result, both the public and private sector offer a range of opportunities for public affairs policy talent.
While there are many opportunities, the public affairs job market is considered competitive. Even with the increasing demand for PA professionals across various industries, the market is saturated meaning that job seekers need to stand out to be noticed. Employers are looking for highly skilled, engaging employees who can showcase their strategic effectiveness when communicating, as well as their proficiency in marketing, data analysis, and digital media.
Similarly, it can be difficult for employers to separate the wheat from the chaff in such a saturated market. More and more businesses are turning to specialized executive recruitment firms like Keller Executive Search to assist them in finding the right leader for their public affairs function.
We understand how important it is for businesses to find leaders and professionals with the necessary expertise for developing, executing, and leveraging campaigns that deliver results. For this reason, our search solutions are tailored to the unique requirements of each business we serve, and we have a long history of providing clientele with successful placements.
Keller Executive Search’s expertise, extensive hands-on experience, vast technical knowledge, and specialized skills in the executive recruitment arena have allowed us to aid countless clients (globally and locally) to find their ideal new employees.
Public Affairs Executive Talent Market
The regulatory and policy operating environment is shaping the talent market for public affairs. The U.S. public affairs and communications workforce employs more than 315,000 workers and continues to grow steadily. At the heart of the industry is the dedicated graduate school, a model first pioneered at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, founded in 1924 as the first school of citizenship and public affairs in the country. The field is rooted in three of the world’s most respected policy schools: Syracuse’s Maxwell School, Indiana University’s O’Neill School, and Harvard’s Kennedy School.
The sector’s biggest employers include FGS Global, Brunswick Group, APCO Worldwide, Teneo, BGR Group, Edelman, and FTI Consulting. Their work touches on government relations, public policy, strategic communications, corporate affairs, regulatory affairs, and advocacy. Government relations leaders, public policy talent, and C-suite corporate affairs personnel are in highest demand.
Keller Executive Search draws on a deep and well-established network across the government, corporate, and advocacy landscape to find the leaders, from policy directors to heads of corporate affairs, who shape an organization’s influence with regulators, stakeholders, and the public.
What We Do
As a leading public affairs search agency, our expert recruiters aim to find and recruit top talent for our clientele’s vacant C-suite, management, and other executive roles. Our passionate recruiters, led by a dedicated client partner, are committed to matching clients with professionals who not only have the qualifications needed to perform well in the role, but also have the necessary skills and attributes to lead their departments to new heights.
To achieve this, we make use of our tailored recruitment process, including Assessment, Talent Acquisition, and Organization Transformation. Our recruiters also utilize their many years of experience and extensive qualifications (both academic and professional).
Assessment
As a first step in our process, we hold a meeting between our expert recruiters and the client. The purpose of this meeting is for us to gain a deep understanding of the client’s business. This includes the dynamics within and between departments, their existing team cultures, as well as their expectations for prospective new employees, such as experience level, qualifications, work ethic, leadership style, and personality type. Additionally, we ensure that we fully understand the requirements and challenges of the job vacancy we aim to fill.
This meeting provides us with important insights that we use as search parameters when looking for our client’s ideal public affairs hire. Through careful research during our headhunting process, we aim to identify professionals who meet client requirements and will contribute to organizational growth with their ability to create and maintain consistent messaging across a range of audiences.
The job seekers we select are then subjected to our rigorous vetting and screening process. We ensure the authenticity of each applicant’s resume and references, and run background checks to screen for criminal records and ensure their professional history is valid. Next, each public affairs professional takes part in advanced psychometric tests. We use these tests to make sure that they have the right personalities, leadership styles, work ethic, and alignment for our client.
The professionals who successfully pass our screening process are compiled into a shortlist for our client. The final interview process is conducted by the client, who is solely responsible for choosing whether or not to hire one of our shortlisted professionals.
Talent Acquisition
Keller Executive Search’s mission is to supply our clientele with premier public affairs recruitment services. We also aim to connect our clients with the very best talent available. To do so, we draw on our recognized membership in NPAworldwide to access a network of professionals with true global reach. From there we are able to carefully hand-pick the right job seekers and match them with the right organizations, whether a corporate team or a communications agency.
However, our services extend beyond executive recruitment; we also act as a strategic advisor, offering a wide variety of consulting, guidance, and support services such as assistance in strategy development for increased employee retention.
Organization Transformation
Because we understand how vital the right public affairs employees can be for a company’s success, we make it our mission to provide our clientele with people who bring the perspective needed to help them thrive now and into the future.
We also aim to aid in organizational transformation by helping our clientele update their systems, improve their strategies, and optimize their employee workflows. In this way, we dedicate ourselves to helping the clients we serve enhance their processes and amplify the influence of their public affairs professionals in order to yield optimal results.
As a result, Keller Executive Search has gained an enduring reputation in the public affairs industry for providing high-quality, reliable search solutions.
Successful Placements in Public Affairs
Vice President of Government Relations
National Trade Association
Chief Public Affairs Officer
Multinational Manufacturing Corporation
Director of Public Policy
Public Policy Think Tank
Managing Director of Strategic Communications
Global Public Relations Firm
Head of Regulatory Affairs
Pharmaceutical Industry Coalition
Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs
Energy Company
President
Business Advocacy Nonprofit
Chief Communications Officer
Healthcare Foundation
Head of Grassroots Advocacy
Political Consulting Firm
Our Approach to Public Affairs Executive Search
Our consultants operate under the motto: “Your success is our success.” This means that we do not consider our services a success unless they help the companies we serve reach their goals. For this reason, we offer search solutions tailored to the unique requirements of every business we serve.
To develop our unique strategy, we first gain in-depth knowledge of our client’s organization, the narrative they want to shape, skill gaps that need filling, and which improvements need to be made. Once we have these insights, our experienced group of consultants use various channels (including a global database) to find professionals who will meet these needs.
Part of our mission is to never stop learning. In order to continuously gain more knowledge of the public affairs job market, we stay abreast of the latest developments, market shifts, the changing language of the field, and new findings, so that we can assist our clients in preparing for the future. We also stay current on the newest technological advancements in the industry, especially those we can utilize at Keller to improve our offerings and results. By doing this, we are ideally placed to find high-performing professionals who not only meet, or even exceed, expectations but are also able to navigate and overcome any challenges they may face in the public affairs sector.
Additionally, we dedicate ourselves to fostering diversity and inclusion across the public affairs workforce. We do so by recommending professionals solely on their suitability for a role and employer. We do not hold any biases against the race, gender, age, religious beliefs, or personal preferences of any applicant.
Behind Our Public Affairs Recruitment Process
Our expert executive recruiters and advisors are known in their relevant fields for their extensive first-hand experience in public affairs recruitment. They have learned many valuable lessons from these experiences. Over the years, they have also helped change and shape our recruitment method to become the tailored approach we use today. One experience had a particularly catalytic impact on our approach, and our colleagues still remember it vividly.
When we first began offering our search services, we used a standardized approach. It yielded moderately successful results for the limited client base we served at that time, as they were businesses of a similar size and with similar hiring needs. As a result, it never occurred to us to change it until we began serving larger and more varied companies. We were soon approached by a big, influential client in need of new public affairs talent, and we eagerly accepted the responsibility of finding it for them.
As we had become used to employing our generic approach, we used it for this project as well. Unfortunately, and to our surprise, it did not yield the successful results we had become accustomed to. The professionals we recommended were not up to our client’s standards and did not meet their needs in terms of leadership style and skill set, even though they had the right qualifications and experience on paper. The placement failed as a result.
This challenging experience helped us realize the many limitations of using a generic recruitment method, and it taught us the value of instead tailoring our solutions to the unique needs of every client we serve.
We have made many successful placements in the industry since adapting and perfecting our customized approach. We’ve made a significant impact on the recruitment sector as a result, and our name has become synonymous with premier, high-quality recruitment services. We have also contributed to a better global understanding of recruitment by inspiring other agencies to make use of similarly tailored methods.
Head to our exclusive Insights section below to learn more about maximizing employee retention rates and encouraging collaboration between teams.
Some Areas We Specialize In
Keller Executive Search is a leading executive recruitment agency capable of finding exceptional public affairs talent for a wide range of fields in this sector. Some of the fields we recruit for include:
- Advocacy
- Corporate Affairs
- Corporate Communications
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Government Affairs/Government Relations
- Investor Relations
- Legislative Affairs
- Media Relations
- Lobbying
- Public Policy
However, we are not limited to the areas listed above. Feel free to contact us and inquire about your public affairs staffing needs.
Positions We Fill In The Public Affairs Industry
Our dedicated, expert team commits itself to finding exceptional, engaging workers with the experience and skills needed to help their businesses reach new heights. We utilize our extensive market knowledge, expertise, and search experience to find great prospective new hires for a range of different roles and their critical responsibilities. These include, but are not limited to, senior-level talent with sharp political acumen, such as public affairs heads, chief communications officers, and the head of external affairs. While we specialize in executive recruitment, our team is also capable of filling mid- and entry-level positions if needed.
Why Choose Us As Your Go-To Public Affairs Executive Recruitment Partner?
Keller Executive Search is known for our ability to match the right individuals with the right company, business, or organization. Over our many years of operating in the field, we have built lasting partnerships with our clientele as a result of our excellent team, superior results, and wealth of services.
We offer a wide range of solutions even after the conclusion of the recruitment process, such as continued support in hiring, onboarding, and retaining employees.
Our Promise – The Right Hire
Our team has only the greatest respect for client privacy. For this reason, we adhere strictly to a high standard of data protection and ethical conduct. We use responsible practices to manage confidential or sensitive client and candidate data and safeguard our clients’ security.
We go to great lengths to supply the organizations we serve with the perfect fit for their needs. However, as experienced recruiters across several industries, we acknowledge that even our tailored approach is not infallible. For this reason, we offer a 365-day replacement program as one of the added benefits we offer our clientele. We will replace, at no extra cost, any professional who is culturally unsuitable, is unable to perform their job responsibilities, or leaves the organization prematurely, at no extra cost to our clients. However, keep in mind that this is only valid within the first 365 days of their employment.
Our expert public affairs recruiters are trained to act on questions, criticism, and other comments from our prospective and current clients respectfully and constructively. We greatly value feedback from our clientele, reflecting our commitment to continually improving our services.
Contact our team today to find out more about our unmatched quality of service and wide variety of search solutions firsthand.
Client Testimonials
"Keller Executive Search was a great help in finding the right PA candidate for our team. In a short time, she has already proved what a difference she'll make for our campaigns. We couldn't be more satisfied."
- Penelope J., CCO
"Their recruiters were diligent in finding exactly what we needed. I was very impressed with their high standards, and the candidates they suggested for our situation were all strong options. Our company has worked with other firms before, but we found that Keller Executive Search services were worth it. I will use their services again."
- Graham H., Head of HR
"Very easy to work with, and the team was very dedicated. Great service and proactive communication. It was a seamless experience working with Keller Executive Search."
- Vivienne E., CEO
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can You Find Candidates With Expertise in a Specific Policy Area, Such as Healthcare or Technology?
What Qualities Do You Look for in a Public Affairs Leader?
Your Premier HR Partner
Tailored Excellence
Our dedicated senior consultants provide attention to detail at every stage of the search process, ensuring tailored results that exceed expectations
Nationwide / Global Talent Acquisition
Leveraging our extensive network, we identify and attract world-class leadership candidates from diverse backgrounds and locations
HR Advisory Services
We offer expert advice to optimize HR processes, boost efficiency, reduce workload, and increase employee retention and engagement.
Fast Turnaround time
Our consultants expedite searches, cutting time-to-hire while securing the best talent available.
Comprehensive Solutions
Beyond recruitment, we provide value-added services from organizational health to leadership development programs
Our Search Practices
We follow the highest industry standards when searching for talent for its clients.
Replacement Program
We contractually commit to replacing any hire that doesn't meet expectations.
Industry-Leading Assessments
We provide thorough evaluations, including personality insights, for shortlisted candidates.
Off-Limits Protection
We protect our clients' interests by marking their entire company workforce off-limits for our candidate sourcing. We prioritize your business excellence.
Dedicated Points of Contact
Every client has two points of contact. An account manager and a senior consultant This ensures fast & continued response
Unbiased Third-Party References
We conduct extensive background checks, covering credit, education, criminal, and employment history. We also perform security checks when needed.
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