News & Events Archive

Join the team at JFL this November to hear how PrettyGreen founder Mark Stringer came to head up one of the UK’s most creative and cutting edge PR agencies!

Mark will be discussing his career to date, as well as handing out tips for success in the PR industry. His talk will also cover current issues facing PR professionals choosing to stay agency- side at a senior level. This is a brilliant opportunity to meet a genuine innovator and entrepreneur, and one of the leading lights in consumer PR. There will also be the chance to ask questions and mingle with other like-minded PRs, with the JFL team on hand to offer advice and guidance.

This event is a great opportunity for people working at around Account Manager to Account Director level, whether you are actively looking for your next role, or simply looking for some insight into where next to take your career. The event will be taking place on Wednesday 30^th November 2011, doors will open at 6.15.

Places are limited, so if you would like to attend this exciting event or find out more details, please forward your CV on to events@jflrecruit.com  

Edward Brown is the latest recruit to join our JFL Internship programme where he will be working closely with Max Wiltshire who specialises in Government Relations and Corporate Reputation recruitment. 

Edward graduated this year with a 2.1 in Politics and Modern History from Manchester University, which included a compelling dissertation on current electoral reforms.  As well as a keen interest in politics and current affairs, Edward is passionate about chess and has played competitively at University and at County level. 

Joining the internship scheme will give Edward the opportunity to learn more about public affairs, corporate communications, PR and the recruitment sector over the next three months, before deciding which direction his career will take.

“We are delighted to welcome Edward as an intern for the next three months and have every confidence that he will have a happy and successful time at JFL,” said Ros Kindersley, “and we will give him as much scope to learn about the industry as possible.”

Brunswick have hired the Daily Telegraph’s public policy editor Andrew Porter as a Director

PR agencies predict further volatility and client cutbacks as the economy falters… tomorrow’s guest speaker Mark Stringer was reported as having said “2012 will be about carving out a result. Single-digit growth, year on year, would be a good year for most agencies.”

Brands2Life has launched a new business unit: Rarefaction, which will offer digital marketing to existing and new clients of theirs

CCD has launched a digital division offering video production, social media and app development

Open Road has appointed former BBC producer Julia Fea as an Associate Director to build its corp comms offering an interesting Focus Feature on the Workplace last week sees an interesting debate on the “dearth of good account managers in PR agencies”.

Launch’s Katie Bailey is quoted as pointing out that the cut backs made in agencies are preventing juniors from moving up the ranks, and thereby providing a shortage of appropriately trained AMs. Interesting!

Lucy Martinez has been promoted to Client Services Director at JFL Search & Selection.  Lucy started her career in PR working for Harrison Cowley in Southampton and then later in London as an Account Manager on Land Rover and Camelot and The National Lottery.  She made the great leap into recruitment, joining JFL in 2004 as a consultant and being promoted to Associate Director in 2007. 

‘I am most excited to be appointed to the board of JFL,’ said Lucy.  ‘One of the things I enjoy most about recruitment is combining the thrill of the chase with the more subjective achievement of guiding people into the right roles and helping our clients build a team.’

‘We are delighted that Lucy is joining our board,’ said Ros Kindersley.  ‘This is an exciting time for JFL with lots of plans for 2012.’

Lucy Martinez can be contacted at lucymartinez@jflrecruit.com  

• GRAYLING has rebranded its sustainability, CSR, and not-for-profit comms practice as ‘GRAYLING FUTURE PLANET’.

• CCD gains new client – YorkTest Laboratories who specialize in food-intolerance tests

• Pegasus wins a competitive four-way pitch for Lashes Clinic’s latest eyelash treatment

• Two new digital hires for public affairs consultancies Hanover and Champollion in a bid to up their digital game

• Lansons Live has restructured and recruited ex-BBC business news website deputy-editor Jon Cronin

• Brunswick has opened offices in Shanghai this week – its third in China and 19^th globally

• Hotwire has expanded into the US taking IF communications with them. Founder of IF, Isabel Fox, will act as CEO of its newly launched US business

The CorpComms Awards are just around the corner, and we are excited to announce that JFL will be sponsoring the award for Best In-House Team. Shortlisted are:

• Centrica corporate affairs – more than the sum of its parts

• Debenhams

• Jupiter Asset Management

• O2 – Rewriting the External Communications rulebook

Agencies: Blue Rubicon; Nixon McInnes; Republic Publishing

• Westminster City Council

The 6^th Annual CorpComms Awards will be taking place on November 23^rd – catch up with us then to hear the results!

JFL attended this year’s PR Week Awards this week and proudly sponsored the Large Consultancy of the Year Award, which was awarded to the brilliant Edelman.

Congratulations to all of those PR professional’s who were nominated and won on the evening, JFL are pleased to say that we saw many of our client’s collecting awards!

For more details on how the evening proceeded, take a look at JFL’s Blog!

Max Wiltshire has  today joined JFL Search & Selection as a Senior Consultant with responsibility for Public Affairs and Corporate Reputation roles.  Max originally trained as a barrister before moving into recruitment. His most recent role was as a Senior Consultant with Electus.

“We are delighted to welcome Max on board,” said Ros Kindersley.  “He brings an excellent knowledge of issues-led communications recruitment that spans a broad mix of public affairs, CSR, policy and legal sectors and feel he will be an excellent addition to our team.  We have seen genuine growth in the market this year, which is greatly encouraging – and I feel a quiet optimism for the next 12 months.”

This week, one of our major clients, FD, officially changed its name to FTI Consulting. Here is what they had to say about this exciting development.

This is an important milestone in an evolution which began five years ago when FD became the first company in our industry to be acquired by a management consulting firm.  Being part of FTI Consulting means that in addition to delivering the world-class strategic communications counsel that you know us for, we can now offer unrivalled global expertise to help our clients address a wide range of complex business challenges – from economic consulting, corporate finance and restructuring to forensic and litigation support and technology consulting.

We now have more than 3,700 colleagues around the world, including some of the foremost forensic accountants, former chief executives and political leaders, Nobel Laureates and top-ranking economists.

Read more about the changing face of FD on their website, and at PR Week.

We are all looking forward to October’s PR Week Awards, as this year JFL Search & Selection is sponsoring the Large Consultancy of the Year award. On the shortlist are:

Blue Rubicon

Edelman

Ketchum Pleon

Lansons

MHP

This is particularly exciting for us as they are all consultancies that we have worked closely with over the years. Expect to see us on the edge of our seats!

For more information on the PR Week Awards and to see the shortlisted agencies, visit the website here.

Good news on a sunny August afternoon while Carnaby Street is humming with tourists, acrobats, Hari Krishna, souvenir hunters and amateur photographers - Sophie Downes has been promoted from Graduate Consultant to Junior Consultant.  She will be focusing on both in-house and consultancy recruitment across all disciplines with a speciality in travel, tourism and retail. 

Sophie joined JFL on our graduate internship scheme after graduating in English and Drama at Royal Holloway and has quickly proved an invaluable team member. Both creative and well organised, Sophie also takes the lead on JFL’s social events as well as our regular careers evenings. 

Edwina Goldman has been promoted and is now officially Deputy Managing Director at JFL.  Edwina joined JFL nearly six years ago on 1^st August 2011 and quickly became a key member of the team and central to the success of JFL. 

“Edwina is inspiring, motivating and fun to work with – as well as being a natural leader,” said Ros Kindersley. “ I am really delighted at Edwina’s promotion and look forward to a happy and successful future of working together at JFL.”

Gabrielle Goode is the latest recruit to our JFL Internship programme.  Gabrielle has just graduated with a 2.1 in Media Studies from Nottingham Trent University, which included a compelling sounding module on ‘How fashion affects femininity.’    

Joining the internship schemed will give Gabrielle the opportunity to learn more about communications, PR, publishing and the recruitment sector over the next three months, before deciding which direction her career will take.

“We are delighted to welcome Gabrielle as an intern for the next three months and have every confidence that she will have a happy and successful time at JFL,” said Ros Kindersley.  “And we will give her as much scope to learn about the industry as possible.”

Picture the scene – you’ve been furiously searching for roles for what seems like ages. You’ve managed to secure yourself that crucial first interview, and it goes brilliantly. You’re invited back for a second interview, which goes even better. You can practically see the contract. You’re asked back to complete the final stage - the written test. You’ve gotten this far, how hard can this next step be?

The answer to this question is, all too commonly, harder than you think! It is very easy to get to the written test stage and feel as though the job is already in the bag – after all, it’s just a formality, another hoop to jump through, right? Wrong. Of course, feeling confident at this stage of the process is natural and deserved; you’ve done well so far, the company has obviously seen something in you they like, and things are progressing nicely.

The mistake a lot of candidates make is neglecting to either prepare thoroughly for the writing test or not concentrating fully during it. Companies will often give out extra details about the test if you just ask – this is even easier if you are going through a recruitment agency, as your consultant will be able to ask for you!  During the test, a lot of candidates either don’t read the brief properly, or misunderstand what is expected of them.

Writing tests are primarily used to make sure that candidates can spell, but also to ensure that they can write clear and comprehensive copy. Most candidates will have come across the tasks before – they may be required to write a press release, proofread some copy, come up with a campaign idea or sell something in. Despite the straight forward nature of the tasks, it is all too easy to hurriedly complete a test without double checking it or making sure that is reads coherently. There have even been cases of candidates spelling the name of an agency’s client incorrectly, which, although a small error, will immediately worry the company, and even cost them the job.

The most important thing to remember at the written test stage is that you’ve done well, but you’re not there quite yet. You’ve still got to prove you have one of the basic skills that all PR and communications professionals use on a daily basis, and without it you are not worth employing. So don’t sell yourself short, and write your heart out!

- Rebecca Maxted