Portland is a fully integrated communications consultancy trusted by some of the highest profile organizations, governments and individuals in the world with global offices in Washington DC, New York, Singapore, Doha and Nairobi, as well as in London.

We are pioneers in integrated communications campaigns help clients manage their reputation, improve their visibility and media coverage – and deliver global communications campaigns across multiple platforms.

Our teams of experienced and multilingual consultants invest time to understand clients from the inside out, work with them to set clear strategic direction, and then bring the whole of Portland’s abilities to bear to deliver their objectives.

At Portland we never rest on our laurels; we constantly strive to improve our work and be at the forefront of the industry.

The team:

Healthcare is frontpage news, both in the UK and around the world. How to live well, fight disease and care for ageing populations are some of the biggest challenges we face today. Governments can be defined by the decisions they make in delivering healthcare to their citizens. Which isn’t surprising when you think that we will all use heathcare services at some point in our lives, and that quality healthcare saves lives.

We help our clients to navigate this complex, emotive and fast-changing landscape, strengthening trust and protecting reputations. Our clients range from some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, to disruptive biotechs, not-for-profit foundations and patient charities.

We advise our clients on what to say and how to be heard. From developing communication strategies to political outreach, corporate communications and media relations. We are trusted with high profile issues and crisis management and to facilitate patient engagement. We design and implement digital and social media strategies and advise on changing health policy. We launch large scale, integrated campaigns across the pages of national newspapers, in the corridors of Westminster and with social media influencers.

The role:

We are looking for interns who are passionate about pursuing a career in communications, PR and public affairs, and who are excited to work on challenging media angles and some of the toughest political challenges today.

Whilst we don’t expect you to already have a thorough understanding of the UK health and life science landscape, this should be an area you are interested in and motivated to quickly learn more about. Our expectation is that prospective interns already follow UK health news and are aware of some of the big issues.

As an intern in the Health team you will work across both PR and public affairs projects, for UK and global clients. You will be embedded in account teams and will support work on content creation, generating media coverage, managing social media channels, supporting public events and policy research and insights.

It is an opportunity to learn from some of the best communications consultants in the business, both in the Health team and across Portland’s other practices. We are an integrated agency with in-house strategy, planning, analytics, research and creative colleagues who you will have the opportunity to work with on project delivery.

Key responsibilities:

• Monitoring political, parliamentary, media and social media activity, sometimes on a daily basis.
• Horizon scanning and forward planning calendars of important media and current affairs events relevant to our clients.
• Conducting research and helping account teams to map relevant stakeholders across the media, politics, policy and healthcare.
• Helping to draft biographies and briefings for meetings with stakeholders.
• Tracking issues in the media and supporting account teams to provide insight and analysis for clients.
• Helping to draft media materials, building distribution lists and selling-in press releases and feature items.
• Working with account teams to draft communications content such as backgrounders, infographics etc, including researching information, supporting managing the design process, referencing and providing support to secure client approval.
• Undertaking policy research and analysis to feed into written reports, workshops and other activities.
• Helping to organise events: parliamentary launches, press conferences, large scale workshops etc.
• Undertaking research for new business and participating in the development of proposals and pitches.
• Supporting the efficient running of client accounts, preparing activity reports for clients and helping the account team to manage deadlines.

Qualifications, skills and competencies:

You must:

• You must have a Degree (with a minimum of a 2:2).  This is likely to be in a science, social sciences or arts degree, for example pharmacology, biology, politics, economics, English, history.
• Have the ability to analyse information and provide concise insight to tight deadlines with accuracy and relevance; and
• Have the ability to communicate confidently with Portland staff and external stakeholders.
• Have a good feel for communications work, preferably with some experience of external communications, for example social media for a charity or uni group, speaking to stakeholders as part of a project etc.
• Have the ability to present findings and insight clearly and accurately to a range of audiences.

Desirable:

• Previous experience of public affairs research, working or interning at an agency/press office, managing professional social media channels or a post graduate qualification in a relevant subject area would be an advantage.
• Candidates with demonstrable experience of campaigning will be at an advantage, whether gained in a political party or NGO environment.

What we offer in return:

• We are committed to employee development and have an open doors culture where you will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced people in the business. We regularly reward and promote success, and actively encourage staff to take on new challenges and responsibilities to aid progression.
• Our remuneration package also includes our competitive pension contributions, private healthcare life assurance cover, company contribution to gym membership, company parties, free daily breakfast and much, much more!
• In addition, every permanent member of staff that works at Portland is eligible for our industry leading annual profit share. When Portland thrives, all of our people share in that success.

Unfortunately due to the high volume of applications we receive it is not possible to respond directly to all applicants, only to those whose candidacy is being pursued. In addition, the length of the recruitment process varies based on the vacancy needs. Traditionally, the process takes approximately 2-4 weeks. Therefore, your patience is greatly appreciated.