Graduate Research Executive Social Research Public Communications Unit 2022

Ipsos UK Public Affairs are the leaders in social research. We bridge the gap between government and the public, providing robust research and evaluation. Within this specialism, the Public Communications Unit (PCU) supports clients across government departments and other public sector organisations to communicate better.  We deliver research across the whole span of the communications cycle:  developing effective communications strategies, refining advertising and communications materials, and evaluating their effectiveness.  We work closely with marketing, advertising, digital and media professionals and use a range of research skills and disciplines (from qualitative focus groups and interviews to advanced statistical methods and data modelling). We collaborate with experts from across Ipsos and beyond, giving us the opportunity to learn about a range of policy areas and research techniques.  Our work ranges from long-term strategy development through to fast turnaround polling work – we love the variety!

One of the good things about working in PCU is the broad spread of topic areas we cover.  Our government clients include Cabinet Office, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Food Standards Authority and Financial Conduct Authority.  We also work with a range of non-government clients including broadcasters, foundations, charities/NGOs and some commercial companies/brands. Some of our work also has a global focus, and we collaborate with Ipsos teams around the world.

Some of the diverse topics we’ve worked on recently include

• Understanding the image of Britain amongst young people around the world
• Helping the European Commission to understand how to best communicate with citizens across the EU on a range of topics and major policy areas
• Evaluating campaigns aimed at reducing violence against women and girls
• Helping the government to understand how the public in the UK view misinformation and fake news, and what can be done to reduce potential harms
• Developing communications strategies for governments across sub-Saharan Africa to tell citizens about the dangers of falsified or substandard medicines
• Developing messaging for people claiming some benefits/credits to help them keep claims up to date and make sure they are claiming all they are entitled to
• Evaluating the success of campaigns telling people about the dangers of financial scams and helping people to protect their savings and pensions
• Developing an identity and messaging for a cross-government policy on climate change
• Developing and tracking communications to reduce problem gambling
• Developing communications aimed at health professionals encouraging them to make better use of technology at work
• Developing targeted recruitment strategies for public sector jobs

Your Role

As a Graduate Research Executive, you’ll be encouraged to take responsibility from the outset - thrown straight into working on live projects. You will gain exposure to a variety of policy areas and research approaches, whilst working alongside industry experts. In this role, you will:

• Work with both quantitative and qualitative data, supporting research projects from inception and design through to data delivery and reporting
• Provide quality assurance and uphold data integrity and accuracy in all stages of the project including questionnaire scripts, fieldwork administration and reporting
• Learn and employ key project management skills - you’ll see the end to end project life cycle including taking client briefs, working through timelines and costings, research design (for example questionnaire and topic guide development), quality control, and liaising with our fieldwork specialists
• Learn about how advertising and communications work, so you can work collaboratively with communications, media and digital teams and agencies
• Focus on answering our clients’ communications research questions, so they can quickly take action to get the best value for their communications spend
• Help us think about how we can deliver our conclusions and recommendations in an engaging and meaningful way

About You

• A passion and enthusiasm for the type of research and work this team delivers; we love seeing the results of our work in our clients’ communications and campaigns
• A hunger to unpick questions into their constituent parts, to diagnose opportunities and be able to influence decisions
• The ability to work efficiently under pressure and to be accountable for managing your own workload
• Exceptional organisational skills as well as the ability to multi-task and work towards multiple deadlines
• The ability to work creatively and think commercially with a curiosity and drive to learn, understand and improve, using trouble-shooting skills to think on your feet
• Strong interpersonal skills – the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively
• An understanding of the marketing/advertising/communications world would definitely be a bonus but isn’t essential

Our Offer

Our Generation Ipsos Graduate programme provides a comprehensive foundation in research and how it’s practically applied in a commercial environment. You’ll be trained in client management, project management and the nitty-gritty of research including methodologies, sampling, weighting and ethics. You’ll learn through real life, hands-on experience, webinars, seminars and specialist workshops. We’ll provide you with dedicated training designed to achieve the industry recognised Market Research Society (MRS) Advanced Certificate accreditation.   Networking is a key skill so we have Early Careers events with other Graduates, Placement Students and Interns across the company.

Having a flexible working culture where we support our colleagues and celebrate our successes is important to us.  We invest our time in you and you’ll benefit from working alongside our expert teams.  Your manager will help you set goals to achieve your personal objectives throughout the year and help you exceed these.

And the fun stuff

• 25 days’ holiday which increases over time to 30 days, plus an extra day for your birthday
• 4pm finish on a Friday
• Annual summer and All Staff events
• Team Christmas parties
• Season ticket loan
• A huge variety of benefits e.g. pension contributions, income protection, winter flu jabs, eye care vouchers, online and high street discounts

Those who are successful at this stage will be progressed to a gamified assessment, and then a virtual interview. The final stage will be an assessment centre. Applications close at 9am on Friday 29th July 2022, but we may close early if we receive an extremely high volume of applications so please apply as soon as possible if you are interested.

We are committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We recognise that this is important for our business success - a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients. We understand the importance of commitments you may have outside of work and we consider all flexible working applications - please highlight what you are looking for when you make your application.