At least 6 in 10 experts polled (63%) believe Word of Mouth/ Referral is the primary channel of recruitment in Public Affairs, followed by LinkedIn (55%) and Recruitment Agencies (51%).
Though retention was seen as a major challenge by at least 2 in 3 of the experts polled. For high levels of churn, the experts believed, better job opportunities in the market (47%), unrealistic expectations from the employers (34%) and salary discontent (30%) could be some of the reasons.
Though almost 6 in 10 professionals interviewed (59%) felt the biggest challenge for the industry per se was the lack of relevant metrics to demonstrate business value (59%) and vague career progression path (47%).
These are some of the key findings of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI)-Ipsos joint study titled Public Affairs Career in India – a turning point.
PAFI, the first and only national platform of Public Affairs professionals in India roped in Ipsos, a global market research company, to undertake a survey to identify career and compensation trends for Public Affairs professionals in India.
Parijat Chakraborty, Group Country Service Line Leader Public Affairs & Corporate Reputation, Ipsos India, said, “We’ve explored, identified and documented the career progression path, remuneration trends, occupational advancement and challenges faced by PA professionals in the comprehensive study. The findings provide interesting insights into the expectations of the industry professionals. The PA industry is grappling with credibility in demonstrating to organisations about what it brings to the table and while its contribution is immense, the recognition is not enough.”
TS Vishwanath, Director General, PAFI, said, “The Public Affairs profession in India is about 15 years old. Quite nascent. This was a maiden study undertaken by PAFI in partnership with Ipsos, to understand from the PA professionals their perception on the various aspects of PA and the report is highly insightful in guiding us to address expectations and challenges of the PA professionals.”
Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, said, “Ipsos has been working with clients for over 40 years to monitor and manage their most important intangible asset – their reputation.
“The joint study with PAFI highlights key trends about the domain and the way forward. We see a lot of synergy between Ipsos and PAFI and together we can do a lot of work on various aspects of PA in leveraging its potential.”
The study also captured the desired professional traits for hiring in PA and domain expertise was the most desired lever highlighted by at least 64% professionals. Communication skills (57%) and training (55%) were the other attributes preferred for hiring.
Impact of pandemic was moderate on the sector said 45% of the professionals polled. Though one in 6 felt a major impact on employee functional engagement.
Remuneration in PA
Broadly, remuneration in Public Affairs hovered between 25 lacs to 5 crores and depended on the organization turnover (revenue) and employee strength.
For instance, 27% had annual gross revenue of Rs. 10,000 crore and 1/3rd turnover between 2,000-10,000 crores.
The organisations largely belonged to diversified sectors, digital sectors (IT, telecom, media), MNCs, among others.
