Department: News, Campaigns and Public Affairs

Contract Duration: Six months

Citizens Advice provides free, independent and impartial advice and information to help people resolve their problems. Each year our local offices across the country help 2.6 million people with their problems - either through face-to-face or telephone advice, or online. Our amazing data allows us to spot emerging issues quickly, making us uniquely placed to raise awareness of these issues and advocate for solutions.  

Citizens Advice is looking for a paid external affairs intern to work with us for up to 6 months.

The External Affairs teams at Citizens Advice are responsible for engaging with parliament to encourage MPs and Peers to make changes to the law that will help people, running public awareness campaigns (for example making people more aware of scams and how to report them), securing media coverage and managing day-to-day media relations, such as conversations with journalists.

As the External Affairs Intern, you will learn media, campaigning and influencing skills on the job, and apply these skills as you help us achieve our organisational influencing objectives. At the end of your 6 months with us, you’ll have the knowledge and experience to take your next steps in the sector and beyond.

You don’t need to have any experience as we’ll give you the guidance and support you need. You’ll need to have an interest in UK politics, media, and in social policy issues (such as debt, housing and benefits issues), follow the news and be a good communicator. 

We are committed to recruiting people from the widest talent pool. Our internship scheme is designed to attract a diverse range of candidates and give opportunities for people to develop their career aspirations in external affairs.

Our offices are currently closed due to coronavirus, with employees working from home. However, once the offices reopen, you are still welcome to work from home. We are open to discussion about flexible working, and are willing to consider both full or part time internships.

If you have any questions about the role, please see the Q&A in the supporting documents section. If you want to chat about the role further, you can contact Alex Clarke by emailing alex.clarke@citizensadvice.org.uk with your question, or to arrange a call.

Citizens Advice values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, as they are currently under represented in our workforce:

1- if you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed interview scheme for disabled people please indicate this. Also let us know if you require us to make any reasonable adjustments to the shortlisting process or please provide information you wish us to take into account when considering your application.    

2- We are offering candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds the option to be considered under rules which ensure we always interview at least one BAME candidate. All candidates for interview have to meet our minimum criteria for the role, which is 60 percent of the shortlisting score across all essential criteria. To be considered under these rules please confirm if you are from a BAME background within your application form.

We are a member of the race equality campaign at Business in the Community, the Prince’s responsible business network and are committed to improving employment opportunities for ethnic minorities across the UK. We also welcome applications from, LGB and Trans and non binary candidates.

We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people and guarantee to interview all disabled candidates who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role as set out in role profiles.