Helping to Build the Bupa Press Office and Public Affairs Team

As specialist recruiters in the communications arena, VMA Group is used to helping clients with their specific requirements. So, the team was particularly interested in the task that Bupa offered them at the end of 2009.

Bupa has always been a well known and well respected company in the UK. But with a new global corporate affairs director and a clear and ambitious business strategy, the challenge was to broaden the communications team to help Bupa become a leader in ageing, chronic disease management and wellbeing.

To help develop the team and the expertise within it, Steve John, Group Director of Corporate Affairs, asked VMA Group to help him find five outstanding candidates to cover the press office, corporate communications and corporate affairs functions. For such a significant number of new hires, Steve wanted to work with recruiters who had specialist knowledge in PR and public affairs to ensure he was getting candidates with the knowledge and credibility to handle the roles. The candidates needed to have the right chemistry to fit into his team and Steve wanted to move quickly!

Crystal Walter, head of VMA's corporate communications team, had already worked with Bupa over a number of years and Suzanne Kelly, who heads up the healthcare practice at VMA, had worked at Bupa for five years during her communications career, so they were able to use this prior knowledge to help Steve and brief the candidates.

VMA worked very closely with Steve and his colleagues Anne Marie Cooklin and Kevin Mochrie so that they had a clear understanding of the three distinct briefs to ensure they would source candidates who were the right fit in terms of both background and style.

Bupa and VMA also created a print advertisement which showcased the opportunity and was aimed at people who may not necessarily have been looking for a move, but who would be drawn to the Bupa brand.

Using their extensive network of suitable candidates, VMA was able to identify a number of key players in the sectors and put forward three separate shortlists of high-calibre people suitable for the Head of Press Office, the two Corporate Communications Managers and the two Corporate Affairs Manager roles.

Eventually, a strong field was narrowed down to five key players who moved through to offer stage just before Christmas. Charlotte Jones was appointed Head of Press Office while Amy Gooden and Samantha Maslen took up the Corporate Communications Managers roles. William Brocklehurst and James Thompson were made Corporate Affairs Managers.

Several months later they are all in place and Steve says, "All the new team is settling in and they're all doing well. We're a happy client!"