Application Guide
How to Apply for Head of Communications
at Prospectus
🏢 About Prospectus
Prospectus is recruiting for a charity that works with communities experiencing deprivation to unlock their potential and build a flourishing future. This organization is ambitious and fast-paced, with communications at the heart of their change-making rather than as an add-on, offering a unique opportunity to shape a growing national story while staying rooted in local realities.
About This Role
As Head of Communications, you'll lead national communications while supporting local coherence, holding the big picture on narrative, brand, and influence while getting hands-on with content creation, campaign shaping, digital channel management, and ground-level collaboration. This is a rare part-time leadership role where you'll directly enable communities to find their voice and build belief in what's possible when they lead.
💡 A Day in the Life
A typical day might involve morning strategy sessions on national narrative development, followed by collaborative content creation with local teams, digital channel management in the afternoon, and ending with partner calls to ensure communications remain grounded in community realities. You'll constantly toggle between big-picture thinking and hands-on execution while maintaining the integrity of community stories.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Prospectus Is Looking For
- A thoughtful communications leader with experience in complex or mission-driven environments who cares deeply about place, people, and power dynamics
- Strong writer and editor who can adapt tone for different audiences, from community members to national stakeholders
- Hands-on practitioner comfortable both shaping strategy and executing delivery across digital channels and campaigns
- Collaborative enabler who helps others find their voice and tells stories with integrity about community-led change
📝 Tips for Applying to Prospectus
Demonstrate specific examples of how you've balanced big-picture narrative work with hands-on delivery in previous roles
Show understanding of the tension between national positioning and local authenticity in community-focused work
Highlight experience working with communities experiencing deprivation, not just about them
Emphasize your collaborative approach to communications as enabling rather than directing
Address how you've adapted communications for different power dynamics and audiences in mission-driven work
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
['Your philosophy on telling stories with integrity when working with marginalized communities', 'Specific examples of leading communications that balanced national strategy with local implementation', "How you've enabled others to find their voice rather than speaking for them", 'Your approach to staying rooted in lived reality while shaping organizational narratives']
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → The charity's specific approach to community-led development and how they define 'deprivation'
- → Current public narratives around community empowerment and deprivation in the UK context
- → How similar organizations balance national brand with local authenticity in communications
- → The charity's existing digital presence and communication channels to understand current positioning
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Presenting as purely strategic without demonstrating hands-on content creation and delivery skills
- Using paternalistic language about 'helping' communities rather than enabling their leadership
- Focusing on traditional corporate communications metrics without addressing mission-specific impact
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!