Is the grass really greener on the other side?
Anyone considering a career in public relations will need to make the fundamental decision about whether to go for an in-house or agency role. So how can you tell which one is for you?
Having joined Citigate Dewe Rogerson from an in-house environment I’m often asked if there really is much of a difference between the two, and whether is in-house is really better/easier than agency.
I spent three and a half years on the agency side before I decided to try life on in-house. Surely, this wouldn’t be too different from my agency roles, I thought, but soon learned that this wasn’t the case. Instead, a different sort of skillset was required.
A lot of people feel that being in-house leads to an easier life but this isn’t always true. The hours can be just as long and the days just as fast paced. The main difference being that you can get to know a company and all of its people in great detail – whereas agency side you only ever get to know a limited amount about each client.
I believe the best in-house people are those that understand the company, have a knack for managing numerous internal stakeholders with differing priorities as well as a deep understanding of the wider PR environment. That’s why I’m grateful my induction into the world of PR was agency side – I got to understand the ‘PR essentials’ early on, was taught how to juggle numerous deadlines and clients as well as getting to grips with the fast changing news environment.
I’ve now come to the realisation that the grass is not always greener on the other side – both agency and in-house PR have their pros and cons and there is no clear winner. A lot of it comes down to your personality, your team, your thirst for learning and development and ultimately what is right for you at the time.
Although there may be no clear winner – what I do know is that I’m happy to be back agency side, where you can enjoy all of the buzz and general camaraderie of agency life, as well as the opportunity to learn from some of the best people in the public relations industry in a larger, dedicated team.