- Many public relations practitioners cut their teeth at agencies, but in-house roles are considered to have a better work-life balance.
- Agency work and in-house work are fundamentally different, so making the switch for the first time can be difficult.
- In-house communications executives with agency experience and PR recruiters shared tips and advice on how to make the transition.
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While many public relations professionals start out working at an agency, many see in-house work as the ultimate goal. Many believe the work-life balance is better because the work is focused one client rather than multiple ones, and you get to know the client better.
"At that point, PR practitioners want to get a little closer to the brand. When you're agency-side, you're dealing through the client as a filter," said Jim Delulio, the president of recruiting firm PR Talent. "The analogy is that it's like kissing through a fence."
In-house work also helped them get global experience and connections with top executives, PR pros say.
Kate Hartman, the group director of brand public relations at the Coca-Cola Company, who went to Coke in 2010 after eight years at Edelman and Weber Shandwick, said she learned global PR skills while working on the Vitaminwater launch.
Brenna Eller, the head of US communications at cannabis company Canopy Growth Corporation, who started out at FleishmanHillard's HighRoad agency, said as Samsung's director of cooperate communications, she got the chance to work with the CEO directly and help out with events like the recall of the Galaxy Note 7.
It can be difficult to make the switch if you're engrained in agency work. But communications professionals from brands including Coca-Cola and TechStyle Fashion Group (parent of Kate Hudson's Fabletics and Rihanna's Savage X Fenty) discussed how they successfully made the transition.
Brands look for seasoned PR professionals with records of longevity
Brian Phifer, the CEO of communications recruitment firm Phifer & Company, which has placed candidates at major brands like Gucci and Johnson & Johnson, said some clients only want candidates with at least five or six years tenure at one firm, believing job-hoppers lack strong work ethic or loyalty.
Spending too long in the agency world has its downside, too, though.
"After about 10 years, it gets a little harder to make the case to the hiring side that you're not just an 'agency person,'" said Jessamyn Katz, president of search firm Heyman Associates.
Katz recommended PR people trying to go in-house organize their resumes by client, not employer, to show they can dive deep on one account and not just produce revenue for the agency. That's because in-house PR tends to be more focused on strategy than revenue, Katz said.
Michelle Craig, VP of corporate communications for SaaS travel company SAP Concur, has agency and in-house experience. She said that to stand out for in-house jobs, she's shown how press coverage she got for a client helped its marketing goals.
Networking and client relationships can lead to in-house jobs
Arielle Schechtman, senior director of corporate communications at TechStyle, a subscription fashion retailer with a portfolio of brands including Fabletics and Savage X Fenty, said her first in-house job came as a result of a client connection.
When Schechtman's in-house counterpart at dating company Spark Networks, which operates brands like JDate and Christian Mingle, left, she used her relationship with the client to get the job.
Eller, the head of US communications at Canopy, said she tapped her professional contacts to get her current job.
"It's important you maintain relationships with people you work with in house and on the agency side," Eller said. "Our community is very relationship-driven."
PR professionals can also try their hands at in-house work before officially making the transition, said Astrid Egerton-Vernon, the global director of communications at multinational law firm Dentons.
While she worked at WPP agency Finsbury, Egerton-Vernon said she got temporary placements at client that helped her build her relationships with them and learn their businesses, ultimately leading to her first in-house job at Hilton.
"You think you know a business when you're advising it from an agency, but you really get to know it when you're sitting in the building," Egerton-Vernon said.