PR Agency Life: What to Expect

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I worked at a large PR agency as part of the consumer technology team. PR agency life can be gratifying and exciting, just as it can be fast-paced and stress-inducing.

I didn’t get into the public relations and communications industry through a traditional career route. When I began, I had no idea what to expect.

This article aims to help you understand what to expect and the pros and cons of working for a PR agency or integrated communications firm.

Conventional agency route

Public relations professionals typically work either in-house or in an agency in close concert with the client organization. Agencies are usually structured as teams specializing in specific industries, outlets or channels. Although some agencies now have multi-disciplinary teams for increased collaboration and cohesiveness in PR plans and campaigns.

Studying for a public relations or mass communications degree is the most traditional route into the industry today, but it’s not the only route. I know PR professionals with degrees that guarantee a job in journalism, mass media, English, business communication, marketing, sports and more.

Regardless of degree or background, with the right skills, you can get a job in public relations. Of course, it helps if you also join and get involved with a PR association like PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) or PRSA (Public Relations Society of America).

Young professionals often enter the industry by way of student internships, post-grad internships, and entry-level positions. Whereas the not-so-young new professionals often have experience that translates to the public relations industry.

Unconventional agency route

How I ended up at an agency was everything but conventional. I was out of school and had several years of experience as an executive assistant, including a stint as the admin for a publicly traded company’s investor and media relations director. When the company sold off most of its business and began the process of closing, I was there to the bitter end.

I got another job before my last day, but I knew I needed to figure out what I really wanted to do.

After a year, I left my position as a staffing manager for a global temporary placement firm and signed myself up as a client. I began accepting temporary assignments in executive assistant and administrative management roles across many industries.

After a few months, I got a call about an administrative coordinator position at a PR agency. As usual, I accepted the temporary assignment without knowing much about them. *This was back when the internet was in its infancy.

Within a few weeks, I was offered the account coordinator permanent position and accepted. I’ll spare you the minutiae of the job and get to my main points.

I loved the variety and the constant opportunities to learn. It was inclusive, team-oriented, dynamic, exhilarating, and fast-paced — all things I liked! That is, until I didn’t.

I began to tire of the days spent faxing (yes, I’m old) press releases one at a time to manually created lists of media contacts and 9 p.m. runs to the airport with boxes of physical media kits before the last FedEx flight left. The endless media pitch calling and subsequent rejections were exhausting. Nearly a year and multiple management changes later, interagency politics left me thoroughly disillusioned.

Then I had an epiphany — agency life isn’t for everyone. And that’s okay!

PR agency life pros and cons

Keep in mind that my story may not be representative of others’ experiences. In fact, I know some seasoned PR practitioners who’ve spent their entire careers at agencies and wouldn’t change a thing.

Let’s briefly look at some benefits and drawbacks of working at an agency.

Benefits of PR agency work

• Diverse Experience — gain experience in different sectors, develop a broad skill set and work on a range of different projects.
• Fast-Paced Environment — can be exciting and offers experience in various challenges.
• Networking Opportunities — connecting with others through interactions with clients, journalists, influencers, and other PR professionals.
• Skill Development — learn valuable skills in media relations, content creation, event planning, crisis management, etc.
• Team Collaboration — the opportunity to learn from colleagues with different expertise.
• Professional Growth — the likelihood of taking on additional responsibilities and moving up the ladder.
• Visibility — high-profile media coverage can be personally and professionally satisfying.

Drawbacks of PR agency work

• Long Hours — and tight deadlines make work-life balance difficult to achieve.
• Stressful Environment — constant pressure to deliver results in addition to handling the unexpected and adapting to rapidly changing situations.
• Client Demands — dealing with high expectations.
• Managing Multiple Clients — juggling various needs and priorities requires robust organizational and time management skills.
• Client Turnover — can lead to instability and the need to perform new business pitches constantly.
• Billing and Revenue Pressure — meeting financial targets and justifying your work to clients can create additional pressure.
• Job Insecurity — if big clients leave or budgets get cut, job security can be less stable than in-house positions.

Whether working at a PR agency is a good fit for you depends on your personality, work style, and career goals. It’s important to consider these pros and cons and weigh them against your own preferences and priorities.

How to get agency-ready

During the pandemic, the PR Council launched an agency-ready certificate program. They paused the program for 2023 but plan to resume in the new year (2024). The free program is for current college students, graduate students and recent grads who want to become better prepared to work in a PR agency or simply learn more about PR agencies’ career opportunities.

Keeping up with the news, including industry news, current events, social causes, social media trends and anything related to the work you want to do, is essential for PR job searching and as a regular practice.

Other ways to get agency-ready include networking and finding a mentor, starting a blog to work on your writing abilities, volunteering (to work in PR, communications, social media or marketing) at a local nonprofit, building and maintaining a professional image on LinkedIn (and elsewhere) and compiling a multimedia online portfolio to demonstrate your skills and creativity.

Perhaps the best way to learn about agency life and a particular employer is to set up informational interviews with current and past employees.

What others say

It’s been a minute since I last worked at an agency, so I asked some PR students and recent grads for their input. Here’s what a couple of them had to say about their agency experiences.

During the summer, I had the opportunity to work as a public relations intern in the clean energy space. As a student studying environmental communications, the opportunity was refreshing and exciting because my knowledge of how crucial PR is to the renewable energy space deepened. While working in the space, I was introduced to more of the laws, regulations, and guidelines clean energy companies must follow in the United States. Public relations help these companies reach the right audiences and send them the right messages. Without this research, targeting, and communication strategies in place, it would be even harder for these companies to implement their renewable energy project in new areas across the United States. Proper messaging makes all the difference in spaces like this because each community and neighborhood in the United States is truly complex and requires unique communication strategies. Although entering the clean energy space was intimidating, with the right team, I felt encouraged to expand my knowledge, learn new skills, and use my passion for learning about the environment as a tool to create positive change. – Tatum Grubbs, Loyola University Chicago PRSSA

Before I started working in an agency, I always heard people say, “Each day is different,” and that statement could not be truer. Working in a PR agency brings unexpected surprises, but those surprises are the way I learned what it truly meant to work in PR. I learned how to jump right in, think fast on my feet, problem solve even if I wouldn’t consider myself a subject matter expert, and overall, how to work with a variety of people. As someone who now works in a small agency, one thing I wish I knew was the importance of business development. As PR practitioners, we always talk about networking, but I wish I knew from the start that even I needed to network, outside of just PR professionals. It’s not just the boss of the firm who should be out in the community to find clients, it’s a team effort. Outreach to industries beyond PR is how you build connections and find potential clients by educating them on the importance of PR for any organization. – Anonymous (with three years’ agency experience)

Key takeaway

The number one advantage for young (or new) professionals considering working at a PR agency is the diverse experience gained. PR agencies work with clients from various industries. Diversified experience allows new PR professionals to broaden their skill set and knowledge and develop strong public relations foundations, including media relations, strategic planning, content creation, social media marketing, crisis management, and more.

Agency life exposes you to different business environments, challenges, and opportunities, which can be invaluable for career growth. This experience helps shape adaptable and versatile PR practitioners, preparing them for a wide range of future career opportunities within or outside the agency world.

SELECTED PR-RELATED CONTENT:

The Most Crucial Components of a Strategic PR Campaign

What is Media Monitoring — and Why it Matters

Why Social Media Monitoring is Essential for Public Relations