Is working in-house all it’s cracked up to be?
by Miriam Hanna, Director MadlinHanna Consulting
It is a stat we repeat on an almost daily basis that 8 out of 10 people we speak to only want to consider making a move in-house. We hear phrases such as “I want to get under the skin of one brand”, “I want to be involved in the decisions that are made”, “I am tired of spinning lots of plates”, “I have no interest in going down the new business route in agency.” But do expectations and reality match up?
The Seat at the Wrong Table
When exploring in-house opportunities, reporting lines should be high up on list of things to find out about. If communications is not represented at board level by a chief marketing officer or director of corporate affairs then you will find yourself at arm’s length from all the key conversations that take place. Communications has to been as an integral business function for you to take on the role of trusted advisor.
Value-Add
Related to this is how much good communications is valued internally. Probe on this in interview. How difficult is it to get budget sign-off? Is growing the team an option? Are you the second phone call in a crisis (after the lawyers)? Is the communications team physically and geographically based close to the executives? If you interview somewhere and the communications team are in the basement and report into the CFO, alarm bells should be going off!
Appetite for Proactive Work
It has to be said we occasionally see boomerangs; people going in-house only to return to an agency. Often this is because there is no appetite in the business for proactive work and they need someone in-house simply to firefight. In an agency, you can operate at the cutting edge and be part of the fast-changing developments so going into a role running a press office where you are handed things to “PR” by stakeholders can be frustrating.
Interestingly, some in-house professionals have told me they get taken more seriously than when they were an agency supplier, others have said that the agencies tend to get all the interesting work! Suffice it so say each business is very different and needs careful consideration before a leap is made. It would be naïve to assume that every in-house role is going to be the golden egg and you will immediately have better work/life balance and a higher salary. That isn’t always the case so don’t discount agency too soon!
MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in corporate affairs, covering public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us on 020 8088 4102 for more information or a confidential conversation.