What is more preferable: working in-house or the PR agency?

Most PR professionals who are starting a career find it difficult to get a public relations job which can pay them as well as those with experience. Most PR professionals have diverse preferences as to where they would like to take up a job, in an agency or in-house. If one has to choose between agency life and that of an in-house communications department, one would choose either of the two depending on the other factors that come with it: the pay-scale, the position and the duties assigned.

Here are some of the reasons why some PR professionals prefer to work in a PR agency:

• At an agency, most PR professionals get to work with more than one client at a time. With the diversity in the projects one gets valuable experience in handling clients of different domains and industries. Every experience only enriches your job profile.
• Agencies have to work at a quick pace since they have to meet deadlines imposed on them by their clients. Employees have to multi-task on more than one project. One needs to juggle with multiple tasks related to multiple projects at one time without losing on the deadlines. Those who are go-getters would like to work at such agencies.
• Those who start working with an agency at the start of their career get enough exposure to the business world and get accustomed to the corporate culture at an early stage. One gets to learn about different public relations techniques, elements of diverse PR campaigns thus boosting learning opportunities.
• There is always an opportunity to work with an exciting client and even undergo drastic changes in allocation of duties. New clients at the agency will always help you to get exposed to new verticals and thus even enhance your experience.

Now, here are some reasons why some of the PR professionals prefer to work in one of the in-house departments of a huge company:

• PR professionals working in-house are required to be focused on the overall company strategy. The professionals can have certain recommendations on the overall strategy but they are required to take the final decision for working out complete campaigns.
• Those working in-house in an organization should be interested in the specific domain they are in, so that they enjoy working in the company. The best part is that there is just a client to please here, and hence one can devote all energy and passion with a single commitment and goal.
• The in-house experience will also allow the PR professional to take an in-depth look of the whole PR process in the company and might be assigned the task to work out a campaign from start to finish. Agency professionals can only touch some aspects of a PR campaign since they have to multi-task most of the time.
• In-house work can be repetitive but also creative. One can devise new campaigns for a specific product or service for a long period of time which will help you to gain expertise in devising PR solutions for that industry.

The experience of working in-house or in an agency can be very different depending on the environment or the size of the company too. One needs to pick up a public relations job after thinking on the external factors, the size as well as the experience of a company.