Having just past the half way
mark of my internship, it started to occur to me that whilst both challenging
and fast paced, consultancy work can lack the familiarity of an in-house PR
department. Having worked in such a capacity previously, I had some idea of
what to benchmark it against – yet I couldn't quiet decide which I
enjoyed better.
It’s an old argument when it
comes to choosing between in-house or external (i.e. agency) when building your
PR career. There are definite pros and cons for each; check out this article
from Ragan PR which explores the “5 Major differences between Agency and
inhouse PR” http://bit.ly/UW9Jmj – is a worthwhile read. In my mind however, I
looked to see which type of PR helped me grow more as a practitioner.
In this regard, consultancy was
the clear winner you’re surrounded by a team of experienced workers, most of
whom are willing and able to share with you insights based on their own working
history. You really can’t beat that type of on-the-job education.
However.
Consultancy means that you’ll
often need to work with clients who’s products or industries are far removed
from your own interests, knowledge or even care-factor; I am by no means
suggesting that these companies are not worthy of your consideration, however
they would unlikely be your first pick (when it came to looking for an
internal PR role).
Choosing a career in the PR
department of an organisation generally means you have the ability to select
any industry or business in which you enjoy work or have a significant level of
interest. If you are someone who benefits from a constant working
environment, a tired and tested set of processes and a more in-depth
knowledge of ‘the client,’ then I wager a guess that consultancy is not your
best pick.
When pondering these options, I
realised that part of the beauty of consultancy work in dealing with the
unkown; whilst I may not be an expert oin dust, dirt or debris, if the client
required me to be one – I’d soon find a way. Plus I’d likely leave the project
more aware and educated them when I first started.
Internship Golden Rule No. 3 – Don't turn a job down just because you're not interested in the subject matter. You never know until you've tried it!
2 comments:
insightful!
Great Post!
In-house is familiar- you know what to expect each day, whilst as you say, a consultancy means diversity, a range of clients. As I end my time in a consultancy, I fully appreciate the ability to grow, however, I do agree with you in terms of clients/ projects sometimes being far removed from our interests. I guess sometimes the challenge is being professional and getting the best job done regardless of if we like it or not. Just like we must eat those veggies when we are kids :)
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