As long as I have worked in PR there has always been an uneasy relationship between those that practice in an agency and those that practice in-house.
As someone who has spent time in both roles, this doesn’t really surprise me. After all working in an agency and working inside are in many respects very different jobs. I always tell students they should try and get experience of both sides of the profession, because at the very least, it will provide them with a broader perspective.
Over the past couple of weeks I met with a number of friends and former colleagues and I was stunned.
On a number of occasions I heard working in-house referred to as a type of nursing home for those no longer able to work in a "real job" i.e. the agency.
The comments were prefaced with: "no disrespect Tom but…"
The interesting things was that these comments came from people with little or no in-house experience.
There is no doubt that the differences between agency and in-house are many fold, but just in case anyone is looking at moving in-house as part of their end of career wind down process, I’d think again. 🙂
Working in-house isn’t a retirement plan…
Murphy's Law 