Growing pains: a mid-career crisis or an opportunity in disguise?

The candidate

I’ve been actively looking for a new role for about a month now and...it’s tough going. A lot of agencies are feeling the squeeze placed on them by wage inflation, particularly at junior levels, and the tightening of many budgets client side.?The UK might be skirting around the edges of a recession for now, but that doesn't mean people aren't being cautious. And rightly so.

One agency I spoke to talked about an SAE candidate looking for ￡50k, which is a frankly eye-watering amount for someone with just a few years of experience under their belt. And several people I’ve spoken to, who are feeling the pressure to retain good staff in a very lean talent pool, are promoting earlier and more often than they’d like to.?But that's where we are. Everything costs more, and there aren't enough people with the required skills to go around.

This is having a significant impact on margins and their ability to hire senior talent to help mould exciting young PRs that have skyrocketed through the ranks but haven’t had enough opportunities to fail. Because that's when we all do our best learning: when the going gets tough.

The luxury item

So where does that leave someone like me, with 15 years under their belt? It feels like something of a luxury.?

When I took up my last role, I always knew there was an element of risk. I was moving from a stable job at a well-run agency to taking on the challenge of a lifetime. But in the three months between accepting the offer and starting life as a Managing Director, everything changed. What was supposed to be keyhole surgery, to fine-tune a growing business against a pre-agreed 100-day plan, quickly turned into triage. Based on the raw numbers, I simply became unaffordable.

I learnt more in those three months than I ever imagined I would. And despite the stress ("You look like you've lost weight" became a frequent greeting), the sleepless nights, the frustration of being repeatedly ignored and finally, the anger at being put in a position that was not of my own making, I emerge with more self-confidence than anyone made redundant after less than three months has any right to.?

But self-belief can only carry you so far. Because what I’m now finding is that…I don't fit in anywhere.?At least, nowhere with an opening right now.

Never before has the topic of a salary ever come up in first-round interviews, but now, it’s a major stumbling block. The obvious answer is, to lower your salary demands. But then you run the risk of looking desperate. Or people worry that you’ll feel ‘under-utilised’.?

I’ve been asked if I’d consider working four days a week or flat out for less. The honest answer is, maybe. And if that sounds non-committal, that’s because the questions themselves are non-committal.

We’ve all lost out on job opportunities because of a lack of experience but now, I find myself in interviews where some employers view me as overqualified.

The fork in the road

There is inherent risk when writing something like this in a very public forum; I am sure that any number of people reading this that I've spoken to in recent weeks will think, 'Yep, that's me he's talking about'. But this isn't a criticism aimed at anyone, it's a reflection on the state of the industry. I am at a crossroads in my career and sometimes, committing your thoughts to paper can help you see where you're going more clearly.

So what next? I’m loathed to branch out on my own and set up a PR agency because it feels like an over-saturated market that’s already struggling to find the people it needs to sustain itself.

As I see it there are too clear paths forward. One, stay the course. Stay patient, batten down the hatches, and keep pushing forward.

The mechanic

Two, do something different. Change the rules of the game. I already talked about what I perceive as a saturated marketplace, with new PR and integrated communications agencies popping up all of the time. I have nothing but respect for the long list of former colleagues (particularly the Hotwire alumni!) that have set up their own shop but the truth is, they beat me to the punch!

So I'm considering something different; branching out as a consultant for PR agencies. My experiences to date mean I've seen it all. The good, the bad, and the tear-your-hair-out-screaming ugly. I know that a lot of agency founders set their agency up because they could very clearly see a better way of doing things. Whether that meant unburdening themselves of the structural shackles imposed upon them by 'the man', or delivering a very specific type of product that leverages their unique IP.

But somewhere along the way, it can be useful to have someone come in, kick the tires, and make sure you're still on the path you originally set out on. How are you reporting back to clients? How are you defining goals in the first place? Do you have the right line management structures in place? Have you created a proper marketing plan, or is it all ad hoc? How are you managing that new business pipeline and are the rest of the team as invested in it as you are? What do new service options look like and how can you efficiently monetise them? What are the adjacent markets you could be tapping into but don't have the time to research?

In the heat of battle, it can be tricky to keep all of these plates spinning. And the likelihood is, you're not looking to cede too much control to other senior stakeholders in the business just yet. And you probably can't afford to either. So my theory, and it's a work in progress, is that this presents an opportunity for someone like me to come in, run an assessment of the business, and create an action plan for how you can create efficiencies and grow the business.

Maybe that's with the resources you already have, or maybe, that's with some key strategic hires to plug gaps in your team's roster of capabilities. The truth is, no two assessments or action plans are ever likely to look alike. But then I'm not interested in creating a bunch of clone agencies. I want to ensure that each agency is the best version of itself.

The fixer

The other end of the consultancy spectrum potentially sees me in an agency broker role. Why do I think this is important and why do I see this as being an opportunity for me right now? One thing, and one thing only. The absolute state of most RFPs. Badly written, and lacking clear objectives and budgets, this invariably leads to two distinct groups of unhappy campers. Marketers who can't communicate internally what value the money they're spending on PR and integrated communications is bringing to the business, and agencies, who don't know how to give a client - who doesn't know what they want - the impossible.

So in this scenario, I'd work for the business looking to bring in or change agency, by assessing their business and marketing objectives and writing an RFP that means the relationship gets off to the best possible start. Because I believe if the quality of RFPs improves then the strategies developed will be better attuned to business needs, client satisfaction will improve, and relationships will be much healthier.

And for unsuccessful pitches, what I can hopefully encourage businesses to provide is some useful and timely feedback.

The optimist

Right now, I'm not entirely sure which direction my career will take. But it will get better. So what I'm looking for is some honest feedback. Is what I'm experiencing in keeping with the wider PR and Comms industry? Are there signs that this is about to change? Is my consultancy proposal a much-needed service (for agencies and/or businesses) or DOA?

Be brutal; you can stick it in my DMs or put it out there for the world to see and interact with.