{"id":224,"date":"2017-10-26T06:50:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T06:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2023-06-27T20:29:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T20:29:14","slug":"moving-from-agency-to-client-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/moving-from-agency-to-client-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving from Agency to Client Side"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, we\u2019re hearing more and more that the heydays of agency life are over. Client spend and budgets are getting less and the reason is often because they\u2019re bringing the work in-house; if you\u2019ve thought about moving with it, then hopefully I can help.<\/p>\n

I recently joined The Change Partners after a long career working within agencies. I\u2019ve learnt a lot in the transition in regards to moving from an agency position to internally within a brand\u2019s marketing\/digital team. Below, I\u2019ve listed the key differences between the two, so you can make the move with ease.<\/p>\n

How does hiring differ between agency and in-house? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve recruited within the agency space for the past 2.5 years. It\u2019s an industry where CVs don\u2019t matter, roles could be created and the work your agency produced spoke for your own experience and ability. What I mean by that is, as a recruiter, if you came to me as an Account Director who\u2019s worked on EE at Poke (Publicis) for the past couple of years, then I\u2019d have got you an interview with any of Poke\u2019s competitors – without even a glance at your CV. The EE work you\u2019ve delivered and Poke\u2019s reputation speak for itself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d get you in even if the agency didn\u2019t have a live role. Good people are hard to come by, so often for someone great \u2013 a role could be created! Whereas brand-side, this isn\u2019t the case, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

Your CV is your shop window<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To go in-house, your CV is your shop window. If you don\u2019t have anything good in there \u2013 no one will bother exploring it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s key from this is that an agency CV and a client-side CV are very different. Clients aren\u2019t impressed by the fact that you\u2019ve pitched and won new business for your agency. That you\u2019ve managed a team of account managers. Or that you grew the account from \u00a3500k- \u00a31m in the past six months. They want to know about what you\u2019ve delivered and the results you\u2019ve achieved<\/u> for the brands you\u2019ve worked on \u2013 a much more customer-centric approach.<\/p>\n

How has your work increased the amount of \u201cGiant Chocolate Buttons\u201d Cadbury sold last year? Focus on the specific deliverables and brand approach as this is what you would be doing if you worked directly for them.<\/p>\n

My Director, Alastair, has written an article on creating a good CV. Check it out, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remuneration is important<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We all go to work for the same reason, and changing from agency to client-side can be tough if you don\u2019t know where to position yourself, or what salary you should be going for. You can\u2019t expect your agency salary to translate into the client-side world – it\u2019s a completely different kettle of fish.<\/p>\n

Typically, agencies pay very well at the start of your career, in client services for example, you will start as an Account Executive and grow to Account Director within five\/six years; starting around the lower end of \u00a320k and hitting \u00a350k at Account Director level. As you continue to grow, the level that your pay increases will become slightly less and will tend to cap out quite quickly.<\/p>\n

Client-side, your progression will happen at a steadier pace and when making the transition it\u2019s important to be realistic and think of your long-term goal. Yes, your skills are transferable, but don\u2019t forget you\u2019re up against people who have been client-side for their whole career doing this role, or a very similar role with another brand\/organisation.<\/p>\n

With client-side roles, it is much more about the overall package. This is basic salary + bonus + car allowance + benefits. Whilst cultural benefits at an agency are good, they typically never pay a bonus, whereas client-side, the package makes up a good proportion of your \u201cannual take home\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elements like a car allowance are important as they provide an additional benefit – such as a car or a cash injection on top of your salary. Additionally, how much stronger is the maternity package, pension cover, or any additional benefits, such as shares that you didn\u2019t get before?<\/p>\n

There is much more to a client-side \u2018package\u2019 than an agency\u2019s. My advice is, don\u2019t rule something out purely because the base is slightly below what you\u2019re looking for \u2013 think about the bigger picture and the annual cash take-home.<\/p>\n

Fluidity is key<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The ability to navigate large political organisations and having a strong sphere of influence is key to success within a brand and client-side role. If you have the gravitas and the experience to take people on your journey, then you\u2019ll succeed.<\/p>\n

When you work in an agency, you do a little \u201csliver\u201d within the marketing process of a brand, whereas client-side roles are much more varied and affect an overall business and brand – you have to be prepared to work on more diverse projects.<\/p>\n

What do our clients want?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That\u2019s the million-dollar question \u2013 there is no \u2018one size fits all\u2019 when it comes to the creative industries. However, in most instances, clients prefer someone with a mix of agency and client-side experience. Your agency time means you understand the importance of good creative and know how to deliver in a fast-paced organisation. Whereas coming from an in-house marketing team means your experience will be more varied and commercial, and you will know how to deliver & influence in a matrix or layered organisation. Combine the two\u2026 you\u2019re the ideal candidate!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking of making the move, please get in touch with me and hopefully I will be able to help you \u2013 al@thechangepartners.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, we\u2019re hearing more and more that the heydays of agency life are over. Client spend and budgets are getting less and the reason is often because they\u2019re bringing the work in-house; if you\u2019ve thought about moving with it, then hopefully I can help. I recently joined The Change Partners after a long career working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechangepartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}