Crossing the Divide - Make an In-House Success of your PR Consultancy Appointment
Posted on Friday, May 07, 2010
Alison Howard, Director of Deverill Executive Search, on how to make a hire from a PR consultancy work for you and your communications team.
The move from a PR consultancy to a senior in-house communications position is a well-trodden path, but can be a tricky transition for both PR consultant and their new employer.
Making the wrong choice, or not giving a new appointment the support to make a success of the move, is a poor investment of time, money and resource for the in-house communications team and demoralising for the consultant who has made the move.
Deverill Search, the corporate communications executive search firm, surveyed a pool of former PR consultants who have moved into senior corporate communications roles to learn from their experiences. Our conclusions should help both sides of the fence: those thinking of making a move in-house, and those contemplating hiring from a PR agency.
When asked what was the most important skill that PR consultants brought to a corporate environment, most cited the ability to form networks as their primary transferable skill. This may seem surprising, as the ability to juggle multiple clients and numerous crises simultaneously is often identified as the core skill of the PR consultant.
An aptitude to engage with senior management is crucial to the in-house role. Hand-in-hand with this is the ability to persuade the board that communication drives reputation and financial performance. Some PRs found stepping up to these roles challenging, particularly if the previous incumbent had devalued the importance of corporate communications to the overall business strategy and performance
The ability to advise and apply previous experience to any given situation, as well as listening to and understanding multiple perspectives is essential to both consultancy and in-house life. However, developing the sensitivity to know when to stop pushing an issue with senior management is also a particularly key element in a corporate environment.
This approach may be a shift from the way consultants have handled things in their former careers – and those who had successfully moved into in-house positions urged potential in-housers to consider whether they are ready for a world of team management, internal politics, longer term deadlines and less demand for quick wins.
A number of people said they missed the high-octane environment with the buzz of winning pitches and being surrounded by like-minded colleagues. But the majority found a life in-house; where you could leave the constant pitching and networking behind and never again have to pretend to be an expert in a number of sectors, more appealing.
Another significant change from agency for the consultant is that often he or she will now report to one manager. Given the matrix nature of agencies, consultants are used to being part of many teams. It may also be the first time they have managed their own dedicated resources and budget. The formal in-house team structures throw up very different issues and both employee and employer will need to be sure that the candidate is happy to be managed and is capable of managing. The chemistry of those relationships is also vitally important.
There are many ways of helping make this transition easier. One communications director at an enlightened FTSE250 company had been sent on a people management course and had been enrolled on a mini MBA.
However, unfortunately over half of those surveyed had absolutely no training or induction whatsoever. Of those who did have an induction, it consisted mainly of meetings with senior management - one senior communications executive at a Global Investment Bank met over 100 senior executives!
In general there was little or no regret about moving in house as compared to the 10% in our previous survey on journalists who regretted moving into PR. www.deverillsearch.com/news-article.asp?NewsID=19
There were other positive observations. Surprisingly, very few respondents mentioned the downside of becoming a cost centre rather than a revenue producer but focused more on the upside of being recognised as being a communications expert. Unlike some agencies, where PR consultants may be expected to be a “jack of all trades and master of none”, those corporate communicators we spoke with seemed to enjoy the prestige of being seen as an expert within their company at what they do.
Becoming immersed in one single sector was often quoted as a positive for an in-house role. However respondents frequently found acquiring the depth and breadth of knowledge required to do the job properly took much time and focus.
Several former PR consultants warned employers to ensure senior agency hires had the ability and confidence to deal with the media. As PR consultants are promoted up into the senior ranks of an agency they are more likely to deal in strategy and client handling, leaving the direct day-to-day contact with the media to more junior members in their teams. If you want your senior communications person to have influence with heavy hitting media you need to ensure that they have nurtured those relationships more latterly in their agency careers.
To draw our survey findings together we asked PR consultants what advice they would give HR directors on hiring out of agencies.. Our research suggests HR directors may want to work through the following checklist to mitigate the risk in hiring a PR consultant straight from an agency:
1. Has the senior management team really bought into the hiring process and ultimately the individual? Have they had a real opportunity to explore if a candidate’s values are aligned with the company culture?
2. Has the person had any management experience? If not, arrange some training.
3. Make sure your hire is realistic about resources; agency players can spend time strategising but have no experience or inclination to implement.
4. Could you, as the HR director, act as a mentor to the new hire? (Some of the PR consultants surveyed would have liked to have a mentor and thought that HR directors, knowing the pressure points in a company, would be ideal).
In summary, whilst some consultants might see going in-house as an easy option for those wishing to escape the endless quest for new business, our respondents find it every bit as challenging and interesting as working in the consultancy world. Being recognised as the in-house expert on communications; managing and developing a dedicated team and immersing oneself in one sector and one company are all cited as highlights of the in-house role.
Whether you’re a consultant thinking of making the move in-house, or an in-house communications director considering an agency appointment, we at Deverill hope our observations and findings provide some clarity on your decision-making process.
We hope that using the above questions as a checklist will assist in hiring the right talent and ensuring he/she stays for the long-term.
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