Career Switch – Is Agency Life Right For You?

“It’s agency life.” – The infamous line from any marketing and advertising agencies employee, more often than not it will be accompanied by a hashtag too.

Who would have thought that one day I will become a part of this group of people who expresses their emotions best through memes? (Not me, definitely not me.) When it comes to career choices, I was what you’d call an ‘adventurous dreamer’. With the world full of opportunities, I often wondered what was next and I was constantly finding my sense of purpose at work. After two years in the corporate world, I knew I didn’t want to continue settling for an unfulfilling career, so I took a leap of faith, and hopped over to the marketing agency world – Yes, the world where deadlines are tight and clients are always right. 

Now you’re probably wondering why I did the switch. No, it wasn’t the career burnout. The thought of staying in the corporate world just didn’t spark any joy – and with the constant thought of getting an agency job, I knew it was time. That being said, I wanted to share some of the advice I gave myself during the process which helped me make the tough but right decision while giving you the inside look of what actually goes on behind the scenes because while our Instagram may show you only the highlights, in reality, it’s often a much longer, unedited demo reel.

Consider what kind of environment helps you thrive – Don’t ever underestimate the power of work culture. It often can make or break a person or a job and that’s when you will hear how a big salary is unable to compensate for an uninspiring and toxic work environment. Employees play a vital role in perpetuating a strong and good culture, it all starts from having shared beliefs and values which will ultimately shape the culture of the organization. Agency culture can be a tricky concept to define because it’s often a combination of the company’s vision, purpose, values, and actions. If you’re all about embracing the opportunities for individuals to learn and build new skills every day and your accomplishments are more important to you than that extra dinner date with your friends you will probably fit right in because in the agency world there is never a moment of silence, and there is never a dull moment. There’s something going on ALL THE TIME. 

Will you be able to adapt? – While agency marketing does allow you more freedom to take risks and through the process, you will be able to learn and gain an incredible amount of new skills, tactics, and knowledge, at the end of the day it’s still about working with several brands and companies across verticals. Being an “outsider” of the client’s company, often time, it’s about guiding instead of leading and you’re bound to face constant constraints and questions from the clients. In the corporate world, perhaps this is what you will call the hierarchy or the internal political structure but the difference in the agency world is that this structure is always changing depending on the client you’re handling. So, the ultimate question is ‘are you one to adapt?’

What’s your definition of ‘Work-life balance? – Like I said…there’s really never a dull moment, and it’s getting better all the time. If you’re not in our field, all the agency life memes may just sound like a simple joke but sadly the emotion of working in an agency honestly can’t get more relatable than all these memes. Reflecting back, one of the things that I took for granted in corporate life was the consistent 9 to 5 working life with the occasional overtime. In the agency world, it’s a life of never-ending late nights and long hours. It’s rushing to beat deadlines, followed by endless revisions and working weekends. ‘Work-life balance’ means different things to different people and if ‘work-life balance’ means a regular working hour which allows you to have a social life on both weekdays’ nights and weekends, you’ll probably want to reconsider this. Anyone can do a job but, in an agency, with the endless opportunities and a learning curve that is practically vertical, you will be able to find your definition of ‘work-life balance’ when you learn that no other line of work is quite as rewarding. At the end of the day, it’s about YOUR definition of rewards. 

From a person who had no idea about her career path, I’ve learned so much about myself within such a short period and while times can get rough, I wouldn’t trade this for anything. Always remember that there is no right or wrong career path, just paths. If you’re looking to make the transition, I hope that this article helped in one way or another. Lastly, don’t be scared or disheartened by the search for your new career, check in with yourself regularly, and make sure that you’re aligned with your long-term goals. Learn when to walk away, and when to move on because it’s never too late to start over as long you get to do what you love, every day.