Pros
Enjoyed working with those who were “competent and passionate” amongst the bad apples in the company. Had the opportunity to work on many big name clients and definitely a great place for exposure especially if you’re new to the industry and looking to do more corporate and traditional PR. Benefits were decent. Direct supervisor was great to work with but managers differed based on clientele/ projects.
Cons
Normal to OT and work on weekends from time to time since it’s agency life. Experience went downhill after internal management changes and layoffs started. Felt that upper management didn’t appreciate the staff, and there was a lot of lack of transparency around management changes. For a PR agency that prides on open communication, felt that they weren’t “showing up and practising good PR practices” (i.e. being open and reassuring their employees). Upper management and internal politics can be quite tricky at times due to clear favouritism and old mindsets. Bouts of incompetence throughout the firm, mainly rooted in old mindsets and way of doing things that can be challenging to navigate. Development opportunities are quite slow and sometimes blurred and dependent on office politics/favouritism. Pay isn’t the best, could be better.