Louisa Page

Posted 12th July 2010 1 Comment

Tags:

• agency
• client
• development
• jobs
• recruitment
• web

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Client vs Agency Jobs

As we’re in the middle of yet another big recruitment drive, I wanted to share my thoughts about client vs agency jobs. I’ve enjoyed both of these options, having founded a digital agency in 1997 which went on, at it’s peak, to employ around 20 digital specialists working with clients such as Honda, O2, Castrol and the Williams Formula 1 team (a personal favourite of mine). I’ve also worked as a client, founding Global Personals in 2003 and going on to work with various digital, PR and branding agencies.

So I like to think I’ve been on both sides of the fence and have a good perspective on this.

I think it’s important for any career-orientated professional to get experience working at both agencies and clients. Often, people are attracted to the variety of work offered by agencies as they get to work on different projects and often using relatively cutting-edge technologies and methodologies to help their clients gain a strategic advantage.

However, the downside to agency work is quite simply budget – there’s a constant conflict between what a client can afford to pay and what the implementation teams (whether it’s development, creative or marketing) want to achieve. The best developers and designers want to do their best work – which doesn’t always fit in with what a profit-orientated project manager or salesman wants. Quite simply they’re left to consider quality, speed and cost of work, then choose two.

On the flip side, working for a client doesn’t usually involve such strict budget considerations, allowing good developers and designers to create their best work – as long as it fits in with the commercial requirements of the business. Which it often doesn’t as innovation and excellence can be become stifled by short-sighted management adhering to commercial goals.

At Global Personals, I like to think we’ve got the best of both worlds – the stability and profitability that allows us to focus on the quality of the work instead of restricted budgets, together with the entrepreneurial flair and agility that encourages innovation and experimentation with new technology and methodologies. We have project deadlines, but we don’t have to be restricted by client budgets – if it’s a good idea and it’ll make us (or save us) money, generally we want to do it!

With over 4,294 dating sites from our 1,256 partners (at the time of writing!) there’s a huge amount of variety for our developers, creative, marketing and customer care teams – and an enormously satisfying challenge for our management who are helping to grow not only our business, but the online dating category as a whole.