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The direction the entire industry is headed as a whole has been more than alarming for over 10 years now if not much longer. If you’re young enough to make a career pivot, do it now. It’s too late for me.
If only I knew, my friend. Struggling with that question myself right now. First of all, it depends how young you make the switch.
How much savings do you have? That’s a very risky move in this job market. There’s a surplus of talent and not enough jobs. If I post a freelance need on LinkedIn, I’ll have 100 messages in an hour.
As a freelancer, you’re not just doing the work, you’re doing business development for yourself. If you have the savings to float yourself for a while and are prepared to grind to develop business, go for it. Otherwise, I’d stay put or look for another full time role until the market improves.
As someone who works for an Omnicom agency, I completely understand. WPP and Omnicom are both making moves that absolutely make it an uncertain environment for employees. I would explore small agencies, boutique firms, etc. before looking at freelance/contract work. Right now, we are cutting down on giving freelancers and contractors hours so that our full-time staff has enough hours to fill out their timesheets. So, I think freelancing/contracting could be a great long-term goal, but if you're worried about stability now...that probably isn't the way to go (yet). Also many freelancing/contracting gigs are iffy with health insurance and benefits.
Again, maybe take a look at smaller agencies as a start. Definitely keep a pulse on the job market and what's available in case you need to jump ship.
WPPer here as well — it’s so bad right now! So I feel for you. Looking for an out as well.
My advice right now is if you have a job, keep hold of it, however hard you are finding it. When I worked agency side, the talk was always of the talent crisis and how hard it was to find good quality AMs / ADs. Now it's as though a switched has been flicked and their are too many staff for the work. It may be AI or the market in general. I've been trying freelance for 7 months now and the pickings are scarce. I'm looking at retraining as an electrician, and I'm in my 50s. Otherwise I'll be driving a van until Musk's automated vehicles make that redundant. It's tough out there.
I have been laid off by two large agencies. My long term job at a small agency lasted more than a decade, so I too recommend looking for opportunities at a smaller agency. Only thing is, your benefits may not be as good. Still, it's better than being unemployed.
This is truly a freaky time and I wouldn't do it. I'm a freelancer and I do great. But this year is beyond bad so far. No one is going to launch a drug this year due to the FDA/CDC/NIH/etc fiasco. We have a huge consolidation going on. Unemployment looks to be in the 5-6% range. War vs EUROPE on the horizon!
Hunker down. That's my advice.
I’m so late responding, but thank you everyone for the thoughtful answers. I’ll stay put for awhile and trudge through. For context: I’m a fitness instructor on the side with a small side business as well, so I’m going to continue navigating those (yes, it’s all exhausting. lol) in addition to the full time and hopefully in a few years when the economy (hopefully. ugh.) balances out a bit, I can dive into my initial idea.
THANK YOU! 🥲
To add: I’ll also keep looking at smaller agencies at well. I’m reaching out to one of my former agencies and staying on their radar when positions open.