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Hello All, I am looking for a Scrum Master role- specifically into project management. I have 8 years of experience into recruitments, technical writing and reviewing. Also, I have been a trainer for soft skills and how to write technical documentation. Recently, I have completed PSM-1 certification and Project Management (sponsored by Google). Adobe
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I have done both. Here are my observations:
1. Understand what you have learned on the agency side…and what is going to be different.
What you CAN learn in agencies almost better than anyplace else is how to learn industries, categories, consumers & brands quickly. You learn how to turn on a dime & shortcut process when a client project has to be out the door in 8-48 hours. You can also learn “the language of ideas”.
Clients, ultimately, live in the world of “operations” - getting orders, products, etc in the door, processed, and out the door - on time and at a profit. Agencies live in a world of “a great positioning strategy/idea/execution”. Yes, agencies increasingly have to be very process oriented in order to be profitable & competitive, but ideas are our primary stock in trade.
On the client side you will absolutely be closer to the decision makers, but you will be spending less time around creative or idea people.
On the client side, the senior management generally comes from some part of operations/sales or finance.
2. Making the move:
To be perfectly candid, one of the best ways is to move to a client that you are working on while on the agency side. The reason is because that client knows you in a way that is beyond your resume/book/website, etc. You will need to establish to clients that you understand “real business” - vs only being an agency “consumer persona” type of strategist - which to them is a “soft” skill. Be prepared for more quant based thinking on the client side.
A couple of other approaches are to:
A. Focus on client side categories that you have worked on (once again, where you are able to credibly discuss the business dynamics of the category & the competitors).
B. Look at emerging in-house operations at clients. There are lots of these out there.
C. Be aware that clients can change their mind. While in-house creative operations are generally continuing to grow, Keurig Dr. Pepper just announced the closure of their entire unit - and it was highly regarded.
Hope this is helpful. I know you’ll make the right choice for yourself long term.
Thanks for this!
Made the jump a few months ago. Currently senior manager at a big bank.
Transition was hard in some ways easy in others.
DM if you want some advice.