Comms/PR - self employed back to full time employment.

[NotLactoseFree]

I have been running my own small communications business for 10 years. Although it's set up as a business, and I do work with other freelancers/consultants at time, arguably it's mostly just me freelancing. My background was PR but I've slowly moved away from PR to much more comms, lots of content creation etc. Industry is all professional/financial services, technology - so often big firms or small firms that are backed by big firms.

But I am not sure I can keep doing it. For lots of reasons to do with just being tired of doing it alone, not having backup, not being part of a team plus the erratic income, particularly with COL going up and lots of additional costs related to the DC. The flexibility I had before just isn't enough of a benefit and in fact, if anything, I need more routine.

But I have NO Idea how to go back into full time employment. What would I even do? I left permanent employment as head of a team within a larger press office. But that was 10 years ago and I don't want to do PR anyway, even if I could. I've done loads of comms in the intervening time, but of course, it's all in pieces because as a freelancer/consultant, I'm not exactly in there making the big decisions or driving the overall project/campaign.
I spoke to a couple of recruiters about 5 years ago and even then they basically said that my experience running my own business was irrelevant. So I'm not massively optimistic that it will be any better now.

Does anyone have any advice? Any one done it themselves? I'll do the obvious things - look at my CV, talk to recruiters etc. But I think before I do any of that I probably need to figure out realistically what jobs I can do. And I'm not even sure of that!?

whereabouts are you based?

I'm a Head of Comms and would definitely be open to an application with someone with your background. As long as you can show the skills, experience and enthusiasm.

I'd hone in on what aspect(s) you want to focus on now - is it content creation, comms strategy, internal comms? Knowing what you don't want to do (press) is just as important.

Look at comms jobs and see what's out there, what takes your fancy. What sectors appeal? Build a CV or a couple around that, focusing on the skills and experience you have.

Think about what you want from a salaried job (you've started doing this, clearly but are you thinking more 500+ employees corporate or a smaller, more boutique agency vibe) and be open about it in applications and interviews - tell your authentic story.

Surrey/London.

Re thinking about what I want to do, you are right, I need to spend more time on that. The problem is seniority too - I don't want a mid level position after leaving a fairly senior role and then spending 10 years running my own business (plus I cant afford it). So probably I need to go for a larger organisation where I can use my skills and experience but where the "Head of" roles are still above me.

For context, I have 25 years experience in City-style firms working for many global organisations. My last full time job was director level within an investment bank running a small, but v high profile team. I have experience in banking, insurance, hedge funds, fintech, technology, data science and law, many overlaid with AI-related themes which seems to be more and more important these days.

My problem is that over the last few years my work has often been a piece of a bigger whole - messaging, content creation from white papers to blogs etc, but not taking the bigger picture view. Which is one of the reasons for considering going back. I love what I do, but not enough to justify the erratic pay, lack of input to the bigger picture etc.

I’ve been on the hiring side of the desk for people in your positions. In FS government affairs not comms, but I bet there’s overlap. Two things occur….

Go for contracts initially, and big up your ability to pick things up quickly and slot into existing teams (which you must have done as a freelancer). Gets you a foot in the door, and a more standard job for the CV.

Look at agency, where your business credentials will be more valued (and also the points about picking things up quickly etc).

Yeah, I accept I won't be able to get true seniority. It's why I am thinking bigger organisation with bigger teams. Which also plays to my experience both when I worked full time and over the last 10 years. I have good names on my cv as employers and clients.

No full time employees but have employed various contractors and freelancers. Not the same though, obviously.

I am v resistant to an agency as so much at my level is about bringing in new business which is NOT a strength of mine. Delivering for clients, and retaining them, I'm great at though. But perhaps I need to explore that a bit more.

Re.my network - so true. I have some current or past clients I can tap up to a point but that is limited.

Contracting is a great idea in theory. The problem is that I am the breadwinner. So I'm a bit hesitant as after a contract ends, if I don't have a new one, that's problematic. But perhaps I should consider it. I have glossed over any contracts in my very brief glances at jobs, maybe I will stop doing that.

Late 40s - 25 years experience.

I've worked with "big" clients as a freelancer too - a large number of my clients (current and past) are names that will be well known within broader financial/professional services in the city.

But yes, I do accept I'm not going to be walking into a properly senior role. On the plus side, mid senior at these sorts of organisations are still interesting, well paid, challenging roles and I think that could work if I find the right one. I need to think about what kind of roles etc and I'm definitely not there yet in terms of having a proper story to tell or even knowing exactly what I'd like to do, or what I think I can do. I'm conscious that as a freelancer, the work I've been doing is quite high level and good BUT as the non-decision maker it's going to take some time to get back into that concept of driving things forward within the context of a broader strategy.

No, 25 years in total. I can see how that was confusing. My freelance experience is largely with the same sort of organisations I worked with originally though so I have 25 years experience working in these industries/environments.