Last year, I took a vacation at about the same time, and came to a startling realization: I loved my job, the people I worked with and the companies I worked for. But I was bored and it occurred to me that I had become complacent. I was using phrases like “that’s good enough” and “it’ll work for now.” I wasn’t making mistakes or slacking, but I didn’t have that fire in my belly that I was known for. So, I thought it was time to shake things up and try something new.

And with that, I left the only PR world I knew — agency life — for the unknown corporate gig. I’m having a great time, and while it’s unnerving to be in such a different environment, I think it was a good call (though I still miss my old home). Almost a year later, I’m still debating which I’m better suited for agency or corporate life. I realize I don’t need to make that decision anytime soon, but I have been reflecting on the differences and similarities of the two positions lately. Two huge differences I’ve noticed are:

1. Camaraderie: Agency folks are spoiled, and I don’t think they realize it (at least, I didn’t). Certainly, there’s a wide range of experience and skill levels, but across the board, everyone understands the value of PR. They also understand how frustrating clients can be, how challenging it was to get that huge hit, and how fun a major launch is. It’s a world where all you have to say is “my client has no customers but wants to win a customer award” and everyone understands your frustration. It’s a world of bonding over briefing documents, meeting logistics and driving directions and working late to finalize every last detail. And it’s a world where everyone really understands that PR is a process, and getting profiles in business press takes months (and sometimes years) of work. Your colleagues understand that changing strategy every six weeks is counter productive. They realize that you can’t decide on Monday that you want vertical press coverage the following week. And they realize how much effort goes into a lot of the little successes along the way.

As I interact with colleagues outside of the PR world (from developers to salespeople, etc.), literally everyone thinks they know PR. Apparently, at least I’m told, it’s mostly common sense. That’s a much different environment than I was used to, and it’s made me think about how I present ideas and promote PR successes, because I’ve found that I also need to sprinkle in an appropriate amount of education. I will say I’ve found a different kind of camaraderie internally, which has been great. For example, it was exciting to see all the work that went into a complete relaunch of our search engine in April. But, sometimes I miss that sympathetic, all-knowing nod.

2. The make it work mentality: Another difference I’ve noticed — and I think this is probably true with any client service industry — is that at the agency, our job was to make “it” work. Even if our counsel to a client was to do the exact opposite, at the end of the day, our job was to accept the client’s decision (within reason) and then make it work. And we almost always did. Teams banded together and figured out how to make whatever the initiative was a smashing success. Often, it was the client throwing the highest hurdles at us. Yet, the mentality was always “find a way to make it happen.”

I work with another former agency person, and we both have commented on this. I think that mentality is a huge asset internally, because we’re never the “that won’t work for X reason” person in the room. It’s in our DNA to come up with alternative suggestions and brainstorm a way to make it happen. I have noticed that I need to catch myself sometimes, though. For example, my PR team was pitching a press tour in San Fran for July, and we were finding that most of our reporters were on vacation. My first instinct was to come up with additional targets and brainstorm new pitch angles, and then it occurred to me — I had chosen the date, and if it wasn’t going to work, I could easily move it. It was a part-light bulb, part-DUH moment. So now I’m trying to better balance my “make it happen” mentality :)

A year later, I can safely say that I don’t think one — agency or corporate life — is necessarily better than the other. They’re just very different in a lot of ways. As I reflect on this past year of my transition, I’ll be comparing and contrasting agency and corporate life more in an ongoing series. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts: What do you think is the biggest difference between the two (or similarity)?