- Pandemic-related layoffs have given public relations employers a hiring edge for the first time in years and made PR recruiters, a vital link between employers and candidates, even more critical.
- They’re still seeing opportunities growing in pharma, tech, healthcare communications as lifestyle categories like travel and food shrink.
- Here’s Business Insider’s first list of the top headhunters for the PR industry.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
In the heady days before the pandemic, as clients swarmed and fees swelled, PR agencies couldn’t hire fast enough. Even junior candidates felt emboldened to make extravagant demands.
Now, as post-pandemic layoffs hit, the script has flipped. Employers are raising the bar, demanding hyper-relevant experience and stellar track records; salaries are returning to Earth.
In the middle is a tight cadre of recruiters who specialize in PR. For job-seekers, they’re a vital link to employers. For companies, they’re both bounty-hunter and filter at a time when openings can attract floods of resumes.
Business Insider identified a dozen leading PR headhunters, including two in-house recruiters. While their views of the market diverge, all agree on a few trends. Clients are urgently demanding diverse hires and experts to staff growing areas of healthcare, pharma, and tech PR. And versatility matters more than ever.
"Teams are smaller," said Larry Brantley, president of New York-based Chaloner. "You have to do more work."
Here are 12 PR recruiters to know right now, in alphabetical order by last name.
Larry Brantley, president, Chaloner
Relationships matter in recruiting; since Chaloner's been around more than 40 years, it's got deep connections in communications.
The firm has dedicated practices focused on healthcare, corporate, agency, and consumer clients from Honeywell to the Ford Foundation to Perdue Farms. The emphasis is on mid-level to executive positions, from a salary base of about $70,000 to up to $300,000, president Larry Brantley said.
"Yes, it's an employer's market. But where you would have received 50 applications in February, you're now getting 500-700, some of whom aren't close to qualified," Brantley said. "Before COVID-19, I'd say we were in the hunter-gatherer phase with talent. Now, we're farming - weeding out the periphery."
Nikita Davis, managing director, PR Talent
A PR-headhunting veteran who's had in-house stints at Edelman, Ketchum, and Marina Maher Communications, NY-based Davis oversees East Coast operations for this LA-based firm with megaclients like Capital One, Red Bull, Ruder Finn, and Golin.
While Davis typically works with more agencies than brands to fill jobs, the pandemic has altered that balance, with brands more actively hiring than agencies.
"The last three positions I filled were in-house," she said. "Their attitude is, 'If the need is there, the need is there.'"
Diversity is another big focus now that firms are worried about getting called out. But the conversation must also revolve around inclusion, she said.
"Once you bring diverse talent on board, what are you doing in terms of mentoring, onboarding, training and development? Sadly, everyone has a story about an experience where they haven't felt valued."
Lisa B. Frank, founder, LBF Strategies
A PR veteran who worked for non-profits before starting her business in 2006, Lisa Frank knows that even people great at promoting brands can be challenged when it comes to communicating about themselves. With that in mind, she incorporates career coaching into her practice.
Despite the damage from the pandemic, certain specialties will thrive, Frank said.
"Internal communications will continue to have real value, especially as businesses are forced to remain remote," said Indiana-based Frank, who estimates she's placed more than 350 pros at agencies and brands since launching LBF Strategies. "After the 2008-09 downturn, marketing communications was seen as a luxury line item. Now, companies need those specialists."
Brian Gabay, founder and CEO, Brian Simon Associates
Most of this 4-year-old firm's clients are small-to-midsize agencies that lack their own recruitment operations.
An imbalance in PR specialties is complicating matters for candidates, said founder and CEO Brian Gabay, who placed an average of 100 PR pros per year before the pandemic.
"There are so many people out of work in travel and food PR," he said. "It's hard for them to transition to growth areas like health or tech. Agencies want specific experience."
As a bonus, Gabay just launched a network for vetted PR freelancers, connecting solo pros to project-based gigs. "These are 45 rock stars, ready to go," he said.
Jane Gerard, founder, Jane Gerard Executive Search
Jane Gerard's HR stints at Calvin Klein, Prada, and Rubenstein led her to launch headhunting for creative sectors in 2011. But with all her areas - fashion, beauty, food, and hospitality - hit hard, she's turned her focus to in-house people and categories like fitness and wellness that are thriving in the pandemic.
It's a transformed landscape now for both employers and candidates, said Gerard, who's consulted to SoulCycle, Ralph Lauren, and Alison Brod Marketing + Communications, among others.
"Employees have to deliver results across all platforms," she said. "And my clients are evaluating candidates on their performance during the pandemic - no one cares if you placed a story in the Journal four years ago."
Jennifer Greenberg Loggia, executive recruiter, Quantum
Quantum is the largest privately held recruiting firm in Canada; Jennifer Loggia's their entire New York City operation, and happens to specialize in PR.
More than 80% of Loggia's searches are for New York-based agencies, and she said that while clients are hiring again, the pandemic is having a tangible effect on compensation, which puts them in the driver's seat.
"Salaries have been grossly inflated the last few years," she said. "That's going to change. Candidates are willing to take pay cuts, and they're realizing it's often better to be in a good environment with real benefits. They're being much more flexible."
Bill Heyman, CEO, Heyman Associates
Big brands are the focus of this 30-year-old firm, which claims to serve 60% of the Fortune 50 and 50% of the Fortune 100. Founder Bill Heyman's focus is searches at the director level and higher. American Airlines, Bloomberg, Ford, Whole Foods, and other behemoths decorate his client roster.
Heyman, who became a PR Week Hall of Famer in 2017, worked in similar corporate roles himself before founding the firm; he's also expanded into Asia with Taylor Bennett Heyman, an affiliated firm with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Michele Lanza, partner, Global Acquisition and Retention Strategies, Ketchum
To fill slots on Omnicom Group-owned Ketchum's 2,000+ global team, Michele Lanza runs an internal search firm and recruiting team with the firepower of an external headhunter.
"We understand talent in the markets where they work, and we reach out to the right person when there's an opportunity," Lanza said.
While the pandemic's flattened Ketchum's hiring pipeline - only around 25 positions are open globally - it's given Lanza a chance to build up its talent database. And despite the tough jobs picture, candidates have become more discerning, Lanza says.
"They're interviewing companies. They want to know about values. They want to know about culture. What's the company committed to? Do I respect it? It's a radical transformation."
Lanza also leads diversity and inclusion initiatives that start as early as the high school level that aim to educate students on careers in communications. And now that virtual work's becoming prevalent across the industry, she hopes opportunities will open up for people with disabilities as well.
Jamie McLaughlin, founder, JWM Talent
Longtime headhunter Jamie McLaughlin launched JWM Talent, a communications-focused firm. A lecturer at Columbia and NYU, he serves on the board of the Institute for Public Relations, a trade group. While McLaughlin works across PR specialties, he's zeroed in on hard-to-fill roles in financial services and healthcare.
"If Google or Apple need a comms person, they get lines around the block. Bioscience and healthcare, not so much," he said.
Unlike some recruiters, McLaughlin insists PR pros can move between specialties. "Some clients actually want a different background, a new set of eyes, and a fresh approach," he said.
Tammy Phan, director of talent, Berlin Rosen
With its roster of progressive clients, high-profile tech and entertainment work, and relentless growth - even during the pandemic - Berlin Rosen's been a sought-after destination for younger PR pros.
Hiring has slowed during the pandemic hit, but new business keeps coming, said director of talent Tammy Phan, who prizes hires who can pivot from one specialty to another.
Around diversity and inclusion, Berlin Rosen has made formalized, structured internships a key part of its initiatives, which also include blind assessments of trial projects for candidates.
"The entry point into a profession can make or break things for people," she said.
Brian Phifer, founder and CEO, Phifer & Company
Brian Phifer usually gives his 45-person team a week off in July, but not this year.
"When COVID hit, there were layoffs," he said. "But firms are hiring again like nuts. We've been kind of shocked."
Despite a talent glut, it's not a buyer's market, says Phifer, whose 23-year-old firm placed 550 candidates last year; clients have included agencies and brands like Axicom, Finn Partners, Pepsico, and Soho House. "Clients are still having trouble finding the right people," he said. "And Fortune 100 clients are having an enormously tough time finding good talent."
The death of office work has been greatly exaggerated, Phifer also argued. "New York will remain the center of gravity. And work-from-home for good is not going to occur - there's already burnout. We have candidates check a box about whether they want to be in an office. More than 60% say yes."
Jim Ward, founder and president, The Ward Group
With so much talent on the market right now, it would seem that employers can call the shots. But not at the senior level, where The Ward Group specializes, said Boston-based CEO Jim Ward, who founded the firm in 1993.
"Clients want the best and brightest to bring them through the most challenging period in memory," he said. "At that level, it's neither a buyer nor seller's market."
As blue-chip as they come, the firm's longevity gives it an edge; Ward's built an 80,000-name database, and part of the firm's pitch is that it helps onboard candidates once matches get made.
"Many search firms measure success based on volume, or the number of searches," Ward said. "We measure success by retention."