Is the PR industry still a great place to work?
Sharon Zeev Poole, founder and director of Agent99, looks at the current state of PR agency jobs, the burnout epidemic, and what a great PR job looks like in 2025.
The other evening during my routine Instagram doom scroll I came across a post from an industry-related account I follow – The PR Girl Manifesto – that posed a simple but powerful question: “What makes a good PR job?”
It’s the kind of prompt that stops you mid-scroll. It got me thinking, not just as an agency founder, but as a leader who’s been navigating what PR work really feels like in 2025.
Let’s be honest: agency life today doesn’t operate the way it did even five years ago. The world has changed and with it, so has the industry and talent expectations. We hear the term “burnout” almost as much, if not more, than we hear the term “job satisfaction”. The entire definition of a “good” PR job needs a complete reimagining.
At Agent99, we’ve been asking ourselves these hard questions: What does a fulfilling, sustainable PR career actually look like? How do we protect creativity (which let’s face it, is at the heart of why we love this job) while keeping up with performance in an automation-heavy landscape?
The “golden era” of PR might be behind us, but I believe there is a bright new future on the horizon. Here are four things agency leaders need to prioritise now to breathe life back into the PR job.
Flip the script for Gen Z talent
I speak to a lot of emerging talent in PR – in fact, I have some bright young talent on my team right now – and a theme I keep hearing is: “Is this really what I signed up for?”
There’s a disconnect between the energy and ambition of new grads or juniors, and the reality of what early PR jobs often look like, which can at times include long hours and a high-pressure, results-driven environment.
That’s not a reflection on their capability. It’s a sign that the traditional agency model that is built on urgency, constant context-switching, and glorifying “hustle” just isn’t sustainable anymore. We’re burning out the very people we should be nurturing.
We offer our juniors the opportunity to lead certain accounts, with senior team guidance, from start to finish. We give them the chance to get their hands dirty with campaign strategy, media relations, event execution and running client meetings. We also encourage them to join our new business and brainstorming sessions to provide their input on potential campaign ideas.
Their junior status shouldn’t translate to them being the designated reporting minions. They deserve a seat at the table because they have a fresh perspective that’s valuable and because a good PR job today needs to provide Gen Z talent with exposure to strategy and skill-building so they can truly grow.
This generation craves purpose and impact. If they don’t see it, they’ll walk. And I don’t blame them!
Run towards AI
One of the most exciting (and frankly necessary) changes we’ve made is integrating AI tools across our workflow, not to replace our team’s talent, but to unlock more of it. I know it’s the big scary elephant in the PR room right now, but the way I see it, we can embrace it or get left behind. I choose the former.
When used properly, AI can take the heavy lifting off things like media list building, data crunching, reporting, or even rough content drafting – allowing our people to focus on strategy, storytelling, human to human relationship building, and the bigger ideas. It’s not about replacing human intuition; it’s about buying back time for what we do best: creating connections and crafting compelling narratives.
But here’s the caveat: AI adoption must come with strong internal training, ethical guidelines, and a cultural shift that makes your team feel empowered, not threatened, by the tools. It can allow them to truly shine in the areas they want to thrive, while taking a load off the areas that are weighing them down.
A “good” PR job in 2025 includes AI literacy and a fine-tuning of this new beast of a tool to help push publicists to new heights rather than making them feel like their careers are a daily tight rope walk.
Rethinking team structures
The traditional pyramid-shaped team structure – MD at the top, followed by a V2IC, directors and a layer of middle managers, and then juniors doing the grunt work – no longer serves us. It leads to bottlenecks, burnout, and disconnect.
From my perspective, moving towards flatter, more collaborative team pods can help revitalise the agency model.
Let’s face it, not all creatives make for amazing managers, and some PR pros might thrive working in the B2B space but crumble working on more B2C strategies.
We try to leverage our team’s strengths and personalities, and align them with the right projects, rather than job title alone. We assign responsibilities based on interest and growth goals, not on hierarchy alone. For example, our recent ASICS Netball Festival was led by some of our junior team members because of their passion, background and personal skills playing netball, and this was a huge success as a result.
“Good” PR jobs today thrive in flexible, fluid environments. We need to think beyond rigid structures and toward skill and interest-first teams.
Implement a burnout strategy
I won’t pretend the past few years have been easy. Between the pandemic aftermath, economic pressures, and the ever-increasing demand for results in a market of shrinking opportunities, agency teams have felt stretched thin. Burnout is a full-blown epidemic.
The thing is, burnout isn’t just about workload, it’s about caring deeply but feeling a lack of control over certain outcomes and a lack of connection in processes.
We’ve made real efforts to address this. While securing results and keeping up with the ever-changing industry isn’t going to get any easier, we make sure to implement mental health days that actually get used to counteract these stressors. Even I, after 15 years running the agency, started taking every second Friday off so that I can best show up for my team during the rest of my time on.
Most importantly, we talk. Not just in 1:1s or performance reviews – but in weekly team check-ins where we ask: What’s working? What’s not? What do you need? How can we support you?
Rebuilding a team in burnout mode requires vulnerability, trust and the occasional pub lunch treat. But the reward is immense: a team that feels heard, safe, and excited to be part of something again.
What next?
The future of PR doesn’t have to be overwhelming, but the jobs we’re creating need to evolve.
We need to challenge outdated agency norms. Build cultures where creativity, not chaos, is the driving force. Create career pathways that are as fulfilling as they are high performing. Use technology in a way that elevates the human work we love to do.
I believe the PR job of the future is one where people feel proud, supported, and excited, not just on good days, but most days.
It’s on us, as leaders, to make that future a reality.
