First hire planning for PR agencies: A Practical Guide
First hire planning for PR agencies
Moving from solo freelancer to managing staff is where most PR practitioners stumble. Your first hire isn't just about doubling capacity — it's about choosing someone who can carry client relationships, protect your reputation, and set the cultural tone for everything that follows. Get this decision wrong and you'll spend months managing around it; get it right and you've built the foundation for sustainable growth.
When You're Actually Ready to Hire
The instinct to hire comes too early for most agencies. You're drowning in emails, missing deadlines, or turning away work — so you think: hire someone. But the real readiness threshold is different. You should hire your first person only when you have consistent, predictable revenue covering both salaries and overheads for at least 12 months ahead. This means retainer clients, not one-off campaigns. If your income relies on project work or sporadic placements, you don't yet have the stability to employ someone fairly. Beyond finances, you need documented processes. If every campaign lives in your head, hiring creates a liability, not capacity. Before you advertise a role, audit what you actually do: campaign planning, media outreach, relationship management, reporting, admin. Document the repeatable parts. That exercise often reveals you're not actually ready for a full hire — you might need a part-time virtual assistant first, or to outsource something cheaper than employment. Timing also matters to your existing clients. If you've been reactive and suddenly disappear into recruitment, relationships suffer. Hire when you have a natural pause in the calendar or when you've secured a new contract that justifies the headcount. Your current clients shouldn't notice your hiring process.
The Case for Hiring a Generalist First
Most new agencies hire for a specific gap — 'we need someone for playlist pitching' or 'we're drowning in press releases.' This is usually a mistake. Your first hire should be a generalist who can handle the full campaign lifecycle: outreach, relationship management, basic copywriting, reporting. They need to be comfortable across press, playlists, and influencers. Specialisation comes later when you have revenue to support dedicated roles. A generalist hire teaches you what actually takes time in your business. You might discover that playlist pitching is 20% of your work and press is 60%. Now you understand your real product. They also provide coverage — if someone goes sick or leaves, a generalist keeps clients moving forward instead of your business stopping entirely. The generalist role also filters for something critical: coachability. Someone who's comfortable learning multiple disciplines is usually someone who'll take feedback, ask questions, and grow with your agency. They're often earlier-career or from adjacent fields (music journalism, social media management, artist management). This matters because your first hire will do things slightly differently than you would, and you need someone secure enough not to take that feedback personally.
Interview and Assessment: Separating Performers from Talkers
Standard interview formats fail in PR recruitment. You'll hear great answers about 'passion for music' and 'working cross-functionally' from candidates who fall apart with real clients. Instead, use a two-stage process: a practical brief, then a conversation. For the practical stage, send a brief 2-3 hours before the interview. Give them a real scenario: 'We're launching a campaign for a funk band targeting playlist curators. Their last single got 2k plays. Draft an outreach email and list 10 playlists you'd pitch.' This tests their actual thinking, music knowledge, and ability to take direction. You'll see how they research, how they write, and whether they ask clarifying questions. During the conversation, ask for examples of campaigns they've seen — not necessarily ones they've run. How would they have handled a failed pitch? Why? This reveals their strategic thinking without relying on their employment history. Ask them to talk through one of their brief answers: 'Walk me through why you chose those playlists.' Someone who mumbles or retreats is not your hire. Someone who has reasons — even if you'd disagree — is worth considering. Never hire based on interview charisma alone. Some of the best PR people are quiet until they're defending a client. Look for competence, honesty, and signs they actually understand the work.
Compensation Structure: Salary, Retainer Split, and Incentives
PR agencies often underpay first hires because founders undervalue the work when they've done it themselves. This is how you lose good people and create retention chaos. Research London salaries for mid-weight PR roles (not entry-level) — expect £24,000–£32,000 for someone with 2–4 years of relevant experience. If you're outside London, adjust down by 15–20%. If your hire is working fully remote, you can adjust for cost of living, but publicly offering below-market rates attracts only weak candidates. Consider how you structure earnings. A pure salary with annual review is simplest but creates no alignment with agency performance. Some agencies offer a base salary (70–80% of market rate) plus a bonus tied to retained client revenue hitting targets. This works if your first hire directly influences retainer deals — less so if they're mainly executing campaigns. Don't create complicated commission structures. They breed resentment and become hard to manage. One agency owner offering 'commission on new client revenue' found themselves arguing with their hire about whether a contract renewal counts as new revenue. Keep it clear: base salary for the job, simple bonus if the business hits defined revenue targets they've genuinely helped achieve. Benefits matter. Statutory minimum is statutory minimum — it won't keep people. Offer 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays), pension contributions from day one, and flexibility around work location if possible. A £27,000 salary with decent benefits is more attractive and retains people better than £29,000 with nothing.
Trial Periods and Early Exit Indicators
Statutory probation is three months, but you should know within four weeks whether this hire is viable. A good first hire hits the ground learning fast: asking intelligent questions, remembering client details, delivering work without needing extensive revision. A poor hire shows these early signs: they need reassurance on basic tasks, they forget what you've told them, they miss deadlines even on simple work, or they become defensive when you suggest changes. Many agency founders avoid difficult conversations in probation because they're worried about conflict. Wrong move. If you have doubts at week three, a direct conversation now is a mercy compared to eight more weeks of poor work. Say: 'I've noticed the outreach emails need multiple rounds of revision. That's not working for us. Here's what I need to see change.' Some people snap into focus; others confirm they're not the fit. Document feedback during probation. Keep notes on what they've done, what you've asked them to improve, their response. If you do need to end the contract, you want a clear record. It also protects you legally — you've given clear feedback and opportunity to improve. Don't extend probation hoping things get better. If someone isn't working by week eight, they're unlikely to work. It's kinder and cheaper to find a replacement than to keep someone struggling and resenting their own poor performance.
Managing Your First Manager Relationship
The shift from solo freelancer to manager is harder than the shift from employed to freelancer. You're suddenly responsible for someone's income, morale, and development. This often makes new agency founders either too hands-off (they disappear, leaving the hire confused) or too controlling (they can't delegate, defeating the purpose of hiring). Set up a rhythm: a weekly 30-minute check-in focusing on current work, blockers, and questions. Not a performance review — a working relationship check. Use it to clarify expectations, answer questions quickly, and spot problems early. If you wait for quarterly reviews, small issues become resentments. Give them autonomy where you can. If you're rewriting every outreach email or second-guessing every decision, your hire never develops and you've created a more expensive version of your freelance self. Define the standard (what a good email looks like, what client service means) then let them hit that standard their way. Not every campaign will sound like you'd write it. That's okay. Be transparent about money and the business. Your hire is less likely to panic about their job security or jump ship if you give them basic context: 'We have £X retainer revenue this month. Your salary is £Y. Here's what we're building toward.' You don't need to share everything, but mystery creates anxiety. Most importantly: give them work that matters. If you're keeping all the interesting clients for yourself and dumping admin on your new hire, they'll leave. Even as a sole operator, offer real client responsibility from the start.
Avoiding the Hire That Breaks Your Culture
Your first hire inherits your standards. If they're used to sloppy client service, that becomes your agency standard. If they're genuinely kind and curious, that grows through your team. This is why hiring for attitude and coachability is not HR fluff — it's the foundation of your reputation. Red flags to watch: someone who talks poorly about their previous boss, someone who's vague about what went wrong in past roles, someone who seems more interested in the title than the work, or someone who wants to 'build a team' before you've even launched. These often signal poor accountability, difficulty with feedback, or misaligned priorities. Green flags: they ask detailed questions about your clients and processes, they admit what they don't know, they're curious about how you decide what to pitch, they follow up thoughtfully after the interview. These people learn and grow in role. Cultural fit doesn't mean hiring someone identical to you. It means someone who shares your standards for client service, honesty, and quality even if their style is different. A quiet generalist who delivers carefully is a perfect hire for a meticulous founder. A gregarious strategist is a bad hire for someone who values heads-down execution. Don't hire your friend or someone you 'need to help.' Hiring is a business decision, not a favour. If they're your friend and they underperform, you're forced to choose between friendship and business. Both lose.
Onboarding and the First 30 Days
A bad onboarding wastes your first month and leaves your hire confused. They need three things fast: technical access, process documentation, and context. Technical access means immediate setup on your email system, project management tool, and any other platforms you use. Don't make them ask for it repeatedly. Have it ready day one. A surprising number of new hires sit around with nothing to do because their boss forgot to set up their laptop or email. Process documentation doesn't need to be elaborate. A 2–3 page document per major process is enough: 'Here's how we pitch press', 'Here's how we manage client reporting', 'Here's how we brief campaigns.' New hires will generate questions that improve these documents. That's good — it makes your processes clearer for everyone. Context means introducing them to clients, but carefully. Don't throw them into your oldest, most demanding client on day one. Start with a client who's communicative and low-maintenance. Have them sit in on one call. Let them listen to you pitch and brief. Then give them smaller tasks within that relationship before they take ownership. Set clear expectations about communication. How quickly do clients expect responses? How do you handle urgent requests outside work hours? Is it acceptable to set an out-of-office? A new hire won't know your norms and will either panic or establish bad patterns early. Schedule their first month deliberately: introduce them to two clients properly, assign them one campaign to co-manage with you, get them comfortable with your tools. Don't introduce five new clients, assign four campaigns, and expect them to sink or swim. They'll do both and you'll be fixing it for months.
Key takeaways
- Only hire when you have 12+ months of retainer revenue confirmed and documented processes in place — growth without stability creates liability, not capacity.
- Your first hire should be a generalist comfortable across press, playlists, and influencers — specialisation comes later when you can support dedicated roles.
- Use a practical brief and strategic conversation in interviews, not charisma assessment; bad hiring patterns often repeat because founders don't trust their hiring judgment.
- Pay market rate (£24k–£32k for 2–4 years experience in music PR) with clear, simple bonus structures; underpaying causes retention issues that damage client relationships more than salary costs.
- Document your expectations during probation and address performance gaps immediately; extending probation hoping for improvement wastes time and builds resentment on both sides.
Pro tips
1. Before advertising a role, document your actual repeatable work — you'll often discover you need a part-time virtual assistant first, not a full-time hire. This saves months of salary spend and reveals your real bottlenecks.
2. Create a two-stage interview process: send a practical brief 2–3 hours before the conversation, then ask candidates to walk you through their thinking on one answer. This reveals competence and thinking, not interview charisma.
3. Set up a weekly 30-minute check-in, not a quarterly review. Catch problems early, clarify expectations in real-time, and build a relationship where feedback feels normal instead of a surprise.
4. During probation, document feedback and give clear improvement expectations by week three if needed. Extending probation past eight weeks hoping things improve is expensive delusion — make the call and move on.
5. On day one, have their laptop set up, email active, and access granted to all systems they'll need. A new hire with nothing to do on their first day will lose confidence in your organisation immediately.
Frequently asked questions
Should I hire someone part-time or full-time as my first employee?
Full-time is stronger if you can sustain the salary. Part-time creates ambiguity about availability and can slow relationship-building with clients who expect coverage. If you're not sure you can commit to 12 months of salary, wait — hire a freelancer or virtual assistant instead of committing to part-time employment that you might regret.
What should I actually pay someone in their first PR role?
If they have 2–4 years of relevant experience (journalism, artist management, social media, music industry), aim for £24,000–£28,000 in most of the UK, more in London. If they're a strong career-changer with no PR experience but good foundations, start at £22,000–£24,000. These figures assume statutory benefits; add value through flexible working or professional development if budget is tight.
How do I know if someone will be good with clients before I hire them?
Ask in the interview: 'Tell me about a client you disagreed with. How did you handle it?' Listen for whether they took responsibility or blamed the client. Run the practical brief and watch if they ask clarifying questions — that's how they'll behave with your clients. Reference checks from previous employers matter; ask directly about reliability and how they handle feedback.
Can I hire a close friend or family member as my first employee?
Usually no. If they underperform, you're choosing between business needs and personal loyalty, and both lose. If they perform well, it creates perception issues with other staff later ('They only got promoted because they're your friend'). Hire on merit; keep relationships separate.
What's the fastest way to know if my first hire isn't working out?
By week three, you'll see if they ask intelligent questions, remember client names and details, and take feedback without defensiveness. If they're struggling with basic tasks, becoming confused, or defensive, that's early evidence of a poor fit. Address it directly in week three or four rather than hoping it improves by week eight.
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