The Pros and Cons of
Hiring an Agent

The Pros and Cons of Hiring an Agent

Written by News Gal
šŸ•’ May 14, 2018

Would you pay someone for a dinner you planned, prepared, and ate all on your own?

No, right? Then what the hell are you doing handing over your hard earned money to an agent?!

Ok, disclaimer: I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experience with an agent. So bad that a lawyer got involved. So bad that I threw away THOUSANDS of dollars for absolutely nothing.

Am I bitter? Yes. Do I have a right to be? Hell yes!

Before I continue with my rant, I should mention that I have heard there are some great agents out there. I have friends who have had incredible experiences with their agent, and have landed big time jobs for big time pay, thanks to their agent.

If you have an agent, and you’re happyā€”awesome!

If you’re just now considering whether or not to sign with an agent, I have some advice.

In a lot of cases, all an agent does is send out your reel to news directors. You can do that yourself.

The agent I signed with didn’t even make my resume reel. If you’re going to be handing over 8-10% of your salary to someone they better be making your reel, and it better be good!

Yes, some agents have a lot of connections. Connections are very important and in some cases an agent will get your reel to the top of the pile. That’s all awesome, but make sure your agent is working for you.

My agent told me he sent my reel to all sorts of news directors who all “really liked” me, but there was always some reason they didn’t want to talk to me.

Turns out, he was never sending my reel! How do I know? I reached out to some of the news directors on my own. They didn’t know who I was and said they never have worked with my agent.

When you’re thinking about hiring an agent make sure you do your research. As you can tell, I certainly did not.

Call and email some clients, ask coworkers, and if you have a good relationship with your boss ask them if they have worked with this agent before.

If you do get an agent make sure they are going to help you by providing critiques, advice, and help with any job issues you are having.

Make sure the agent knows what you want out of your next position, and, if you get yourself the job, make sure your agent does not get the full percentage.

I ended up losing thousands of dollars, being extremely stressed, and having an awful experience because I didn’t do my research.

Don’t let that happen to you!

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1 Comment

  1. If you’re hiring an agent to help you land a journalism job, you are doing it so, so wrong.

    I mean hey, I get desperation. I really do. But people need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask “is it really the lack of an agent that’s been stopping me from getting hired?”

    100 percent of the time, the answer is no, no it’s not.

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