By Clare O’Halloran, Associate, Novitas Communications
When most people think about starting a career in PR, they picture large agencies with sprawling client rosters, big teams, and clearly defined lanes. But there’s a different kind of opportunity available at a small firm – one that’s harder to see from the outside, and almost impossible to fully appreciate until we’re in it.
Six months into my role at Novitas Communications, I can say with confidence that working at a boutique agency has been one of the most accelerating experiences of my professional life. Here’s why small can be a very big advantage.
We Learn From the Top, Not Just From Our Team
At a large company, leadership can feel like a distant concept – a name on an org chart, a voice in an all-hands meeting. At a small firm, we’re in the room with them. Every day.
At Novitas, I work directly alongside our CEO, EVP, and senior leadership—people who collectively bring decades of strategic communications experience across industries ranging from telecom and public affairs to real estate and advocacy. That proximity isn’t just motivating; it’s educational in a way that no training manual can replicate.
When we’re sitting across from someone who has navigated complex crises, built media relationships from the ground up, and counseled executives through sensitive moments, we absorb things quickly. We learn how to think about problems, not just how to execute tasks.
That kind of mentorship, at that level, is rare. At a small agency, it’s part of the job description.
We Get a Taste of Everything
At a larger agency, we might spend our first year deeply focused on one client or one sector. At a small firm, we’re across the board almost immediately. In my first six months at Novitas, I’ve worked on client accounts spanning broadband infrastructure, public affairs campaigns, community advocacy, nonprofit communications, and real estate development. I’ve written press releases, built media lists, managed social content, increased media reach and AVE for our clients, drafted award entries, pitched reporters, generated monthly reports, and helped shape strategic messaging for campaigns that reached real audiences.
There’s no slow ramp-up. We’re expected to contribute meaningfully, and that expectation is one of the best things that can happen to us early in our careers.
We See How It All Connects
One underrated benefit of working across multiple clients and disciplines is that we start to see the full picture of what communications strategy actually looks like in practice. The skills we build pitching a local story for a community nonprofit translate to how we think about a statewide policy campaign. The way we frame a milestone press release for a broadband company informs how we approach an op-ed for a community stakeholder. Everything reinforces everything else.
At a small agency, we don’t just become practitioners in one thing. We become practitioners in how communications works – and that’s a foundation worth building.
The Learning Curve Is Steep – And That’s the Point
Six months feels simultaneously like a long time and no time at all. There’s still so much to learn. But looking back at where I started versus where I am now, the growth has been significant precisely because of the environment, not in spite of it.
If we’re early in our careers and weighing our options, we shouldn’t overlook small firms. The experience we’ll gain, the relationships we’ll build, and the breadth of work we’ll touch in our first year at a boutique agency can be hard to match anywhere else.
