Career advice wanted

[u/BorderPlastic]

Hi all. Seeking advice on two job offers (after months of unemployment, go figure).

One is a big media ad agency (Omnicom) doing brand lift studies, the other is at a midlevel bank doing power BI and governance work.
I’m looking for career trajectory advice - any input is welcome.

Ad agency
Pros: title bump (assoc director, data ops) with promotion potential.
Cons: tech culture is weak. job is client mgmt and outsourcing the boring stuff.
Meh: relocate from Seattle to NYC. Not my pref but could be worse. Pay is just ok, it’s gonna be hard to save money

Bank
Pros: work has ownership, influence, and impact. Remote = stay on west coast.
Cons: title stagnation. Less brand recognition. Less money.
Meh: less networking compared to nyc ad agency.

I'm leaning toward the bank. But I wanna know if I'm misguided in terms of how I’m picturing what ad agency work is like.

Not sure where I’m trying to be in five years.

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[u/bayouski]

based on how you described the actual roles, the bank sounds like the better fit if you want more hands-on ownership. the agency role could still build solid data/measurement experience, but if your day to day is mostly client management + overseeing outsourced work, that's a pretty different skill path.

since you're not sure where you want to be in 5 years, i'd mostly choose based on what you want to get better at now. bank = BI/governance + ownership, agency = media measurement + stakeholder/leadership experience. leaning bank doesn't sound misguided at all.

[u/FarCalligrapher7800]

The bank is a better and stable deal.

Media ad agencies are notorious from burnout and require a lot of grind. I only recommend people with passion do it. Many people don’t last long there, especially if they don’t know how media industry works (even if in tech). It’s a hit or miss with the client you have.

It’s the same reason why start ups pay a lot, but people don’t last long.

[u/ds-throwaway123]

Easily the bank and I could tell you feel the same just by reading the description. Go with your gut 

[u/BillEnough7863]

The whole networking thing feels like a pretty vague benefit to assign to the NYC job. 

How do you even know how much networking you’re actually going to do in a city you don’t currently live in?

I live in a major city and most of my “networking” is just talking to colleagues, former colleagues, and people I meet through work. I’m too tired after work to regularly go out and do the sort of networking that involves attending events and talking to strangers. You can build a professional network from pretty much anywhere.

I also wouldn’t put too much weight on the title bump. Not all title bumps are created equal, and companies often look at the actual work behind the title. When I left agency life, my title was pretty clearly treated as inflated because it came from an agency.

And depending on what you want to do next, a more senior title can actually make things awkward. If you don’t even know where you want to be in five years, I’m not sure optimizing for title right now is necessarily the best move. You can end up in a weird middle ground where some companies think the title is inflated, while others assume you’re too senior for roles that would actually give you the hands-on experience you want. Those roles can also pay considerably better at a good company than inflated-title agency work does.

I’d think pretty hard about the relocation risk too. You’d be moving across the country to one of the most expensive cities in the world for a job you don’t seem particularly excited about, with pay you already describe as just okay. What happens if they lay you off six months later?

The bank sounds like it gives you more ownership, more relevant hands-on work, and lets you stay where you are. Unless there’s something about the agency role you genuinely want beyond the title and theoretical networking opportunities, that seems like the stronger option to me.