How We Recruit Account Managers
You need an Account Manager. The one you need is not applying.
The Account Manager who would genuinely strengthen your agency is performing well in their current role. They are not dissatisfied. They are not browsing job boards. They might be ready to move, for the right opportunity, at the right moment, presented in the right way, but they will not find your role unless someone who knows them and knows your agency brings the two together.
That is the gap. And it is wider than most agencies expect when they start the process.
As Joseph Henry puts it: "Finding good Account Managers is hard. There is no other way of saying it. Good Account Managers either move up or move on very quickly. Finding the right ones requires knowing what good looks like, and understanding what motivates candidates at the right moment in their career journey."
What goes wrong when agencies hire Account Managers badly
The failure modes at this level are consistent and worth naming before the search begins.
- Hiring from the active market, candidates who are available, rather than the candidates who are performing well and would move for the right opportunity
- Misjudging where a candidate is in their development, appointing someone who interviews like an Account Director but is not yet ready to operate independently at that level
- Appointing the candidate who looks most like the person who just left — rather than the candidate the role actually needs now
- Choosing the safest option from a thin shortlist rather than running a search that reaches the full field At Account Manager level the consequences accumulate quietly. The client relationship that becomes difficult to manage. The campaign that needs more supervision than it should. The senior time spent on work that should be running itself.
Three types of Account Manager. Three different searches.
Not every Account Manager hire is the same. The brief may look identical on paper, same title, similar salary, comparable responsibilities, but the candidate you are actually looking for depends entirely on what the role requires and where the agency is.
Westminster Search operates across all three candidate profiles at this level.
The Account Manager ready to step up.
This is the candidate who is performing well in their current role but has hit a ceiling. Their agency cannot offer them the Account Director title yet, or will not. They are ready for more responsibility, more autonomy and a more senior brief. For the right agency, this candidate is an exceptional hire: motivated, proven and hungry to demonstrate what they can do with a bigger opportunity.
Identifying them requires knowing who is genuinely ready and who merely thinks they are. That is a judgement that takes sector knowledge to make properly.
The Account Manager on the journey.
This candidate is developing well but is not yet ready for Account Director. They are building client management skills, deepening their policy or communications knowledge, and growing into the demands of senior agency life. For an agency that needs solid mid-level delivery and has the appetite to invest in someone's development, this is often the most valuable hire of all.
The risk is misreading the timeline. We assess where candidates genuinely are, not where they say they are.
The Account Manager looking for a change of scene.
This candidate is performing well exactly where they are. They are not dissatisfied. They are not planning to leave. But they are open, to a different sector, a different client base, a more interesting brief, or simply a different agency environment that suits them better.
These candidates do not appear on job boards. They respond to a credible, well-positioned approach from someone who understands what they do and what they might be looking for. That is precisely what Westminster Search does.
Why this distinction matters to you as a client
Agencies do not always know which of these three candidates they need until they understand what the role is really asking for.
A fast-growing agency that needs someone to hit the ground running needs the candidate who is ready to step up. An agency building for the long term may be better served by the candidate on the journey. An agency that needs fresh energy and new sector perspective needs the candidate who is open to a change but not actively looking.
We work with clients to understand the brief at this level of detail, and then search accordingly. That is not a standard recruitment process. It is a more useful one.
Our reach across the market
Westminster Search operates across both public affairs and public relations agencies. This matters at Account Manager level because the best candidate for your role is not always sitting in an identical position at a direct competitor.
Some of the strongest Account Manager hires come from adjacent agency environments, PR professionals who have worked on public affairs briefs, public affairs consultants who have developed strong communications skills, agency professionals who have spent time in-house and are ready to return.
We see across that whole landscape. That gives our clients a wider and more useful field of candidates than a search confined to one agency type.
What we assess
At Account Manager level, the interview process can be misleading. Candidates at this stage of their career are often good at interviews. The question is whether they are good at the job, and specifically, whether they are good at the version of the job your agency needs them to do.
We assess candidates on:
- The quality of their client relationships, not just whether they have them, but how they manage them
- Their understanding of the political, policy or media environments relevant to your clients
- Their ability to deliver campaigns and communications work independently
- Their commercial awareness and contribution to account growth
- Where they genuinely are in their development, and where they are heading
What clients say
"Joseph helped me obtain my current role. He was very helpful with giving me advice about the company, interview tips, as well as passing on information very quickly after each stage. I would recommend his assistance — he knows the field, as well as the companies, well."
Priya — Account Manager, Public Relations Agency
Talk to Joseph about your Account Manager search
If you are hiring an Account Manager and want access to candidates across all three profiles, those ready to step up, those on the journey, and those open to the right opportunity, the best starting point is a conversation about what you actually need.