Odds of Hanging On
Even when you're in, it's not easy. If you've survived the fires of the agency underworlds and maneuvered your way to your own desks, keeping your career together is still an inferno of challenges.
Once you're in, the major concern for agents is that at any point a client can leave you for what they believe are greener pastures. Depending on the terms of their contract, all that crazy-successful writer you've been working with for years has to do is give you thirty days notice and...poof. They've left you for Agent Sly over at Sneaky Literary Agency.
As an agent, hanging on is a career-long commitment. There's no sitting back and kicking up your heels today or tomorrow or even while you're on vacation. Not only can the tastes of the public swing quickly—what's hot one day can be old news the next—your clients' tastes can, too. If for one second they doubt you, your commitment, your mental stability, your deal-making ability, or your integrity, they can take their professional interests elsewhere.
And this is why all agents are paranoid and why successful agents never place all their eggs in one basket. You have to always be on the lookout for the next big thing, or you can expect to be on the lookout for your next place of work.