Gut Feeling..

Not mine, happily.

Post of that gut aside, this is a thought about you and your instincts.

Just say, in next week's interview chaos, you get to an agency you like and admire. You've seen their TV, their print makes you want to be a better person, and the online work is the reason Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet.

That is, until you sit in reception. You look around and notice just how worried all the agency's staffers look. Surely, this wasn't in the brochure? And, lo and behold, you get a feeling that this place might not be for you.

It's even worse if you meet and interview with people who don't inspire you (though bear in mind that you are more than likely the 40th odd person they've seen today), and leave with an bad taste in your mouth.

Some occasions will be like this, and (most of the time, in my experience) your gut feeling about a place will be right. Just don't be too quick to prejudge; I've interviewed at the same place, years apart, and gotten a thoroughly different opinion of it, depending on who was doing the work.

Finally - for God's sake, don't let the creative quality of an agency blind you. Some of the most fun places to work in adland may not necessarily have the best output at the moment. And who's to say that's down to the agency? As the old saying goes, clients get the work they deserve - it may be this, or it could be a whole raft of reasons.