Guest Post: 'Getting In & Knowing Stuff'

This could be you...

Hi all.

As part of the start of a new influx of AdGrads writers, below is an account about how to prepare for interviews by Jen Meyerson Dubbin. Take it away, Jen:

“They aren’t going to expect us to know stuff, right?”

by Jen Meyerson Dubbin

Your blood is pumping. You are hopefully not sweating through your suit. You nervously tap your foot against your leg while sitting on a modern chair that was clearly chosen for design instead of comfort. After having applied to every grad scheme and junior position under the sun, you have landed an interview.

You’re an ad grad who knows their stuff. Your lecturers and professors have prepared you. You brought your portfolio of your previous work to show, and yesterday you reviewed pertinent materials from your lectures to refresh yourself.

You start talking to and sizing up the competition whilst you all wait for a chance to break into Adland. There's someone with a BSc in Biology from Edinburgh, BA in Medieval History from Cambridge, BA in English from Sheffield, and then there's you; an ad grad. When the group finds out you are an ad grad the whole dynamic changes to you versus everyone else. The guy from Cambridge anxiously asks, “They aren’t going to expect us to know stuff, right?” While the girl from Edinburgh reassures him by saying, “They know we aren’t ad people.”

This should be obvious, but make sure you prepare for your interview. When I went on interviews, I was surprised at the number of people who didn’t seem to think they needed to do anything to prepare. Yes, ad agencies do expect you to know about advertising. You aren’t being hired as an account manager or planner for your ability to make a decent cuppa - especially in this economy. There is nothing wrong with never having taken an advertising course, but that’s not a valid excuse to not know about advertising. You wouldn’t expect a lorry driver not to know how to operate a vehicle. No-one expects you to know everything and it's okay to be wrong. However, it’s essential to have an opinion - make sure you're more knowledgeable than a general consumer. 

There are several things you can do to prepare for an advertising interview. It might take a bit of work to get there, but knowledge is empowering and a confidence booster too. Obviously, I can’t cover everything in this post - those who've gotten in, please feel free to post additional recommendations in the comment section.

Knowing how an advertising concept works and having knowledge of a little bit of history is essential; especially if there is a team task involved in the interview process. Sometimes you will be lucky by being informed before the interview the type of task you will be given. Use that information to focus your preparation - for instance, I was in a team where one of members was trying to explain to the team that the target market should be as broad as possible when it should actually be narrow and specific to be optimally targeted. He obviously didn’t do his prep work and it hurt the team. In these situations, you don’t want to be the weak link in your group.

What's more, you should try to find out what the person in the position you are applying for does. There are a lot of websites and blogs that should have the information available (Linkedin, for example). If you can’t find anything, note that some agencies do have quirky job titles, so be sure to ask in the interview. Use what you learned to sell yourself by connecting your skills and experience to the position - most things you've done can be related to advertising in some way - you've just got to know what the job entails.

When it comes to research, look at the agency you are applying to online. You can learn about their agency culture, clients, current & past work, people, and history. You can also find information in trade publications and websites such as (e.g., IPA, Brand Republic).

Learn about other agencies. Agencies are brands with communication products just like Coca-Cola is a brand with soft drink products. Other agencies are the competitors of the agency you are applying for. You don’t need to do SWOT analyses for each, but basics like what they offer, who their current & past clients are, current & past work, and agency culture should have you well covered. In the end, you should be able to talk about what differentiates Agency A from Agency B.

Finally, when I set off in advertising school I thought Planners & Account Managers went to college and Creatives went to portfolio school, but the ad world isn’t like that. There are no extra points for having a communications and business background. No specific mold of what makes an ad person exists. 

Advertising is incredibly diverse. Some people have degrees while others don’t. Those who do have degrees come from a variety of disciplines. Regardless of their discipline, ad people are willing to put in the work to stay current and knowledgeable because they genuinely like what they do.

WPP Fellowship Round 2 - Written Up...

You won't have to do this...or WILL you?

Hello gang.

Never let it be said AdGrads doesn't listen to your comments (most of the time, heh).

Several of you have been asking for advice on the second round of the WPP Fellowship. Now, neither Sam nor I had made it to the second round in the past (sob), so I wasn't quite sure how we'd be able to answer this.

Step forward Hamish Cameron, a second year WPP Fellow working at JWT Argentina. He's very kindly written a missive on the topic for us here at AdGrads.

So, without further ado, here it is:

"First of all, well done for making it to the final round; you’ve already made it past 1500 other people to get this far, so you must be doing something right - whatever it is keep doing it. All you’ve got between you and a place on The Fellowship is 2 days of interviews and a presentation, which all sounds pretty gruelling.

My first bit of advice would be to try and enjoy the experience. You’ve done brilliantly to get this far and at this point all you can do is your best; whatever happens, going through this process will help you in the future, whether you get the job or not. You have an opportunity to sit down and speak to lots of interesting people from all areas of Advertising and although it might seem a pretty stressful atmosphere in which to do so, it can be quite fun if you just relax and try to enjoy it.

It might be a terrible cliché, but there really are no wrong or right answers - each interview is just a 20 minute chat on and about advertising and the wider world, and all the interviewers are looking for is whether you are interesting person or not. Do you have an opinion? Can you back that opinion up with a decent argument?

As Will pointed out in his post here , it is easy to turn up with a bunch of quotes from the many books on Advertising that are out there. Regurgitating half of Jon’s books back to him isn’t going to help you much - unless of course you have interesting take/perspective on what you're discussing. In reality, there's only so much “revision” you can do for these final interviews.

Obviously, it is a good idea to have a few campaigns and brands in your head that you’ve thought of and you’d like to talk about, but it is impossible to walk into any interview 100% prepared. It is not a test of your knowledge of Advertising; sure, most of the questions they ask will have something to do with Marketing generally - but I spent 5 minutes in one of my interviews waxing lyrical about how much I loved The Wire, and I certainly hadn’t prepared for that!

The people in these interviews are not looking to embarrass you; you’ve got down to the final thirty and have clearly impressed someone - they are now looking to see how your mind works and to find out more about you. You will have three people in each interview, each from different agencies and in different positions; they will all have their own ideas about who they think is the perfect candidate, so it's impossible to please all of them. Have confidence in your own personality and you should be fine.

After all the interviews are over, you now just have the presentation left. You’re going to be put in a room with five or so other people, and five hours later you’ll be presenting something back to the judges. There isn’t much advice I can give about the group sessions as every group will have a varied set of people with differing personalities.

What I would say is that it isn’t always the loudest person in the room who gets the job. I'm not saying that you should shut up and keep your head down, but if you don’t think you have anything useful to say keep your mouth shut. When you do speak, make sure that you hold your own. If you’re not happy with the direction that the work is going - say something. Equally, listen if someone else has a different point of view. The point of this exercise is; can you all work together and come up with a solution to the problem put in front of you?

When it comes to presenting your “pitch”, don’t worry too much if it doesn’t go exactly how you planned it, or if the guy who volunteered to open leaves out half of the strategy; just concentrate on what your role is. Take your time, think about what you’re saying and more importantly - believe what you’re saying. These are your ideas that you’re presenting - if you don’t sound like you believe in them, then no one will.

When questions come, it is always tempting to leap in and be the first to respond - but only do this if you really think you have a good answer. It will hurt you more if you garble the first thing that comes into your head. If someone else answers the question well then nod and wait for the next question; it doesn’t help anyone if everybody tries to answer every question asked by the judges - it just makes your team look disorganized.

And that’s about it really. Two days seems like a long time, but it will fly by. You’ll get to meet some interesting people (both interviewers and interviewees) and hopefully you’ll find the whole experience enjoyable. After it’s over I wouldn’t go through a deep analysis over how it went; no one ever knows and it will only stress you out if you spend the following three hours going over every single thing you and the other grads said. You've done your best and you’ll find out soon enough.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try and answer them. Good luck to everyone, and enjoy it!"

I hope that's helpful. Best of luck, guys and gals.

More on interviews...

It all looks a bit Orwellian, no? Scary stuff.

Hello again.

Sorry for the long radio silence. Work has been a tad busy in the last few weeks (which is poor timing, considering we're right in the heart of grad interview/recruitment season).

Anyway, I noted there've been a fair number of questions on the topic of second round interviews, and the formats in general.

In terms of the first round format, it's pretty straightforward, typically (which is always nice). There will typically be an interview with account handling and planning. Sometimes, it's broken into two - so you have the account handler ask you the more practical questions, and the planner talk about the theoretical, but it's almost always a variation on this theme.

To the first of the questions in the last post's comments - the sort of questions an account handler might ask, v.s. a planner. Typically, a lot of agencies have a good cop/bad cop approach, and it's USUALLY (though your mileage may vary) the account handler as the bad guy and the planner as the nice chap. I have had this be different. The account handler will ask you about why you think you're relevant for advertising, what you'd do in a series of hypothetical situations...those sorts of more robust, practical notions (yes, even teamwork questions on occasion, given the job)

Basically, he/she is thinking about whether you can get shit done. The planner will tend to focus on what you think the thinking is behind a series of ads/whether you know the difference between an execution/campaign, and what you think makes a good one and why. They may even talk about ad theory/what's going on in the business today, and you should be prepared for that.

In terms of a video interview, I have to say, I've never ever had one (have any readers?), but I think on video (based on a fair few tele-conferences I've had), it's even more critical to be clear, succinct and to the point. You lose out with people not being able to note your body language so easily - so preparation is perhaps even more key.

When it comes to JWT, they have a very clearly defined mission and strategic approach. Explore the writings of Steven King, have a point of view on good global campaigns, and I would imagine (with a healthy nose at the key people at the organisation and their twitter/sites/the main site), you'll be in good shape. I wouldn't like to guess at the culture, because I've never worked there. If anyone from JWT is reading this, feel free to chime in.

Finally, in terms of two separate interviews - yes, there is typically some overlap, but given it'll probably be two different types of people, with two different job roles interviewing you, so naturally, even if the questions are similar, they'll be looking for slightly different things. Think about a planner - they are absorbed by the theoretical, and how it can live in the real world. They'll naturally tolerate more theoretical musings than an account handler, who has to make sure shit gets done. So don't be surprised if you come away from any ad/comms interview thinking that you made a better impression on one than the other.

I hope that little lot's helpful. There are a few more agency grad schemes that I've forgotten, and will put up shortly.

The other side of the fence...

The fence may or may not be this colourful. Probably not. Photo via Fredosan

It's been a few years now since I (Will) got into the business as, first - a rubbish account handler, and secondly (and more happily), as a Junior Planner.

As you may have read, I've just finished recruiting for a Junior Planner of my own, and I wanted to share some of the good and bad things I've seen when conducting a fair few interviews, as I think they might be useful for those interviewing for Junior Planner jobs.

Or not. Heh. Anyway, here are some random thoughts:

1) Know what you're interviewing for

Most of the folks who sent their CVs in were bright, vivacious, interesting people. They'd done interesting stuff, and would undoubtedly be cracking employees. But we had to turn a lot of them down. Why? Well, for all of their intelligence, most of them hadn't explained WHY they wanted to be a Planner. Some hadn't even explained why PR over other professions, and that's pretty schoolboy stuff. I understand that the 'PR Planning' discipline is reasonably new, but do your homework. Your CVs show you're all bright people - so be able to tailor your responses in light of what the job actually is, much in the same way as you would have done for that degree essay. What would interest your interviewers, and why? What are the current debates? What's your point of view? The more interesting, the harder it is to cut people out of the first cull of candidates, even if they don't have a lot of relevant experience.

2) Put up your (lateral) dukes

Following on from that, we shortlisted a number of people. We would have been happy employing the vast majority of them, based on some excellent CVs and well thought out covering letters, particularly given that most didn't have a lot of experience in the area. Many had interesting thoughts about brands and society, but those candidates who did really well, and thought out their answers were able to emphasise their lateral thinking credentials. I don't think you necessarily have to be able to quote De Bono chapter and verse, but being able to explain how seemingly every day things could link to comms solutions makes candidates stand out. Even if you can't easily quantify the answers, don't worry too much - the interview's more for understanding how you think, not for getting the 100% right answer - this isn't school; there are rarely wholly 'right' answers.

3) Don't second guess

This leads us onto the third point, about second guessing. For many candidates, this was one of their first interviews - and many fell into the academic trap of trying to assume what I and my colleagues wanted to hear. As per the last point, there isn't one answer; I'm more interested in figuring out how you got to your answer, and what you considered. Planning is all about making the closest to the 'right' answer you can with the information available. Sometimes there's not enough, and you need to be ballsy enough to admit as much, rather than blundering on (which I was want to do in my first few Planning interviews, I admit). Just namedropping some Black Swan, some Lehrer or some Steel doesn't automatically guarantee you're through to the next round. What was it about their thinking that you liked? What didn't you agree with? Be contrary - it's more interesting than rehashing the past, folding your arms and assuming you've passed the test. We asked a number of off-beat questions in the interview, where candidates were asked to think on their feet, where no amount of theory would really have helped - and this helped us separate those who could measure their OWN, individual answers.

4) Balance is everything

I vividly remember an interview I had at one of London's top ad agencies. I remember answering the questions correctly, having a lot of relevant experience and, in short, thinking I'd got it. Then the feedback came, which pissed me off, frankly. They told me that whilst I'd answered the questions well, I wasn't 'interesting enough' for them. It still rankles with me today, and I vowed never to give such shitty feedback when I interviewed. The kernel of truth in that thought, is that I was INCREDIBLY ad focused, and didn't show enough of my personality. Sure, I could quote ad theory 101, but they wanted some sense of what I'd be like to work with. The successful candidate didn't have any ad or PR experience, but wrote such an utterly fantastic covering letter, giving us a real sense of what she'd be like to work with, and was so engaging in person (both from a practical 'doing the job' and a 'Christ, you're interesting perspective') we were bowled over.

5) Be nice

'It's PR, not ER' or 'Relax, it's just Advertising'. Both slightly glib quotes, but both wholly applicable to comms interviews. Especially Planning ones. Decent Planners are able to detach and see how that slightly spurious brand benefit would work in the real world, whilst balancing the business objectives of their client. There's no need to get stressed and difficult when things aren't quite going your way. And an interview, though a snapshot in time, is all we had to go on to find out how candidates would get on. Yes, there's a lot of work in the job, and a lot of deadlines - but smile, and be pleasant. We're all human beings, and know the job (and life) gets difficult. And what's more, if you can't be nice, you'll find it bloody hard to be empathetic, which I think is the greatest trait a planner can have - to be able to understand how other people think and feel. If you don't have that, you'll find it hard to get into Planning.

I hope those were helpful. More than happy to answer any interview queries (especially if you have an upcoming ones) in the comments.

Interview Aftermath...

Pretty good advice, to be honest.

I've been quite remiss of late, so sorry for the delay on this post.

I think there's a need to talk about the fallout of an unsuccessful interview. Now, with every process, there have to be candidates who don't get through. That's natural, and inevitable - there have to be winners and losers in this sort of thing.

No, what prompted this post was a post AdlandCreative wrote on his blog, detailing his experiences interviewing for an account executive position at Euro RSCG.

I'd like to claim that his feeling of not doing himself justice won't be shared by many. But that'd be bullshit, and not doing anyone any favours. I liken interviews to taking an exam. It's a one time shot; you do your research, you try to perform with some degree of fluidity and knowledge - but it really comes down to the day. You could always 'have done better' (whatever that looks like).

Now, not preparing is one thing, and you're right to feel a bit shit about that. But if you've put the effort in, you can't really criticise much more than chemistry between you and your interviewer, and your potential suitability for the agency. Like it or loathe it, but some agencies do naturally 'fit' people. It sounds a bit odd, and possibly a bit arrogant, but someone who works at AMV say may not get on half as well at a Mother or Saatchis.

What's more frustrating is when you feel you haven't done yourself justice, which was the nub of AC's post. When the words just don't come. When you blank. Again, i'd like to be able to say this won't ever happen again...but it does. The only solution is practice. Now, there are a host of mock interview techniques which might work for you. They never worked for me - I needed the real thing.

And, believe me (though, I imagine, most people are probably far better at interviewing than yours truly), there isn't a set process to guarantee a successful interview. There are far too many chaos factors for that, which i'll go through below:

1) Your interviewers

Planner? Account handler? HR? Each person's job role will entirely influence how he/she views you, and what sort of skills they want (regardless of the job that's advertised). Say it's an AE position - as a planner, i'd want to think that the person who's eventually given the job has the capacity to be strategic, to discuss client issues with me. I'm less bothered about your ability to get shit done - but for the account handler interviewing you, it'll undoubtedly be the first thing they look for.

And, of course, there's no way of knowing someone's mood. The seemingly cuddly planner could get shirky with you, and the old 'bad cop/good cop' approach that most account handler/planner interviewer combinations tend to go in for may not apply.

It's great if you can get your interviewers to like you, but it's not the be all and end all - some people, in a more professional capacity as an interviewer, like to be straight and serious all the time.

My suggestion to combat this is to not simply to learn the ads by rote, or try to stick to a script, or say a certain word/phrase in the hope it'll make you sound more intelligent. If you can demonstrate what you've learned and know in a different way, don't hesitate to keep it fluid and roll with the punches. You are, after all, a prospective junior in the industry. You don't know much - yet.

2) Thinking vs Feeling

A bit of an odd topic, but people do react in strange ways when asked to do things; just look at how unsuccessful many are when it comes to driving tests. You know what's coming up, but you can still bugger it up. A part of that often has a lot to do with wanting to impress. You want to show how much you know....so you either do one of two things. Clam up, or gush uncontrollably. I was always in the more emotional, slightly gushy side of things.

And this approach leads your interviewer (particularly if you're going for a planning job) to think you've got no quality control, and will drum your clients into a corner of unmarshalled bullshit. Hell, it happens to me now and then.

The other, more stage frighty situation, often caused by not knowing what to say first, is also a bit of a problem. One thing to bear in mind, and of some consolation, is that your interviewer isn't accusing you of a crime or anything so serious. You're a graduate who's being drilled by some thirtysomething who DOESN'T have a handle on all of the issues. No-one knows the procedure, really. This isn't a scripted interview for a job at PWC, say - it's undoubtedly been thrust upon them by their superiors and they really aren't sure of the best candidate or just how to assess people.

It's made even harder by the ever-quickening pace of technology - what do people/new candidates have to know? Why? They are JUST as likely as you to not know what to ask - so why should you cram on every topic? There's no way of knowing, so know your basics and say what you believe to be true. There really aren't that many wrong answers in this situation.

3) The nature of the role

Whisper it quietly, but not all grad jobs are created equal. Some are advertised to fulfil a VERY specific client need (whether it's being 100% on a massive client or just providing more support) and others are more general than that, with an eye on the future of the agency.

Now, this will inevitably colour the sort of responses and candidates the agency's looking for. If some of the questions have a more category specific bent than the other, there's a fair old chance (if they've not told you already) they are recruiting for a very specific position in mind, even at grad level.

A word on the more specific job roles - the agency definitely needs someone who can slot in and hit the ground running, far more so than the atypical graduate job, which is part of the regular intake, and people slot into different parts of the business.

There's absolutely no harm in asking when you first sit down just what the role will entail, and on which client/s it'll be. Yet a lot of grads don't do this when it's a one off job that's been advertised, and I find it very peculiar. Perhaps it's just nerves again. Don't let those get the better of you - you'll have to ask questions of your clients in similar pressured situations, and this allows you to better 'control' how the interview's going to go.

I hope those three were helpful. Ultimately, if you've gotten to interview, you are undoubtedly good enough to work in the business. You just need to practice those interviews, go to as many as you can, and keep learning - there are often a lot of rejections before someone says yes, and I know - it's hard to hear when you've just come out of university with a good degree. Just keep plugging away.

Five First Round Interview Tips...

Try to look less like an illustration than this guy. Via country_boy_shane. Usual rules apply.

We're right in the thick of advertising interview season. By now, first round acceptance emails and letters will be winging their way to those lucky few.

And it suddenly hits you; shit, this is all a bit real.

Well, as someone who's had more than a few grad interviews, I thought i'd share a few first round interview tips. Read on, Macduff:

1) It's likely to be pretty formulaic.

For all of the challenging questions you received in the grad application form, most of the real life interviews will follow a set routine. They sort of have to; you've still got hundreds of grads at this stage, and you need to have something straightforward to judge them on. How they usually go is to talk about you and your achievements/CV/answers in the first half, then talk about some ads (usually print), and what you think the message behind them is. There may be a few lateral thinking questions thrown in at the end (what product would you invent being a favourite), but many don't even do this. It depends on the mood of your interviewer/how engaged they are with you.

2) Good Cop, Bad Cop exists.

Now, normally, you'll be interviewed by a planner and an account handler. Sometimes these are in the same room, other times they are in separate rooms. Every now and then you might have two account handlers, or (rarely), a account handler and a HR person. Though the latter is fairly rare.

In the most conventional (planner/account man) situation, there will definitely be a good cop and bad cop. And, to be honest, usually the planner's the nice one, and the suit's the more tricky. (Of course, sometimes both are lovely). Why? Well, planners are interested in people who are lateral thinkers, and got into the job to find out about people. Don't be surprised if they just let you talk, then get excited, and you find yourself talking about something else entirely. Account handlers on the other hand - they want to make sure you can do the job, and will be looking for obvious reasons as to why and how you can do it. You're a raw material to both, but in the case of the latter, you're one they don't want to have to refine much.

3) You don't have to fill the silence.

I speak with real conviction on this point, because it's something I (still) struggle with. It's especially hard when speaking a lot and having a point of view about an intangible book or theory in University is positively encouraged. And, while there are rarely concrete 'right' answers in advertising, there are those which are nearer to right than wrong. You can easily go the other way if you talk too much. Feel free to ask questions too - let people talk, tell you what it's like to work at agency x or y. They won't mind.

If you find yourself talking, and wonder just what point you're making - it happens to all of us now and then - then shut up, or re-direct the conversation.

4) Know your ideas.

Most candidates won't know the difference between executional and campaign ideas. Most won't have a point of view which bears in mind why or how crap work comes to be made - a lot just like the ads on the telly. So know this stuff. Don't get me wrong, post-rationalising why an ad is a certain way isn't an exact science, but you should have an idea about just why an ad turned out a as it did.

Just don't do what I did, and slag off a very well known campaign, then get told 'you're not strategic'. Don't let your prejudices stop you getting through to the next round - christ, i'm a planner now, but just speaking my mind without thinking things through when I was a grad did for me. (You'll also end up working with those people whose ad you spoke about at some stage. It's sod's law).

5) Relax.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood had it right. Relax, don't open your mouth without thinking about what you've got to say. And, for God's sake, let your personality out. It's the only way you'll know for sure about whether (at this stage) you'll fit into an agency. Yes, it's just a first round interview, but if you can't be yourself/feel trapped, then the place probably isn't for you.

You'll just know this, I think. An interview situation is always artificial, and you may just not get on with your interviewer (Lord knows it happens - you're probably the 50th person who's made the same comment about the work). Despite this, you can usually tell whether you'd like working in a place - you can sometimes tell from the worried looks on the faces of the account execs hurrying around the agency.

Letting your personality has another advantage too - you may not think it, but I bet your interviewer is wondering what you'd be like to be stuck on a train with, or on a very boring conference call. Will you be someone who's interesting and interested, or will you be someone who bores the bejesus out of most people?

Best of luck to everyone going for their first rounders...

The Month of Destiny

Almost there.

For those of you final round-ing this week and next, we wish you well (I still don't know what to do for my presentation at AMV). We have a couple of posts lined up before the holidays, but they'll have to wait for a few more days.

Waiting for agencies to get back to you after final rounds is agonising..

Oh and our 2nd round post is here.

Finally (last thing I promise), Bernard is back with his latest post about life in the grad recruitment blender. Check it out at AdGrads Brand Republic.

Lowering The Boom On Round 2

Always, always, always..

Raineys round 2 is tomorrow, and I couldn't leave y'all out in the cold without a post. So, with some help from Anton here's a flavor of what to expect in final round interviews. And we have a post about other ways into the industry sitting on my laptop waiting to be unleashed, so don't worry - it's time will come.

Sam.

So you’ve made it through to round two. You’re wondering what it’s going to be like, what’s going to be expected of you and what is the competition going to be like. Well, if there is one word that sums up how agencies frame the second round it’s teamwork.

The thing about these final round assessment days, is that you'll all encounter people off the charts in the try-hard factor, they'll wanna tell you every joke they've heard, every strategic idea they've ever had, and well...you get the picture.

Get some decent shut eye before you go into the bear-pit of showmanship. Don't let anyone intimidate you into not saying anything, make sure that you do yourself justice and put your personality and thinking on show, they picked you for being you at round 1, so stick the to your guns. If you're crazy stay crazy, if you're not then don't try to be, it gets messy. Man that must sound boring us going on about being yourself, but it's true. If you fit in then you fit in, it’s really that simple and there isn’t really that much you can do to prepare for this type other than keep reading up on the industry from Brand Republic, visit4info and Campaign. And the agency's website, look for the ways they describe themselves, the way their offices look, the colors on their website, this is all their personality, so study it well.

Some you'll be successful at, others you won't. So what kind of things do you have to do?

• Together build a bridge from this point to that point using these materials.
• In a group present to us the perfect Graduate Trainee.
• You’re given 30 items listed, pick 15 you would take with you to a desert island and why and tell us why you dropped the remaining 15.
• Speed interviewing (this is when you’re all in a line sat opposite a member of the agency, you then have 3 minutes to answer a question and then whistle is blown and you rotate to the next, much like speed dating).

The standard diet of individual questions will come at you as well, so read up on our first interview post, and re-read your application form as well.

You get the picture. Once you’re over the guard up phase and you all collectively realise you’re all in the same boat it can actually be good banter, especially if you feel you’ve done well. We highly recommend spending time with your counterparts afterwards as these could be the people you spend the next year training with….

All in all, keep calm, be yourself and always be witty and reasonable, which I’m sure most of you are anyway.

Watchy'all think about that?

The 1st Conversation

Would you hire this guy? Probably not...(weird eyes courtesy of bad red-eye reduction)

Something I say quite often is every first conversation is an interview. Now I don't know where I got that from but we are now officially in interview season with Raineys interviewing people as I type this up (in the middle of a finance lecture).

So you have an interview, how do you prepare? Let's talk about some general things first, like appearance. More specifically, what do you wear? For guys a safe bet is either the suit/shirt look or a combo of trousers/blazer (and shirt please). But we'd say no ties, this ain't a banking interview y'all. Girls have it easier (or harder, depending on who you ask) with the general 'look smart' mantra.

Now we know how you look, what's it going to be like? Generally first round interviews will be conducted by 2 members of the agency and they'll last between 30 minutes and an hour. You might get a good cop / bad cop routine, you might get no cops or you might get we'renotreallysurewearecopssolet'sseewhatthisfoolknows. But you can't control that.

What you can control is your research. This is where I go to numbers:

1. Read your application form at least enough times for you to virtually memorise what you wrote. And remember why you wrote what you did.
2. Have some answers to these questions ready
• Why do you want to get into advertising?
• What's the coolest / most iconic thing in your world and why?
• What advertising do you admire and why?
• Which brand's ads aren't doing it justice?
• How do you see the futures of TV and digital advertising?
• What is a brand?
3. Be ready to have to sell an ad to your interviewers, think about:
• What the brand is trying to say, what are they trying to achieve with the ad?
  
• Who they should be talking to? Are they talking to them?
• How effective is their conversation with the person paying attention?
• Why does it work? Is it funny? Is it totally removed from the competition?
• Is the idea transferable across different channels?
  
• How will it build upon where the client is right now business-wise? Do they want to create market share? steal market share or maintain their lead?
  
4. Watch their showreel on their site, soak in as much as you can about their site and head over to visit4info to watch ads they've created that may not be on their showreel.
5. Give yourself an hour's margin when traveling long distance, it gives you time to compose yourself when you get there, rather than crapping yourself that you're late.
6. Have some questions for them. But don't ask questions for things that are on their website or you'll get shot down. Ask them about what they think about one of their questions, or about how they see advertising changing in the future. Having a well thought question could be the thing that makes you stick in their minds when it's time to make the cuts (Thanks to Alex for this point).
   

And finally, the most important, crucial and underlying thing that will dictate your success in your interviews is being yourself. Try to relax and answer the non-advertising questions as normally as possible (obviously there are some boundaries, if you swear like a sailor put a sock in it, or use replacement words). And be yourself. Be confident that being yourself will get you the job. Seriously.

It’s well known that individual agencies have individual cultures etc, but that by no means means (how many times can I use means in this sentence?) that you should try and conform to a type. Go in and do your best. Chances are if you’re well informed, enthusiastic about ads and able to back up your opinions you’ll get through.

And if you don’t? It's the agency’s loss. So don’t mope around, ring them up and ask for feedback, if it’s something wrong with the way you delivered your answers, you can fix it. But if they say you're not the right type, move on. Don’t try to be their type - because eventually you'll find out it's hurting you and them.

This is the part where I'd like to end up on something profound. But I'll defer to Anton who told me a while back: 'Don't be a lemming'. That pretty much says it all.

As always comments/criticism/abuse are welcome.

Sam