Year Long Placments

There’s been some questions knocking about on how to secure a year long placement and having started my career with one I thought I’d write a quick post on it.

The first thing to really bare in mind is that these are quite rare and that it is at the total discretion of an agency to give one outside of their usual grad scheme. You’ll be going there with little to no experience and it will take time and resources of the agency to get you up to speed to become useful to them. So what you have to barter on is your passion, willingness to learn and contribute beyond the call of duty (late hours) and that you’re cheap….really cheap. It’s not a pretty picture really but if you secure a year long placement I can’t begin to explain how invaluable it will be to your career. You’ll walk into grad schemes knowing how agency depts work, you’ll understand the processes and more than likely you’ll know more about the agency than your competition.

Secondly is getting in the door to be considered. The best thing to do is get your CV in total tip top quality. Rather than writing one which follows the standard template start to think about what someone in an ad agency will look for in an account assistant. It’ll be admin skills, co-ordination, commitment and dedication and also a glimpse that you’ll be a fun addition to the team. I tried a number of styles of cover letters to secure mine, the out there ones rarely worked to be honest, it was more the demonstration of passion and interest in the said agency and industry.

Thirdly, get really tight with the IPA. Call them up and ask to speak to someone who can give advice on graduate training schemes, then ask about a year long placement, do they know of any, how often do they come about, will you look at my CV and see if its ok and if you hear of one pass on my details. Send an A4 envelope with your CV and bespoke cover letter to every agency under the sun. It’s a DM campaign so the more you send the more chance you have to secure an interview. All this seeding should be done over the course of around 9 months before you want to take a placement. You may get one early but in case you don’t this kind of planning will allow you to chip away at the industry for a long period of time before you crack your way in. The more desks and HR people that see your name the more likely they’ll remember it if you come up again. Familiarity leads to consideration which leads to conversion.

Then when you secure that interview, it’s the case of researching that agency over and over again well as its competitors.

That’s the basics really, post a question if you want to know specifics.

Good luck

Anton

xx

Star Stories: Marcus Brown

Photo courtesy of Matt Baker

One of the best things about blogging is that you get to meet amazing people. Marcus Brown is one of these amazing people. He does a lot of stuff, but as a start you should check out his blog: The Kaiser Edition. He ain't German, but he lives there. And his story of how he got into advertising is pretty damn awesome.

Now then, I have to admit that I have no idea about graduate programs and the likes. Never heard of them, let alone been on one so if you wanted to find out how to 'best get through one and then get a job in the advertising world' this isn't the article for you. Sorry. In fact I was a little surprised that Sam asked me at all, but ask me he did.

So here we go.

One day, back when the Internet was black and white and I was standing in front of an industrial photocopying machine I got a call from a man who spoke German badly. He wanted to know if I had ever thought about working in advertising. I asked him if there was any money in it and he said yes and I then informed him that I had just, that very minute, been thinking about a career in advertising and isn't life funny like that. He agreed and invited me in for a chat about the internet and commercials and things.

I had no idea who this man was, I had never heard of Ammirati Puris Lintas and I had always thought that people who do advertising must be complete and utter tossers with the attention span of goldfish. That was 10 years ago and I can confirm that nearly all people in advertising are complete and utter tossers with the attention span of goldfish.

I was actually determined to turn down any job offer and go back to being a freelance artist/ graphic designer/ web developer who just happened to also work in a photocopy shop. I did, after all have my principles.

I arrived at the agency and was guided by the man who had invited me (one of the partners) into a little room where he asked me if I wouldn't mind helping building the internet department for APL and if I could do stuff in Macromedia Flash. I informed him I'd never used Flash before. This unsettled him a little and he left the room only to return with a PowerBook and went on to inform me that in around an hour we had a presentation to give and he had informed his partners that I was the famous 'Mr.Brown' (I was an artist back then and was enjoying a little coverage in Frankfurt) and that there would be moving pictures and things would happen when we rolled over things with the cursor (can you make something go 'beep'?)

So I had less than an hour to learn how to use Macromedia Flash and design a presentation with moving pictures and rollovers but completely void of any content. “Just make sure it looks really sexy; that was my brief. The fate of an entire department depended on it; depended on Macromedia Flash.

Later I was asked if I would like to take the job. Remember those principles? "fuck'em" I said yes.

It's a true story. That's how I got into advertising.

Calling All Grads

For those of you that have graduated and are still searching for that way into adland, we may have something for you.

Digitas are looking for a grad to start in account management as soon as possible - also known as 'yesterday'. They wanna move quick so you should as well. Their client list is long and full of heavy hitters so check out their website for the lowdown and if you're interested send your CV to Rob Moore. You will have to have graduated because they want someone who can start pronto.

On a side note, we're not going to EVER let headhunters or recruitment agencies hawk their general wares to you. But if agencies get in touch about grad-level roles they have, we will chuck 'em out to y'all. And we don't get commission (cause I know someone will ask!).

Peace out and good luck.

Sam

The Road Ahead

We are still..open that is.

We are still here. Honestly. But more importantly, there are more agencies to apply to if you haven't found yourself a job yet. Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Iris deadlines are coming up in February, links to them are in the Application Deadlines box on the right, click 'em, fill 'em and get 'em.

Happy 2008, Sam You're a Little Late

The sun sets on 2007, in 2007 - I took this picture, I think it rocks.

Greetings fair readers.

I've been really really slack in my posting habits and for that I apologise. I could attempt to spew a litany of excuses, but as my brother used to say 'It don't *£$%*& matter!'.

Now January exams may be on your radar / just dropping off it and some of you who haven't had any luck on the job front may be beginning to lose hope. I have one word of advice for you: don't.

There are plenty more places to apply to and even more non-traditional opportunities out there. This whole thing is far from over. I'm in Dubai at the moment causing trouble in the world's largest hard hat zone, but I'll be back later this week and should get my (more) regular posting back on.

Until then - for those of you who feel kinda like it's going nowhere, I leave you with something from Ben Stein:

"It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders."

And a big thank you for all the emails you guys have sent me, I do have some things cookin' job wise, I just can't say them out loud yet. x

Nothing cures a hangover like the Imperial War Museum

Nope. The museum is NOT a client of ours, but a visit will cure your post holiday-detox boredom binge.

Be sure to see the Weapons of Mass communication exhibition before 30th March. Without giving too much a way it is an extensive collection of iconic propaganda messaging from both sides of the wall. Also includes Karmarama's Make Tea not War!

Go. And if you have no friends cool enough to go with you all of us will be happy to tag along.

If you think ‘fuck you’ in your first week you’ll probably go on to be a star

One thing is for sure this industry has enough conformists to become as boring as banking and as un-exciting as auditing. I’m not suggesting that you go in on your first day with feet on the table, chewing gum, scratching your privates and claiming to be the messiah that will save the agency, though I would love to buy you a drink if you did. What I am saying is that if you disagree with the ways things are done and have far more inspiring, creative and productive theories then you’re more than likely to be a future star.

Paul Arden tells a great tale of career paths in his book ‘Whatever you think, think the opposite’. It tells of Steady Eddie and Reckless Erica. You’ll spot the Steady Eddies in your interviews or even in your grad in take. They’ll be the well behaved one, making friends wherever they go and pretty much celebrating the work of others that when you see it you sneer with mediocre indifference – you’re a reckless Erica. Good I say, don’t lose that. You probably won’t last long at your given agency. You’ll learn what you need to know and get bored very quickly with Steady Eddies and their mediocrity church whilst you’re wanting there to be fire and brim stone falling from the sky in anarchic joy and if a creative reckons that sniffing cocaine off a hooker’s tits will inspire them then by God you don’t want him/her to be lonely whilst doing so. You may get fired before you leave. So what. You’re a survivor and you’ll find your niche creative community one way or another.

The quite patronising point I’m trying to make is never lose your ‘fuck you’. It’ll keep you pure and quicker than the Steady Eddies which you should hold nothing but brutal and warranted antipathy for. This doesn’t mean that stupid attempt at advice which goes like ‘never pretend to be someone you're not’. That is quite literally ridiculous. If you are the same person all the time then only certain people will always buy you and from you. This isn’t the kindest of industries and thin and transparent (often well being) skin is chewed upon, ironically by a Steady Eddie. Be who you need to be to get what you want, sell what you want and push what you want It’s the essence of ambition I think, to overcome any obstacle that is in your way and reach your goals (with the exception of hurting innocents in order to do so).

Happy New Year rant over and much luck with all your up coming interviews and ultimately jobs. xxxx