Wannabe Planner? Account Handler? Creative?

I reckon planning's the one on the left...

Here at AdGrads towers, we've been told a little about two new opportunities, both of which you should consider applying for if you're trying to get into the business:

1) IPA Summer School

The IPA (in conjunction with many agencies) run a Summer School, aimed at getting talented graduates into the business. The main link is here. There are two streams you can apply for, account management/planning and creative.

Both streams close on the 15th of April. Get applying.

2) Ogilvy Planning Fellowship

This is that rarest of rare beasts, a Planning specific introduction to the business. Details are here. It closes on the 14th of March at midnight. If you have any other queries, get on twitter and talk to the Ogilvy Fellows.

Best of luck with both of them.

A few brilliant new opportunities...

Yes, those guys.

Hello gang.

With graduate recruitment season drawing to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to draw your attention to two other opportunities.

Number one is at the aforementioned company. You might have heard of them.

Anyway, they've (and another company) been in touch with us here at AdGrads towers to tell of some vacancies for bright grads:

1) Despite newspaper reports of 1 in 5 graduates being unemployed, Google had a great 2010 and are looking to ramp up their hiring in 2011.

Google's Online Media Associate Programme is a 2.5 year career development programme which offers international graduates from all academic disciplines an insight into online business, advertising and new technologies. The program is available in both our European Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and our Wroclaw office in Poland.

There are also positions available in the London office, which can be found at google.co.uk/jobs, such as Account Manager or Industry Analyst.

If you have a strong academic record and would like to find out more about working for Google, or would like to apply for any of these roles, feel free to contact Nicola at nicolaa@google.com!

That one's exciting enough, but another is still open:

2) The second is at Manchester United, of all places (it has been previously advertised, but now has a new email address to send CVs to). They're offering six week internships for interested/interesting graduates. See below:

"It's an all year round series of 6 week marketing internships working for Manchester United at Old Trafford. The available roles in the Marketing Dept are be filled through the STEP Programme (www.step.org.uk) but you can also email your CV direct to cheryl.ennis@manutd.co.uk (note, it has changed) . The role involves working with global brands including AON, Nike, Audi, Smirnoff, Singha and Hublot on activation programmes as part of their partnership with the world's biggest football brand."

So there you have it. Get applying.

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.

Two more schemes open...

Two more open (sesame)

Hello there gang. Two more schemes to draw your attention to.

1) Saatchi & Saatchi

The original Saatchis' has opened its doors to its Summer Scholarship on Facebook. Sign up to its group here for more information. There's no closing date at the moment, but I imagine it'll be updated as it goes.

2) Publicis

Publicis's scheme has opened. Check it out here. Their twitter stream is here. It shuts on February the 1st at 6pm. I have been told that the initial graduate email was incorrect, so use the email gradteam@publicis.co.uk if you've been eager and sent your details in early.

Best of luck with those two.

Another graduate role...

I'm not sure they'd pay you in US Savings Bonds...

One more job has found its way to AdGrads towers. See below:

(Beta) is a relatively new creative agency, founded by Robert Campbell (formerly of Rainey, Kelly, Campbell, Roalfe) and Garry Lace (former CEO of Lowe, Grey and TBWA). Our major clients are Thomas Cook and Jackpot Joy, and we've just finished Iceland's Christmas campaign. We're looking for someone to be Garry's right hand man/ woman - sit in on all his meetings, have one to ones with clients, associates etc and deal with everything he doesn't have time to deal with.

It's a strong opportunity for a recent graduate - they would learn an incredible amount about the industry and the role of a suit and gain very valuable contacts. In short it's a fantastic stepping stone role.

The salary will be upwards of £20,000, and the position has no closing date - so get in quickly.

Best of luck guys.

Four roles...

Mmm, lovely rol(l)es. And a bad visual example.

I have been a bit remiss about putting up job openings here, what with it being graduate recruitment season 'n' all. But here are four roles (well, one is an internship, but it's a fascinating one) for you to have a look at.

The first is at Manchester United, of all places (a bit of a change from your average ad agency). They're offering six week internships for interested/interesting graduates. See below:

"It's an all year round series of 6 week marketing internships working for Manchester United at Old Trafford. The available roles in the Marketing Dept are be filled through the STEP Programme (www.step.org.uk) but you can also email your CV direct to adrian.nicholson@manutd.co.uk. The role involves working with global brands including AON, Nike, Audi, Smirnoff, Singha and Hublot on activation programmes as part of their partnership with the world's biggest football brand."

The other three roles are at Carat. They all revolve around media/comms planning or buying. We've been given some quite detailed specs, so see below for more detail. You can apply by emailing recruitment@aemedia.com before the end of January, but the roles are likely to be filled quickly, so don't hang about...Anyway, more details are below:

1. Broadcast/Press Buying (please specify your preference)

• The role of a buyer in the broadcast department is not just about TV. The broadcast department at Aegis Media are experts across TV, Radio, Cinema and on-line video.
• Aegis are looking for motivated and driven individuals who are interesting in starting a graduate career in media planning and buying across TV, Radio, Cinema, Online Video and Press. If you have excellent communication skills and have the hard work and determination to succeed then read on...
• Through integrated team structures our media experts collaborate with planning and digital specialists to ensure the best communication opportunities are secured for our clients.
• Vital to the role is the ability to be analytical and strong numerically. Attention to detail is essential to ensure campaigns are accurate and there are no mistakes which could be costly to the client. Additionally we expect candidates to demonstrate a passion and enthusiasm for media and to have a sound understanding of topical industry issues.
• To be offered a role, candidates must show an ability to influence and negotiate at the Graduate Assessment Centre and a potential to develop well in this attribute.
• Duties involved in the role include:

1. Monitoring and buying of TV/Press campaigns.

2. Assisting the team in channel planning across TV, Radio, Cinema and VOD

3. Developing relationships with media owner representatives (e.g. ITV) to aid exceptional delivery of campaigns.

4. Develop knowledge of key systems to enable efficient processing of booking schedules and monitoring performance.

5. Use of Excel spreadsheets to record all bookings/requests/conversations/negotiations and briefings.

6. Supplying clients with pre, mid and post campaign analysis.

7. Undertake competitive analysis.

8. Solve queries and flag up booking anomalies to team members.

2, Performance Planning

• The Performance Planning team deliver planning insight and media strategies across a range of clients including SeeSaw , Panasonic, Credit Confidential , and the Trainline; and across a range of communications challenges (brand, launch, acquisition).
• Day to day responsibilities include sourcing and managing digital performance data; interrogating research sources to support audience and market insight; monitoring competitive investment strategies; producing regular summaries and reports across all of these areas.

Skills required:

- Attention to detail

- Analytical

- Numerate

- Strong excel and powerpoint skills

- Enthusiasm for drawing insight out of data and analyses

- Personable with great interpersonal skills

3. Media Planning

• Developing good relationships with clients, agency teams and external agencies
• Using key planning systems to generate insight and substantiation for media recommendations
• Management and updating of media plans
• Competitive and marketplace reports for clients
• Participation in generation of innovative and creative media ideas
• Working closely with implementation teams to ensure optimum execution of media strategies and plans,

I hope those four are of interest. Best of luck with them.

Successful Applications (Part One)

DOUBLE dare you.

Right, as alluded to in the comments of the last post, there's a young grad (who goes by the name of Simon - more about him here and here) that has been lucky enough to get an interview at Dare.

He's rather generously agreed to have his answers to the Dare graduate application form put up on this blog, and there's quite a lot of you who have mentioned you'd like to see some successful responses put up on the blog. I don't have time to do it now, but I'm sure I can dig out some of my old apps (which will probably lurk somewhere online/in my emails) to show you guys.

I will also add my own thoughts as to why he got invited to an interview, and if any Dare person wants to chime in to explain why they liked the app, feel free to do so.

Rightyho:

Question 1: Which brand has the most imaginative and innovative marketing and why?

The brand image of Chile has recently demonstrated imaginative and innovative marketing, which has resulted in a successful rebranding of the country.

Despite the miners’ accident, Chile have been able to use this opportunity to rebrand itself in the most unusual way. It’s innovative – because no one genuinely creates accidents to improve their brand image and they’ve capitalised on this. It’s imaginative – because who would have thought anyone could successfully rebrand following a potentially fatal accident.

The government’s reaction, determination and patience has changed the world’s perception of Chile from Pinochet’s reign of dictatorship to a country where the government acted like a fully developed nation.

The best form of product placement has to be Oakley who donated sunglasses to the miners and were told to wear them on the globally televised rescue. Front Row Analytics reported they garnered approximately $41million in equivalent advertising time from an initial $6300 expenditure.

This is a very clever, laterally minded response. Simon could have very easily have said 'Waitrose' or 'Sony', and given a stock marketing response. Instead, he thought about just why and how brands are constructed, and how country and product intertwine. Very smart thinking. The only slight amend I'd have made to this would be drawing attention to the coverage (think of the fake Chilean miner twitter account, which had tens of thousands of followers) that it received online. But that's a very, VERY minor quibble - nice thought.

Question 2: Has digital fundamentally changed marketing or simply provided a new set of tools to play with?

Digital has done both of those things.

Digital has provided a new set of tools to play with, thus a new dimension of communications. In the process, this has shifted the focus from traditional forms of advertising to digital where businesses can now reach their target audience more efficiently. Digital has changed not only where we advertise, but how we advertise and this in turn has revolutionised traditional advertising. For example, billboard adverts have been projected, newspaper ads appear in newspaper mobile apps.

Like a tree with many branches, digital has opened a variety of communication channels. Most recently, 3D advertising which, I think, could be massive in 10 years time when everyone will probably own a 3D TV (just like 10 years ago when flat screen TVs came onto the market). This has literally opened up a new dimension for creativity and advertising in general.

This is a fairly 'stock' response to what is a fairly straightforward question. Nothing is 'wrong' with it. I'm of the opinion there should always be one straight response to the questions answered, and this is it. His examples are fine - the answer could have been improved with some more salient examples of what brands are doing with these new channels, but given space, it's the right approach.

Question 3: What's the most interesting thing about you?

I can write legibly with my left hand. (I’m naturally right handed).

This is a 'silly' question. One which you can answer in any way. I think my response to this was that I had a scar shaped like a stegosaurus or something else. Basically, write anything which is more thoughtful than 'I once met...'. Think of an amusing incident, something only you can do - without sounding cliche. This is a solid response, and does well to keep it short. Brevity in your response is almost always a good thing - it means you'll probably be asked to elaborate in your interview, and shows you can 'write to the question'. Sometimes, there's nothing more to say.

Question 4: What's the most powerful number?

1032745986

This is the most powerful number in the whole of the universe. Here are the reasons why:

· The number as a whole contains all the numbers from 1-10 and therefore it has all the power it needs to defeat anything. Including Killer Su Doku. Too many of the same numbers would dilute the power of the number, apparently.

· If a=0, b=1 then 1032745986 = Bad Chef Jig = a type of dance Gordon Ramsay is reluctant to do

· 1032745986/6895472301 (backwards) = 0.14

1032745986/314159265 (π without the decimal) = 3.28

3.28 – 0.14 = 3.14 = π

This is another opportunity to think laterally or culturally. Simon answers this one extremely well. Who thinks about imbuing a number with personality, as he does here? I certainly wouldn't have thought of it. The 'Bad Chef Jig' joke is very clever too, as is the pie joke.

So then - there's one successful application. That, plus a decent online presence, is what it takes to get an interview at Dare. What do you think of it, readers? I can entirely understand why Simon got an interview. Simon - thanks for sending this in.