IPA Summer School..

Want a job in advertising? You should probably check this out.

Hello there.

The good folks at the IPA have let me know about their 2012 Summer School. There's quite an extensive blurb - read more below:

Students: do you want to work in adland?

Have you always wanted to work in advertising? If so, the IPA’s Ad School could help you get one step nearer to getting your dream job. Submit your entry now for your opportunity to work in one of the top UK advertising agencies, including Addiction London, CHI, Euro RSCG, Karmarama, Kitcatt Nohr Digitas, Ogilvy One, Rapier and SFW, this summer.

The 2012 School comprises of three programmes: the client service/planning programme, the creative programme and the search programme. The programmes provide students with the opportunity to work at some of the top agencies where you will learn from the best in the business, work on live briefs, projects and pitches and enjoy a series of evening seminars and social events. In addition, you will be given prize money, and if you prove to be successful in your placement, there is the possibility of a job interview.

The client service/planning programme:
• You will work at your allocated agency for eight weeks (starting on 2nd July 2012) on briefs, projects and pitches.
• You will be provided with an agency mentor who will guide you through the eight-week experience.
• You will receive an £800 prize on completion of the programme.
• Here are details of how to apply.

The creative programme:
• You will work at your allocated agency for eight weeks (starting on 2nd July 2012) on briefs, projects and pitches, as part of a creative team - one copywriter, one art director. The IPA will pair the roles up accordingly.
• You will be provided with an agency mentor who will guide you through the eight-week experience.
• You will receive an £800 prize on completion of the programme.
• More details can be found here.

The IPA Ad School has also launched a new Search Programme this year which will offer students the opportunity to work in one of the UK’s top search agencies this summer where they will gain an extensive insight into the ever-evolving world of search.

The search programme:
• You will work at your allocated agency for eight weeks (starting on 1st August 2012) as part of their search team.
• You will get the opportunity to take the IPA Search Certificate and the Google Adwords Fundamentals Exam (GAF) at no cost. This means that you walk away with two qualifications as well as an extensive eight weeks immersed in the search industry.
• You will receive an £1500 prize on completion of the programme.
• More details can be found here.

Says Chris Whitson, Planning Partner, SFW and Co-Founder of the IPA Ad School: “The IPA Ad School is our industry’s chance to prove its worth to bright, motivated young people. And for those young people to see if it’s an industry that can offer a compelling career choice. It’s an intensive learning experience for the successful candidates.”

For full details, click here. UPDATE: The deadline's Friday the 20th of April.

Good luck, all.

Gap Jumpers..

Either this or that...

Hi all.

I'd like to alert you to a new company my brilliant friend Niko has just founded, called Gapjumpers. Check it out.

It's just gone live for challenges, but essentially the premise is that industry people post challenges (clients and agencies), you guys answer them, and earn kudos from relevant brands and people - providing you with relevant endorsements long before you join the workforce, hopefully making the transition to a full time job more fun and less costly.

I think it's a great initiative. Find out a lot more here.

I hope to post a challenge soon. Have a look, chaps, and good luck.

Quirk need YOU...

If you do this, you may be just right.

The good people at Quirk have been in touch. They're after a graduate on a year-long contract, with the possibility of it being extended further.

More details on them (and the role) are below:

"Quirk is a digital marketing agency based near London Bridge. We work with clients including The Financial Times, Warner Bros., SAB Miller and Nando’s. With over 140 employees working throughout London, Cape Town and Johannesburg, Quirk is a dynamic, fun, hardworking and rapidly growing agency.

We want somebody who wears their personality on their sleeve, has opinions and ideas and is excited by the prospect of taking ownership of a project. This person also needs to have a strong eye for detail, a positive resourceful attitude towards organisation and a fantastic sense of humour. We are looking for somebody to not only work hard, but also to contribute to the culture of the agency. There is a real prospect for growth in the agency for someone who is ambitious enough to make the role their own.

The job: Quirk Graduate

This is a paid 12 month graduate position which will cover a wide range of roles and responsibilities. We want someone who is keen, enthusiastic, a hard worker and quirky.

Requirements:

• Sufficient Undergraduate or Post Graduate qualification

• Must possess a love for digital and a passion for marketing

• Must be intelligent and have the ability and drive to learn quickly

• A high level of organisation and motivation

• Work well under pressure and must meet deadlines

• Must be a team player

• A good level of numeracy/literacy

• Ability to use Word, PowerPoint, Excel

• A sparkling personality along with a unique sense of humour

Responsibilities:

• Administrative support across global projects

• Learning and upskilling him / herself into a valued member of staff

• Office administration (prepping for client meetings, general running)

• Contributing to brainstorms • Conducting audits of potential client sites

Benefits:

We want somebody with lots of energy who isn’t afraid to get stuck in. In return for your efforts we are prepared to pay for you to take (and hopefully pass) a number of qualifications, including:

• Quirk eMarketing qualification

• Google Analytics practitioner

We buy you cake and present on your birthday and we do lots of fun activities to take a break from the grind.

Opportunity for growth

Though this is a 12 month graduate programme, should you demonstrate that you have what it takes there is the potential option of a full time position beyond the 12 months.

UPDATE: The correct email address to use is tammy at quirk dot biz.

Good luck, all.

Dare to dream..

I doubt you'd be working with the US Women's soccer team...

Hello folks.

There's a new, exciting graduate job up, posed by the lovely Nick Emmel at Dare. Below's the job spec:

"Do you ever look at the likes of Zuckerberg and Larry Page and think that you could have done the same if you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time? Do you get angsty when you see all these exciting little start-ups selling themselves for enormous sums and wonder why you never got a slice of the action? Do you pine to be there at the formation of something great? To get the chance to mould it with your own fair hands?

These opportunities rarely pop up. And when they do, it takes a clever (or lucky) soul to spot them. Sometimes you just need someone to point them out to you.

We need a graduate to join our new little venture. It's a rather exciting, nimble little beast. Doing all those digital agency things, but doing them in the way that everyone agrees they *should* be done.

No process, no politics, no timesheets.

Just clever, quick, creative thinking by a few lovely people. Making proper stuff, properly.

Below is the job spec:

• A graduate, with maybe a few agency work placements under their belt looking for their first permanent gig.
• You'll have an impressive academic record and a desire to keep on learning every day
• Someone, that despite being new to the game, is already thinking about being at the top
• A broad-minded soul, willing to get their hands dirty in every part of the agency world. Planning, account management, production, even creative.
• An articulate, chatty individual who doesn't get intimidated by senior types or men with beards
• Finally, you better be a lovely person. Being in a small team means that plonkers aren't tolerated.

You have a passport and no criminal record (unless it was for something cool).

Drop me an email at nick.emmel at thisisedc.com. It'll be fun, we can chat and stuff."

UPDATE - 13TH OF MARCH; THIS HAS NOW CLOSED.

Sounds like a cool gig to me. Good luck, chaps.

The importance of a mentor..

It could even be this guy (though he's a videogame Samurai character).

Hello, all.

It's been a little while since I sat down and actually wrote a post for AdGrads, beyond job openings. Sorry about that - the day job's been rather busy since I started in October.

Anyway, I thought i'd write a little post about mentors and mentorship, and why they/it are the most important thing for your impending career (or even if you're a year or so in).

Though it's in the annals of the AdGrads' first year, I thought I'd explain a little bit about how I came to get into the industry.

I'm actually very fortunate. My father worked in the business, in the Midlands. So, I grew up knowing quite a lot about Advertising. At least, how the industry worked outside of London in the 90's, at any rate. And, being aware of the history of certain agencies, something that I think most graduates could benefit from - so as to not repeat some of the mistakes of the past/to learn from what's gone before.

So, if you like, my first mentor was my Dad. I still call him whenever I have a big career decision to make, and he always proffers a thought through opinion. Being an ex-client too helps.

Moving on then, I initially found it tricky to get into the business (and this, in truth, is how AdGrads came to be - borne of frustration), and relied on my Dad a lot for his opinion and support.

I also began to blog - before AdGrads was and is my 'other' blog, Confessions of a Wannabe Ad Man, that's been around since mid 2006. Not only did it enable me to show off my thinking, it also, more importantly, helped me meet people in the business who I'm still friends with today.

One of them, Richard Huntington (now CSO of Saatchi & Saatchi), gave me my first planning job. We're still very good friends today, and still talk about career stuff/life/the Universe, and so on. He (and others) provided me with an up to date appreciation of what the business is about. He's been invaluable to me when I've had tricky decisions to make.

Before my experiences with mentor figures (and there's more than just Richard and my father, but that's just a flavour), I tended to have more of an academic approach to learning about the modern communication business - reading Campaign, key books (Truth, Lies & Advertising, amongst others) and so on. That's not wrong, but what's better - reading about it second hand (and, undoubtedly realising about half of the graft that's gone on) or talking to someone who does it day in and day out?

Now, getting in contact with these 'mentors' is difficult, I must admit - particularly if you aren't from London or the South East. But it's not impossible. The web is a tremendous tool, and if you can email people for a coffee before their day begins, or pique their interest with a thought through opinion or piece of work online - you'll be much closer to getting in.

And, one final thing - don't ever stop meeting people. You'll find new mentors for yourself along with becoming a de-facto 'mentor' for new people. And you never know when one or the other will come in handy. I'm not saying 'be a tart', but instead, be open and willing to meet people if they need your help when you're a year or two into the business. You never know who you'll end up working with, or even, perhaps, running an agency with.

Let me know what you think - I'm happy to answer any questions you may have in the comments.

TCA have ANOTHER opportunity...

Not sure that would work as a CV posting.

Hello all.

The good people of TCA London have another intern position open for you guys.

I'll let them explain further:

"We have an opening for a paid Internship (£200 a week) for a 3-month placement within the Promotions team, starting immediately, working on the Argos account. For the right candidate, this could even lead to a permanent graduate role.

The Argos team creates collateral for Argos stores and argos.co.uk to complement a vast number of calendar and Argos-owned events, as well as creating and delivering high-profile consumer promotions. The Intern will work closely with the Account Manager to:

- brief Creative teams, Designers and Studio

- compile competitor reviews

- create weekly status and contact reports

- provide general management support for all projects

If you are interested in applying for this position please go to tcalondon.com and email your CV to the Recruitment email address, subject "Argos Intern".

The closing date for receipt of CVs is the end of the day on the 23rd February 2012."

Good luck, guys.

Two helping hands..

Two helping hands? Quite possibly.

Hello folks.

Two more grad related odds and sods have found its way to AdGrads towers in the last few days. One of which is an internship opportunity, and the other is an agency fronted resource. Here we are:

1) TCA London - Digital Internship

"You would be a junior member of a growing digital team in an integrated marketing agency. The size of the business and the breath of digital opportunities within our agency means the role would offer plenty of variety and be a great opportunity for a analytical, web savvy marketing graduate to start a career in digital advertising. You would work across social media, eCRM, online advertising, website development, search and mobile projects. We have outlined some of the key responsibilities below, but this list is not exhaustive:

- managing updates on our company Twitter feed

- helping compile digital competitive reviews for our clients

- helping compile a monthly digital newsletter for our clients

- web analytics and reporting on a scheduled and ad-hoc basis

- supporting our Digital Planner on creative briefs

- comprehensively testing websites before they go live

- helping manage Social Media campaigns

- general Digital Team support where required

If you are interested in applying for this position visit our website and click on the appropriate link.

Please use the subject line “Application for Digital Intern, fao DM/SP” so we can process your application as quickly as possible. It is a paid internship (£200 per week), and they are typically 3 months at a time"

NB: Amended job spec. CLOSING DATE IS THE 15th of Feb, at the end of the day.

2) Leo Burnett - The Foundry

"The Foundry is Leo Burnett’s brand spanking new grad scheme. It came about when last year’s grads pitched the idea of a graduate-run micro-agency to the senior management, with the aim to get as much hands-on experience as possible. And by God they took them up on it.

A junior planner, two account execs and a pair of friendly creative types have been hired to take on some real work, working together as The Foundry on some exciting young businesses.

The Foundry blog page has been set up as a useful tool for grads trying to get into the industry – sharing the experiences of the infant madmen and women as they get cracking on some juicy work. It’ll be also be a place where grads can pick up tips, tricks, industry knowledge and find out who does what and why they do it. We hope it'll be useful for grads deciding whether to get into the ad business."

I hope those are both useful, folks.