Creative Guidebook
Young creatives can now get their hands on a guidebook to getting a job.
Called ‘Goodbye Uni…Hello Job’, the guide gives easy-to-read advice on starting out and keeping a sense of humour.
It has been co-written by industry insiders from trade charity NABS, on-line ideas company OpenAd.net and the headhunter LizH, who already co-operate on a number of services for students.
It is full of personal insights from top UK creatives including Ben Priest, creative director of RKCR/Y&R; Owen Lee, creative director of Farm; Kim Papworth, creative director of Wieden and Kennedy and Simon Learman, executive creative director of McCann Erickson.
The guide recommends working with a partner provided you can ask some tough questions first such as: ‘Are they at least as good as me?’, ‘Can I really spend 95 per cent of my waking hours with this person?’ and ‘Do I fancy them (always a bad idea).’
Listening to advice from those in the know is essential because: ‘The more good people who see your book, and slate your book, the better chance it has of becoming the best book in town.’
Don’t just pester the Big Boys, seek advice from junior and middleweight teams since: ‘You get very few shots with a creative director – don’t waste your chance or their time.’
Once you get that placement: ‘Only present your best work- 10 great ideas is better than 50 OK ideas.’
And realise that even that first job may not be the end of the story, with the guide suggesting that you always ‘keep your eyes open to other jobs. Redundancy does happen - don’t take it to heart.’
Amanda Wallace, the guide’s co-writer and creative client services manager at OpenAd.net said some of the insights came from her former life as an advertising creative. She added: “I graduated from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College five years ago and spent 5 years working as one half of a junior team. There was nothing like this around to help us then and I wish there had been. We’ve tried to keep the facts relevant and the tone readable and we hope as many people as possible find it useful.’