STUDENTS
I did an all-day-live-blog at ScampBlog last week.
In case you missed it, here’s the link:
http://scampblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/dave-trott-live-chat-all-day.html
One of the most contentious exchanges was about students.
I said students were a waste of space, and I had no time for them.
Naturally this didn’t go down too well.
Someone called ‘Borat’ in particular thought I was just forming my low opinion of students on the low quality of students I’d seen.
Au contraire.
I have a low opinion of people who think of themselves as students.
The problem with students is that they haven’t yet made the change in their head to being professionals.
Consequently they behave pretty much the way they did at college.
They want to do one ad then celebrate: get drunk and party until next week’s brief comes in.
That’s what they learned at college.
Do one ad, get patted on the back, then sleep and party until next week’s ad is due.
Students get their first job and straight away they relax.
Once they’ve got a job they think they can put their feet up, they’re safe for 3 years just like college.
Then after a short while of doing that the agency wonders why they’re paying them, so they get fired.
And, because they didn’t get any work out, they now get a job at a not-so-good agency.
And they behave the same as before.
After several jobs dodging work and partying, it occurs to them that they’ve now been out of college 3 or 4 years, and none of the work they’ve done is anything they’re proud of.
In fact they’ve still got the book of roughs they left college with, plus one or two embarrassing press ads that actually ran.
Now they panic.
Now they can see their life stretching out ahead of them as bleak and dull, while other people do great ads at good agencies.
Now they are desperate.
Now they try to put a new book together made up of all the good ideas that they’ll never get out of the agency they’re at.
Now they realise what all that laziness and fun has cost them.
Now is the time to hire them.
Now they aren’t students anymore.
Now they are art directors and writers desperate to do good work.
Now they are begging for a chance.
Now they want to work for themselves, not the agency.
Now they are greedy for work.
This is their last chance.
If you give them a job now you are throwing them a lifeline.
They are in a hurry to make up for all the time they wasted.
Every brief you give them is like a present.
These people have now discovered the reason why they should work.
They’ve also discovered the energy that it takes to do good ads, and the fun it is doing them.
They will easily bury anyone for energy and enthusiasm.
They will work evenings and weekends because they are doing it for themselves, not the agency.
They will do their own work, then take anyone else’s work and do that too.
They lift the whole energy level of the entire agency.
People like this are a pleasure to have around, they remind everyone of how great our job is and why we do it.
And that’s why I don’t hire students.
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Or “Southerners”?
…I remember you telling me once that you liked employing “Northerners”, because “They come down here and work really hard. It’s because they know that if they don’t work hard they’ll get fired and have to go back up north…and they don’t want to do that now do they?”
Quite right Gary. That’s why all the Man Utd fans are anywhere but oop north.
I read all the comments on the live day and that really sums up what many peoples thoughts seem to be. As a ‘graduate’ myself looking for a first job, I have been on placements at different agencies for 12 months now. It was only after about 5 months I think that I changed from student to art director.
Maybe the ad courses need a reality check, when your at uni and are given a open brief and told you have to crack it in three weeks it’s easy to understand why lazy people are churned out every year.
I dont like being called a student, they waste time effort and money being pointless, as a 2nd year im graduating this year, a year early and with 2 placements under my belt, im not great, i just work hard, the sooner students realise working gets you noticed the sooner i’ll need plan b up my sleeve.
Im still 98% shit though
Adam and Andy, I think the difference is that when you’re a student your work is guaranteed attention, From your lecturers and classmates. So you want to stand out in a crit as better.
When you’re a professional, there is no crit.
There is no guaranteed attention.
The whole job is about getting noticed and remembered.
Then you have to work out what makes you different, and why anyone should buy you.
Exactly the same as it’s going to be for the rest of your life in advertising.
Hey Dave,
‘Tis me your old chum, just wanted to say that i do actually agree with your point, I think you didn’t make it clear what you actually meant during the live chat.
Have a lovely weekend
x
I admire your clear definitive although the simple truth is, not all of us are destined to become who we hope we might be, for a whole host of reasons. Some of those reasons are beyond one’s own control.
[...] Here you will also find Dave’s reaction to the Q&A session. It didn’t go down too well with student advertisers when Dave said they were waste of space, he justifies his point avidly… [...]