You start getting fired from your first job the day you get it.
Because you start to relax.
So you stop doing everything that got you the job.
Which was whatever it takes.
Working all the hours there are.
Contacting absolutely every creative director you can find.
Not being picky about where you work.
Just wanting a job, anywhere.
Just to be working and doing ads.
The energy, the enthusiasm, are irresistible.
And they work.
But the funny thing is, as soon as you’ve got a job, you stop doing it.
You relax.
You start to work reasonable hours.
You look at what everyone else is doing.
What time do they come in, what time do they leave?
Then you copy that.
And the senior people in the department, they like a drink.
So you copy that.
And they don’t work too hard, they go to the bar, or spend all day on FaceBook, or sit around telling jokes.
So you copy that.
And what you forget is, that you’re not senior.
So you can’t get away with what they can.
You haven’t got as much work under your belt as they have.
You haven’t earned the right.
The CD will swallow it from those guys.
He won’t swallow it from juniors who haven’t done anything.
Why should he?
You had one advantage: energy.
And you threw that away when you got hired and relaxed.
So you get fired.
Happens to all of us in our first job.
That’s when you ask the question.
How do you get your second job in advertising?
Well, how did you get your first?
The answer is still the same, whatever it takes.
So you work on your portfolio, all the hours there are.
You call up everyone you can think of.
You call and write to creative directors, headhunters, friends in the business.
You ask everyone and anyone for help.
The energy is coming off you like sparks.
Now you can’t relax and work reasonable hours.
Now you can’t do the same as everyone else.
Because they’ve got a job and you haven’t.
So you need an advantage.
And that advantage is energy.
That’s what a creative director is always looking for.
That’s what will shake up his department, and give him something he hasn’t got.
That’s what will eventually break down resistance.
That’s what will get you the job.
Then what’s the first thing you do when you get the job?
You relax.
Go back to the way you were when you got your first job.
Start to work reasonable hours.
Watch what everyone else does.
And behave like them.
Like everyone else, you stop doing exactly what it was that got you the job in the first place.
What made you different.
And you start to behave like everyone else.
You lose your point of difference.
And pretty soon you’ve got another question.
How do you get your third job in advertising?
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Slightly off-topic but had to share this quote I found about a writer’s first job…
I was a slave to my employers, who expected to be furnished at a minute’s warning with prose and verse, just as they thought the circumstances of the times required, whether the inclination was absent or present. I have been so much pestered and besieged by those children of clamour, that life became a burden to me.
‘The Adventures of Roderick Random’
Tobias Smollett
Yes Dave
Like Ariston. It just goes on and on and on and…
Funny post. There is another point of view that from the first day in a new job you begin to take control and you become more and more indispensible. Those who subscribe to this say it’s ok to accept a position at a lower salary point than you would like because once you are in you begin to build your bargaining position.
However I guess this means not “relaxing” in the way this post describes!
I wanted to grab the “How to get your first job in advertising” leaflet on my way out last night but I forgot. I have it on my computer as a pdf, but holding something in my hands is different. I’ll make sure not to forget next week.
Of course, the alternative is…
Do whatever it takes to get that first job.
Prove yourself on everything that’s thrown your way, no matter how small, boring or unsparkling.
Always be hungrier than the next guy.
Bite off more than you can chew.
Absorb everything there is to know from those around you.
Don’t learn how to be them. Learn how to beat them.
Take an unhealthy interest in everyone outside the creative department. Be the creative the account director and planner want on their brief.
Win awards. Make your CD glad he hired you.
And let the phone ring.
[today's Captcha..."the" and "suavest"]
I’m not so sure about this post.
I agree, I had lots of energy and did whatever it took to get my first job. But I didn’t relax or get lazy, the job was just different once it became real life. It was different to what I had been led to believe. It wasn’t the thing I’d pictured it to be - the thing that had inspired so much energy within me.
Before I got the job I was answering exciting, creative briefs to prove what I could do, and my responses were discussed and taken on board. Now I work in the job, there aren’t any briefs like that. Not even the most senior creatives get those jobs because they don’t exist - we don’t have clients like that, or do work like that. Even pitching work I’d done in my own time which we could use to take on new jobs and ‘get out there’ was ignored, because the company wasn’t as exciting or proactive as they made out they were when I was trying to get in.
I still had energy, but the company sapped a lot of it away. Maybe it’s my fault for going after the wrong job, being naive, or expecting too much too soon -I’m not saying the workers are blameless, and some ‘relaxing’ is only human nature. However, I think agencies themselves have a big part in this cycle. The people at the top need to inspire others, be open to ideas. Energy creates energy and some of that energy has to come from the agencies themselves. I think it’s a bit arrogant of agencies to think young, fresh creatives have to bring everything to the party, and they can just take. If they were truly brilliant places to work people wouldn’t relax because they’d be too busy and excited.
I don’t relax (in the manner that you described).
I’m more like what Rick described.
that’s probably why I’m in my third agency in 15 years experience.
but…
does this mean that I’m doing it right or that I simply can’t sell myself?
Cat,
I recognise a lot of what you’re saying.
In my first job I made friends with a freelance writer. He never wanted a permanent role because he thought it would make him complacent.
Every agency he worked for got the best out of him. If they didn’t, he figured they wouldn’t ask him back.
I learnt to hold a similar attitude. Never take anything for granted. Prove yourself on every brief, every day.
You’re right though. You can feel like a caged bird.
But I genuinely think that it’s a creative’s job to make silk purses out of sows’ ears.
Most people, given the time, the inspiration and the brief, could come up with a good ad (I reckon).
If you want someone to pay you to do that for a living - one of the most stimulating, enjoyable, rewarding and safest jobs in the world - then producing great ideas out of short deadlines, terrible briefs and uninspiring environments needs to be your skill.
Ultimately, you need to think beyond your current agency environment.
You won’t be there forever.
When you move, will you promote yourself as a product of this flawed, energy-sapping environment?
Or as the creative talent it couldn’t contain?
[Captcha offers excellent advice: "the" and "bourbon"]
Speak for yourself
You’re right Rick. I certainly won’t be there forever, and I’ll focus on the positives when speaking to future agencies. You’re friend had a great attitude which I can learn from, but realistically I couldn’t play out my career like that. I wish I had the balls, but I haven’t!
I just didn’t feel it was fair in the original post to effectively say creatives ‘got lazy’. I think there’s more to it than that, and people are cleverer than that. I don’t copy seniors when they appear ‘relaxed’. I judge myself by my own standards. Plus I have learnt from previous experience that people aren’t what they seem anyway. That girl leaving off early is probably going home to work on a brief all night and pip you to the post tomorrow - I wouldn’t fall into that trap.
I felt the post reinforces the stereotype that creatives are pretentious, and swan around making out they do more than they really do - and I think that hit a nerve. That’s not true of us all. We don’t all slack off the minute we can. Some of us have integrity and take pride in our work. I work harder now than when I got the job - sifting through tedious amends and constantly fighting for good briefs is much tougher than slapping your dream campaign into your book and shoving it under a CD’s nose. It might not look tougher, you may not look enthusiastic - but it’s hard, and you leave on time because you’re brain dead by the end of it.
But then again, I’ve been in my first job a few years and haven’t been fired, so maybe they can see I’ve still got energy even if I can’t always use it as I’d like.
Ha, ha, I got ‘frayed’ ‘because’. Spot on.
after getting fired once (right before xmas, nice) i read an article in the New Yorker the gist of which was “never fall in love with the company because they never fall in love with you”. it made a big impact on me. and made me realize that as creatives we are essentially self-employed, whether we realize it or not. and that our job is essentially to ensure we are marketable at all times. and to never drink the proverbial corporate kool-aid.
Hi Dave, I started work for an Art Director named Terry Rye from Alexander Butterfields. He was as meticulous an Art Director as you could get. During the day, I’d work in an Art Studio as a visualiser (for those of you who have never heard of that, it’s someone who hand-draws ads on paper without the aid of a computer). It gave me a passion for my work. Every ad was treated like a work of art because each ad was a one-off original. If you mis-spelt something with a white paint brush, or used the wrong marker by accident, hours of valuable work were totally destroyed, and you’d just have to start all over again, sometimes around the clock. It was a hard lesson to learn, but it still is a brilliant experience to own, and I’m glad I went through it, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Years later at Saatchi’s I worked with Mark Fretten, he’s a successful CD in Australia now.
I told our Group Head I needed a new writer because the one I worked with had become lazy, so I was teamed-up with Mark. One day at Saatchis, Mark and I got a straight brief for some local press ads for the Army. The main campaign had created an exciting awareness, but nobody was recruiting. In a week we wrote tons of small space ads after our regular day’s work when all the other guys had gone home. We produced 38 ads.
The client was knocked-out, and so were we when we won a Regional Press Ad of the Year Award. Awards don’t grow on trees, they come quite rightly from pulling your finger out and going beyond what is required.
It taught me to look at everything in a certain way whether it’s advertising, digging drains around the front garden, or cycling London Paris for the Royal British Legion Charity:
Die of exhaustion not boredom. ( I know you love that phrase! )
how many bands make a fantastic first record but fail to maintain the momentum - not bad, or wrong, but definitely missing something from the original. Not always, but quite often.
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-109110.html
Lost count how many times I’ve been fired/retrenched. But it gets harder because these days, many CDs want to see digital work in the book. And there’s not much of that going around. Even the CDs who want to see digital work haven’t done much for themselves or their agency. And it isn’t, I think, always about how hard we work, but what we spend our energy and time on.
I agree with Vinny’s comment above.
Not just from an employee’s standpoint, but also from an employer’s.
Personally I’m uncomfortable with the emotional-blackmail side of relationahips.
“I stayed true to you, so you should stay true to me.”
I think everyone should act in their own best interest.
That keeps it all honest and open.
I encourage creatives to use the agency as a stepping-stone.
You want to get famous by doing a lot of great work in a hurry? That’s great, that’ll work for us.
So you use us, and we’ll use you.
Then you don’t have to worry about holding onto the job, I have to worry about holding onto you.
It only doesn’t work if we don’t want the same things.
But that’s true of any relationship.
It goes wrong when we pretend we want the same things just to keep the relationship going.
The secret to not getting fired is to look for your second job before you get fired from the first one. You’re not just doing yourself a favour, you’re doing your boss a favour.
Because relaxation goes hand-in-hand with complacency. It sets in after you achieve something that shows everyone you work with that you can bring it. With one less thing to prove, you become less hungry.
So the minute you start to relax, it’s time for a fresh start. Nothing quite awakens that inner-energy like the need to prove you belong all over again.
Sadly, few individuals have your courage, Dave. So they try to enhance their value by ‘loving the agency’ - turning a blind eye or two the faults of the employer.
Employers, on the other hand, tend to be too busy worrying about other things. Talent might be assets but the common thinking is, assets can be bought - a lesson learnt from many EPL FCs.
Not forgetting some crazy agencies like Manage By Fear. One famous MD loved to do that, believing that nothing like nervousness inspired better performance.
Whatever happened to “a good ad a day, keeps the sack away”?
In your first job you have no history.
In your second job you have a past and a future.
That makes a difference.
I struggled in the beginning because I did a great job for crap clients.
So agencies would give me their worst clients but did not have the foresight to realise if I could do this with crap, imagine what I could do with a grreat client, so I had to prove myself. Some agencies were great at this. Saatchis was. They gave you the opportunity to do your best, or even better, better than the best.
It’s all about attitude, but not just from the staff.If you work with a great Creative Director, that greatness will rub-off on you, of that I have no doubt.
There was a book called 100 Great Advertisements. I read it again and again and again.
It was probably the first book to give an insight into the mind of the CD. How he or she works, what they think, how they think, what turns them on, and what turns them off.
The important thing for me, whether I’m working or not is never to give up hope, faith, or belief that one day things will get better. Barak Obama took a massive step to kick start the American Economy yesterday. I hope it suceeds because it will throw essential seedlings to the ground to encourage growth for small local and global brilliant businesses. It will destroy the weak and encourage the strong. As Warren Buffet says: ‘You can’t see who has been swimming naked til the tide runs out, and Obama has just pulled the plug out of the bath.
Steve,
That’s excellent advice.
Having interviews lets you know what’s going on at other agencies, not just what you imagine.
Often I would have interviews, find out other jobs weren’t as good as the one I had, and come back re-energised and happier.
In July I will be stepping out into the world of advertising, and hopefully be getting my first placements/jobs. Recently at my university we had a talk from Alex Taylor, which in itself was rare opportunity, and she said something that along with this blog that I will never forget; ‘don’t seek praise, seek criticism,’ this is something I hope I never forget to do.
If you found out your people were interviewing, what would your reaction be, Dave? Talking about good workers here, not crap and lazy slackers. Some CDs would increase the potential departing employee’s pay. Others would, out of pride, fire or torpedo the chances of the guy planning. When my boss found out I was going to attend the D&AD Workshop years back, he told me, \I think you should leave now\. He also accused me of worshipping Abbott, Hegarty and Trott. Which wasn’t false. Guess that made the pill harder to swallow. For him.
Thanks for that Dave,
I’ve just re-read Steve’s comment.
It reminds me where I am right now.
Work In Progress.
Hi Emma,
Alex Taylor is brilliant. She used to be my boss. She would tell me “Keep Going”. Those two words encouraged me to keep going when I thought I’d exhausted every avenue. They pushed me to dig deeper, break the pain barrier, and then some. That’s how great work is achieved. That’s why Paul Arden used to say: “There’s no such thing as a bad client”. It was to inspire creatives to get up and walk after they had been beaten to the ground. To champion the day. To win, and beat the client. When you’ve beaten the client, there’s no bad client any more. They have to say “Yes.”
Robi-
Have you got any advice for me… I’m applying for those workshops this year, and I’m worried that if I get on I may get a similar reaction from my boss.
Also, what time did the workshops start in your day? I have the added problem that I’m outside of London and may even have to ask if I can leave early on a Friday to get there.
Also, how much time did you need to spend working on course-related stuff between the workshops? I’m at work all hours as it is, so again I may get a bad reaction if I leave on time during the week to spend the evenings prepping.
I’m gonna get sacked, ain’t I….
Captcha - ’saltier force’.
Creative directors get energy fluctuations too … I was once interviewed by a CD who raved about his agency’s creative philosophy like it was the only way to greatness. By the time I’d worked my notice and joined the place, he was already working somewhere else.
One of my dad’s maxims was, ‘If you get knocked down, get up straight away. That way you will strike fear into your opponent.’ Pretty much works every time. The only time I kinda came unstuck with it was when, as a goalkeeper, I took a whack on my ankle. Immediately got up to say to the forward that you aren’t going to intimidate me matey ‘cept I didn’t know at the time that he had broken my ankle in two places and I duly fell back to the paddock. Swap ’strike fear’ for impress and ‘opponent’ for cd or client.
None of any advice is infallible it’s just a belief system to use as a set of guidelines. I say be positive at all times as best you can. If you can be positive in the face of adversity then so much the better. You will win more battles than you lose…and ultimately win the war…and if you don’t at least you will die trying. And that my friends is what it’s all about. Never stop trying.
Yay! John w. Don’t give up the fight.
Hallo Cat, Thanks but not sure any advice I give will be of much help as it could be very outdated. I did the D&AD thing more than 15 years ago. The only helpful thing is I was not from London or even Europe. I was in Asia and my Creative Director, an Englishman, fired me because he felt I was putting too much weight on British advertising. Weird I know - he got his job in Singapore because he had sold his British advertising experience. My art director, a Spaniard, worked for a very nasty leather shop in Oxford Circus. We met to work after office hours and on weekends. I don’t think you have to leave on time for classes (but I was on time because I wasn’t working). Hope this helps. If you have any personal questions, please email me at vvc…@homail.com But tell me what your email is or say on this site you’ve emailed me. I get a lot of junk soI might miss your e.
Thanks Robi, that’s really helpful.
I think I’ll go for it in that case, if you got there from Asia I’m sure I’ll find a way! It’s the same old problem with CDs - double standards. They get annoyed if you pursue opportunities outside thier agency, yet you’re looked upon as ‘lazy’ if you’re not constantly seeking opportunities. It’s like they want you to be interested and applying for loads of things, but they don’t actually want you to make a success of it!
I’ll probably email you with more if I get on the course -they haven’t actually sent the brief yet, and will then be a few weeks before I find out if i’m on. I shouldn’t get too excited, I think only 80 people got a place out of over 1000 applicants in previous years.
Wish me luck!
Hi Robi,
Thanks a lot for offering to help Cat out, that’s very good of you.
And Cat, good luck.
Succinctly put Rachel. You must be a copywriter!
We all need to be a little like the black knight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4
Like you John, she’s a Manc.
Don’t mess.
Thanks for the heads up Dave but where would we get without ruffling a few feathers from time to time.
Thanks Dave. Nothing compared to the guidance, patience and kindness Brit admen gave me 20 years ago. You guys showed me passion for our trade is not just about winning awards. Cat: my brief was set by Julian and Sam. I paid my 100 quid for the course. Jules (being Jules) challenged D&AD asking why they should get the 100 quid. After all, it was the agencies that were doing the teaching. His brief was ‘do a campaign convincing D&AD to drop the fees. All work to be faxed to D&AD at Graphite House’. The fax was jammed and that was probably the last time Jules was asked to do a course. Agencies tend to prefer teams And since I had no art director, it was rather a bother. Maybe try your best get a partner. D&AD also compiles, I think the Workshop annuals so try to borrow them. Things tend to cost more in London, so bring what you need - Pentels, layout pads from home so you don’t have to pay more in London. And if you’re really desperate as I was, agency people tend to be quite generous in ‘lending’ layout pads. Lastly play the ‘not from London’ card to your advantage. When I rang agencies, I used to tell receptionists I was calling from overseas. The kind lasses, bless their hearts, put me through very quickly (to sve me costs) Of course, I was standing in a call box in Soho.
They were happy days and although I never got a job, I made wonderful friends. I just wished I could do it again. So, thanks DOugie Buntrock (Burnett’s), Dominic Lynch-Robinson (dorlands), Terry Webster (Dorlands), Grubbs, Tim ashton (HHCL), Julian Dyer (Publicis), David Ryland (O&M), Barry Fox (Bates), Fernando Sobron, Paul Delaney (FCB), Abbott (AMV), Alan Page (Harrari Page),Susie Henry, John Salmon (CDP), Malcolm Gaskin, Nick Worthington and John Gorse (BBH). All the very best Cat.
Sorry, Cat, forgot to add - Gwen Yip was a girl from Hong Kong who made it all the way to London. She’s in W+K now, I think. Check out her blog/site. She does great illustrations. Her English was a bit off but since she included Mandarin in her ad and I picked up some Chinese (from Soho) it was all a lark.
I apologise if anyone got offended when I said earlier …’at least you will die trying’.
That was a colloquialism and not meant literally. At the end of the day no one dies doing advertising…well not to my knowledge.
What I want to know is, how do you get your last job in advertising?
Hi Bob,
Paul Arden told me: Persist, persist, persist, and persist.
….what are your thoughts dt, that there are some companies (not all) that reward lazy, drinking, taking ideas that are someone elses and saying there are their own & general arse licking behaviour - its that behaviour that gets them up the corporate ladder
Hi Nic,
My opinion is totally pragmatic, you do what works for you.
Some people actually want a career “lazy, drinking, taking ideas that are someone elses and saying there are their own & general arse licking behaviour”.
They think they’re clever doing that.
Personally it doesn’t work for me.
It seems kind of a waste of the time we’re given on the planet.
And ultimately, they didn’t really fool anyone, even themselves.
But it may be that that’s the only way those p[eople can succeed.
Not everyone has the option to fulfil an exciting, potential
So, if that’s all you’re good for then, hey go for it.
do you ever not have a good answer for everything? nx
Bob,
No you don’t, not really.
Very true!
This is what I tried to explain to my son (Viq)…
hope he got the message
Going back to Bob Hoffman’s question, there is a serious point. How do you get your sixth, seventh or indeed last job in advertising. Creative departments are full of twenty and thirty somethings, but where do all the forty, fifty and sixty somethings go? Some become creative directors. Some become painters in small seaside villages, or authors. Some go client side. But what about the rest? The slightly older creative, who still wants to do great work, has plenty of experience and enthusiasm, but doesn’t fit into the mould of funky young creative.
I sometimes look around and worry that I might need to up my early retirement payment plan.
Hi Rant,
This is just my opinion but I think you’re asking the wrong question.
Just like doing ads the question isn’t “What does everyone seem to want, and what do I do if I haven’t got it?”
just like doing ads the question always is “What have I got that makes me different, and who wants it?”
Hi Dave
That’s good advice.
I guess it’s a case of knowing what you’re good at. Staying good at it, getting better at it. Then see who wants it, and keep learning.
However, it’s hard to deny that it’s a young man’s (or woman’s) game, and older creatives are thin on the ground.
I didn’t mean to be negative. It was as much of an observation as a question.
Hi Rant,
Me too, just making an observation.
Years ago, in the states, no one wanted small cars they all wanted big Cadillacs.
Until someone found a way to sell a small, ugly, German car.
I think it’s the same with us.
We have to find out what makes us different, instead of worrying about what we think everyone wants.
We all know you don’t have to be young to do good advertising.
Often the opposite in fact.
So this isn’t really a young man’s game, it’s just perceived that way.
And yet we all know age is actually as irrelevant as sex, race, class, or religion.
Dave, thanks for taking the time for the excellent advice.
When I turn into a small, ugly car I hope I can think of as interesting an angle as ‘Lemon’ to market myself.
Seriously, I am grateful, and will focus on what I believe makes me different to others.
I do think there is a place for people of all ages in creative departments, and all can bring something unique to the table.
As long as there is respect for the opinions of everybody, then the agency has a more rounded offering to draw upon.
Older creatives are thin on the ground and up top too.
Thinner up top, and wider down below unfortunately.
Although these days, it’s common even for younger people to be thin on top.
Reckon the problem with age/advertising is, through experience and constant rejection, the 40+ know the pain. Whereas the 20+ hasn’t been shot down so many times. So that makes the 20+ more willing to try anything. “Madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to be different.” Yet in advertising, even though the same thing is done over and over agin, the results can sometimes be different.
Robi
That’s kind of like how it is in love.
Ha, my captcha is: was nearer
How do you get your captcha to be so wise Dave?
Well spotted Kate.
Also, like in love, nobody owes anybody anything.
You should be there because you want to be, not because of any emotional blackmail.