For a while now I’ve had my heart set on becoming an Adman.
Grad schemes seemed the way of getting in.
So between October and January I sent off about 6-7 applications.
I got four first round interviews.
I proceeded to three final assessment days.
At the end of those assessment days was a mock pitch.
Twice my group won the pitch and were rewarded with champagne.
Twice I was told that I came within touching distance of the job.
Feedback: “nothing to improve”.
Finally, my persistence paid off.
I was offered a job at CHI & Partners.
I am chuffed to bits.
It’s not been easy.
But as Machiavelli said “The end justifies the means”
The last six months have been some of the most challenging of my life.
Sometimes applying felt like a full time job.
Not ideal, when I was also working 40 hours a week at Ted Baker.
Which, while I enjoyed working there, wasn’t exactly stimulating.
Or inspiring.
Or particularly useful.
I mean Ted Baker don’t even advertise.
So it was hard to stay motivated.
Hard to concentrate on applying in my spare time.
However, I feel that it was more rewarding this way.
There are a few things that I picked up from my experiences.
Some negative, mostly positive.
Word to the wise: Don’t check your email 5 minutes before an interview.
I was foolish enough to do this before my JWT first round.
The email said M&C weren’t calling me back.
Needles to say I entered the interview in the worst of mindsets.
It was hard to resist letting desperation replace eagerness.
I came out of it with the lowest of expectations.
But I needn’t have worried.
JWT gave me a call back.
And I learnt a lesson about the unpredictability of subjectivity.
Don’t write something off before the interviewer’s ink has dried.
Most people wouldn’t ask for feedback from a successful interview.
When sometimes learning what you did right is as important as criticism.
I didn’t ask.
So I’m not sure what I did right that got me through that JWT interview.
However, I approached each interview with two main goals in mind.
And I think I must have nailed one of them to have got through.
The first one is pretty obvious.
Prove you have what it takes to do the role you’ve applied for.
In the case of a graduate role, show you have potential.
Prove to them that you have a fascination with advertising.
With trends.
With strategy.
With culture.
With consumers.
Know what you’re talking about.
If you don’t know what they’re talking about, admit it.
They can’t fault you for being curious.
Prove that you’re right for their industry.
The second goal is passing what I call “the train delay test.”
Prove that were you stuck on a train for three hours, they wouldn’t get bored of you.
It just reminded me to be myself and relax.
In most cases they’d relax too.
Turning the interview into a conversation.
I put these two processes to work in most of my interviews.
Apart from my first, at M&C Saatchi.
I didn’t get a call back from them, but did from all the others.
Assessment days were the most rewarding aspects of the process.
The three I attended were at JWT, CHI & Partners and Elvis.
All made me more eager to work for the respective agencies.
All were demanding, but reassuringly formulaic.
I’d recommend applying to these agencies.
JWT assessment was the most demanding by far.
Two days of talks, group work and interviews.
Culminating in a mock brief and 18 hours to come up with a pitch.
- complete with insight, strategy and creative.
Someone likened the experience to ‘The Apprentice’.
It could easily have been as daunting as that.
But the people at JWT set me at ease.
From the drinks in the bar to the lovely dinner.
(Which “wasn’t part of the interview,” but which definitely was)
From the hotel accommodation to the snacks.
As we were selling ourselves to them.
They were selling JWT to us.
I’ll admit I was sold.
Elvis also set me at ease from the start.
It was the first time they had held an assessment day.
You wouldn’t have guessed.
It was a really enjoyable day.
Followed by a chatty dinner and some screeching karaoke.
As had happened at JWT, my group won the mock pitch task again.
In both cases I got a bottle of champagne for my efforts.
In both cases I didn’t get the job.
After JWT I had named it the ‘champagne curse.’
I was prepared by the time I heard from Elvis.
It was a witty excuse to have.
But it taught me something.
Just as you shouldn’t write off a bad interview.
You shouldn’t get your hopes up either.
Chris D’Sylva, a guy who took it upon himself to mentor me.
(along with many others to whom I’m indebted)*
Taught me that along with creativity, curiosity and confidence.
The best thing for someone to have is humility.
I now know why this is such positive attribute.
If I had been headstrong these rejections might have crushed me.
I’ll admit I was disappointed.
Getting so close and missing at the final hurdle.
It was harder, when I was told there was not much I could improve.
“No criticism we can give you.”
All that effort and do you have anything to show for it?
Because the sad truth is that you don’t.
Apart from the bitter taste of champagne.
But I realised that while I hadn’t got the job, someone else had.
Probably equally as good as myself, or better.
I’d met them myself.
I knew how good they were – I’d studied them - they were my competition.
And they’d beaten me this time.
It meant that this time subjectivity had not dealt in my favour.
Humility is admitting that, especially at my age, you can’t win them all.
But getting so far meant something.
I knew I belonged in the industry.
This belief galvanised me.
I knew that, just as I’d lost out.
The roles could easily have been reversed.
If I kept at it then it would eventually go my way.
I made no secret of this when I went for my final CHI & Partners interview.
It was not a desperate plea for sympathy.
I made sure it wasn’t received that way.
While I couldn’t put “I got to two assessment days” on my CV.
I could now tell them with greater conviction that I knew I belonged in the industry.
That I knew I belonged at CHI.
And I got the job.
It’s a first step in the advertising industry.
And I’ve still to prove I’m any good.
But when I start in mid April, I’ll be grateful to be there.
More grateful than I would have been had I walked into a job on my first attempt.
Because I know how hard I worked for it.
I know the bitterness of rejection.
And I won’t take it for granted.
I hope others can take heart from this.
Everyone out there that didn’t make it first, second, third time.
That fell at the final hurdle.
Because if you got that far, you know you belong.
And if you hold on to that knowledge, it will happen.
*Can’t thank these lovely people enough.
My ad 'fairy godmother', Liz Nottingham.
My ad 'aunt', Karen Cooper.
My inspirational and frustratingly brilliant planner cousin, Dylan Viner.
My mad genius Oz mentor, Chris D’Sylva.
Neil Francis, Sara Stoneham and all the other people that have given me advice & motivation over cups of coffee.
Christian et al., at CHI & Partners for giving me a job!
JWT, Elvis and M&C for letting me get as far as I did.
Oh and also Dave Trott – indirectly.
His inspirational blogging and book ‘Creative Mischief’ kept me motivated during lunch breaks while I was working at Ted and inspired the layout of this blog post.
This final one isn't an actual advert, but creative team Adam + Dan's parody of the Kit Kat - "cross your fingers" campaign. I think it nicely echoes the current public sentiment.
