Blog - The Great and The Good

Graduating soon? Get advice to help you stand out for your dream job from recruitment experts David Love at The Great & The Good and Ross Brander of Brandgaard Recruitment. As we approach the summer holiday season, university students are completing exams and looking ahead at what to do next. For most final year students this inevitably involves entering the world of work. And it’s no surprise that at this time of year we recruiters are often contacted by recent graduates eager to take their first steps into a career in marketing. Far too often, however, we see junior candidates falling into careers that neither match their expectations nor play to their strengths. Typically, this comes down to a lack of knowledge of the marketing world and the breadth of roles on offer. Brandgaard and The Great & The Good recently teamed up with St Mary’s University in Twickenham to give students advice on how to break into (and build a career in) marketing. Joined by representatives from Virgin and Karmarama, we were able to bring real life examples of how people had launched themselves into the industry and built successful careers. What we found, however, was that much of the advice was equally relevant no matter what stage of your career you’re at: 1. Know the market Probably the biggest mistake we see is people who start out in the wrong role and then have difficulty changing at a later date. Are you better suited to in-house or agency roles (or in-house agencies)? Business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C)? Campaign management or strategy? Creative or media? Adaptation or origination? Production or creation? An understanding of the kind of work you want to be doing can help to make progression as smooth as possible. Whilst no move is impossible, an understanding of the kind of work you want to be doing (and what a common career path looks like) can help to make progression as smooth as possible. However, what was also clear from the panel was the sheer breadth of marketing careers. Whether it is in-house or in an agency, the variety of different roles available (often with similar titles) means that knowing which path would best suit you can be incredibly tricky. Adding in the constant addition of new skillsets plus the evolution of the client/agency relationship can lead to a nigh-on impossible task of judging what even the next five years looks like. Get out there and experience life in a marketing role before you embark on a career. The panel agreed, therefore, that the best way to get to know the industry is to work in it. For an audience of students, the overwhelming advice was to get out there and experience life in a marketing role before you embark on a career. Even a couple of weeks during university holidays or after exams have finished can give you exposure to the breadth of marketing roles and therefore the beginnings of an idea of what your ideal job may be. Just as importantly, this time can also show you the jobs you don’t want. If you’ve already come to the end of your studies (or haven’t taken the university route), the next best alternative is to look for a generalist role as your first position. Whether this is a wide-reaching in-house role or a position in a new-breed agency with broad capabilities, this wide exposure should prevent too many doors from being harder to open further down the line. 2. Your CV Despite the rise of LinkedIn, at present your CV is typically still the first chance you have to advertise yourself to a recruiter, HR or a hiring manager. Not only do you have the chance to show off your experience but also to exhibit some of your personality. For many roles (especially generalist positions at an entry level), literally hundreds of applications are typically received. Perhaps it is unsurprising therefore that research shows that the average time taken to read a CV is around six seconds. The purpose of a CV is not to get you the job; just to get you to the next round of the application process. In this (very short amount of) time, you need to ensure that the reader is interested enough to take your application to the next stage. The purpose of a CV is not to get you the job; just to get you to the next round of the application process. It is crucial that you know what a typical CV looks like for the roles you are applying for. The whole question of CV length, photos, what information to include and so forth varies from industry to industry and even role to role. For example, compare the CVs of a creative from an agency with one from an in-house role. What is consistent, however, is that your CV should be clear, concise and easy to understand. In those six seconds, you need to grab the reader’s attention for the right reasons and not because your CV is made up of long blocks of grey text with multiple typos. 3. Social media Whilst the CV has not yet been replaced by social media, digital channels have become an important way to both find new roles and to be found. Job applicants should therefore definitely have an online presence. A 2017 study of US HR professionals found that the biggest turnoff was not being able to find the candidate on social media, leaving them wondering if they’re hiding or just have nothing to say? Just as bad, however, is being overly controversial or political. Whilst the level of professionalism varies between social media channels, perhaps keep the photos of your big nights out and your views on Brexit to private WhatsApp groups. Using social media as a job hunting tool is increasingly popular – whether to find roles or to gain insights into the companies or brands that interest you. But don’t just follow the brands (and any key people within them) - engage with them as well. When it comes to LinkedIn specifically, there are a few tips which anybody applying for a role should definitely follow: Make sure your LinkedIn profile and CV match: This is one of hiring managers’ biggest bugbears. At best, differing dates or job titles suggest a lack of attention to detail. However, they can also hint that the profile or CV has been doctored to hide something. Nobody wants their first impression to be that they are not being completely honest. Use a professional-looking photo: No need for an expensive headshot but also not one of you doing shots. Make sure you make it very clear that you are looking for a new role: Definitely activate the ‘open to opportunities’ functionality (it brings you higher up the rankings when recruiters are searching for candidates) but also change your LinkedIn headline (the bit that appears under your name) to show what you are looking for. It helps with keyword searches. 4. Interviews To let you into an unspoken secret, you probably won’t get the first job you interview for but practise does make you a lot better. Whilst the concept of interviews can be unnerving, the best are a relaxed conversation with both sides finding out more about the other. So how do you make sure you ace it? Put simply, prepare, prepare and prepare some more. The more prepared you are, the more relaxed you’ll be and the more the conversation will flow. Know your CV inside out and back to front then practise interviewing with somebody more experienced to identify trickier questions. Use social media to check out the company’s recent news but also have a look on Glassdoor as there are often interview pointers added by previous candidates. And make sure you have connected with the interviewer on social media so you know their career. Remember, the interviewer wants to hire somebody just as much as you want the role. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions beforehand. A good recruiter should be able to tell you if the office is hard to find or the interviewer likes people to send a thank you email but it’s better to double check the dress code than it is to turn up over- or under-dressed. Most importantly, remember the interviewer wants to hire somebody just as much as you want the role. What is it that appeals about the company and the job? What will you bring to the team that makes you stand out? Armed with this advice, we hope that you’ll quickly get your feet on the marketing career ladder. It can be a tough process but always remember that there are lots of people who want to help you, everyone starts somewhere and with tenacity you will make it. This article is adapted from https://t.co/gD9wUbIMuL.

Campaign50: The future of advertising careers As part of Campaign's 50th birthday celebrations, our Founding Partner, Emma Love, was asked to predict how the industry will change in the next 50 years, and how we will keep up... This article was originally published in Campaign. 50 years ago, as Campaign was going to press for the first time, my parents were planning their wedding. Things were rather different back then. Once married, my mother gave up work and – like many of her friends – never really returned. Of course, mum had the full time (and totally unpaid) role of raising children and absolutely supporting dad’s career for almost 40 years. In truth, my father’s profession defined us as a family. That was the ‘60s. The time of industry legends like Ogilvy and Bernbach; the ‘golden era’ of advertising, fuelled by the rise of mass consumerism, youth culture and disposable income. A decade that brought with it incredible societal changes that are impacting our lives today: important reform around abortion, divorce and homosexuality; the pill was introduced; 850 women in Dagenham went on strike for equal pay. The decade came to an epic close, with the world watching the first steps on the moon. Even with all of that excitement of the 1960s, nobody could have predicted how far society would have moved on today. We live in a world of constant change. Turn on the news and it’s easy to be pretty baffled – frightened, even - about the outlook: the environment, Brexit, house prices, Trump. Advertising and creativity is completely dead of course. And the robots will take all our jobs. Run. Run for the hills! Calm down, dear. Creative thinking is hardwired into our DNA and will remain as important as it was 50 years ago. The same with technology. And automation. In 50 years’ time there will still be goods, products and services that need selling. Meh, maybe we’ll call it advertising, maybe we won’t (we will). There will still be jobs. Some will be the same. Many will be new. I find it heartening to remember that Britain’s creative industry (including advertising), plays a crucial part of the future economy and is something we should be very proud of. It employs 2 million people, is worth over £90 billion and the industry is growing twice as fast as the economy as a whole. The Creative Industries Sector Deal announced in March this year is a strong statement of intent that focuses on investment across innovation, STEM education and cutting-edge tech. So what of the future? "We cannot underestimate how much the creative agency landscape has changed over the past five years" darkly whispered a big dawg CSO I work with. And it’s true. The production model, in-house model, business transformation consultancies and brand hubs have all been happily (*buzz word alert*) disrupting the status quo haven’t they. Well, good! We can’t just stand still, can we? Let’s crack on and see where it leads us. And the future of careers? Well, when it comes to this, we’re really talking about life. My life. Your life. Whilst there’s really no crystal ball here, we can consider a few current themes and mull over what they might mean. Brexit Might as well get this one over and done with first . So far, Danny Dyer is seemingly the only person in Britain able to cut through the Brexit bluster, Jaguar Land Rover has threatened to leave the UK (I’ll call that Jexit), Theresa May is suddenly our dancing queen and the government is less coherent than my toddler. What we do know is that Brexit - AKA whatthefuckisgoingon - is driving business uncertainty, which in turn affects the job market from the top down. That said, we’ve got over significant bumps in the road before: whatever happens, we will get over this one. My mum tells me "life goes on" whenever things don’t go to plan. She’s right. What about diversity? Current entry routes into the industry are tight, particularly given the current economic climate. Snowflakes? Are you kidding? Icicles trying to climb a mountain, more like. Give them a break! It’s up to all of us to shape the industry we want in the future and we must all consider - today - how we are sending the lift down, how often and to whom. Assuming we want a best-in-class industry that reflects our society, we must be more inclusive and work harder to welcome a richer spread of individuals to the fold. What is your company doing to nurture an inclusive culture? In 50 years’ time, if we get entry routes into the industry right, it will be more inclusive throughout and pay gaps should be less stark than they are now. And working parents? Whilst there is a pretty robust male:female ratio overall, there is still a clear talent drain of working mums, and worrying inflexibility towards working dads. For an industry that has spent decades appealing so heavily to youth audiences and parent pockets, isn’t it just so odd that many company cultures have been so unwelcoming of people who actually have children? Thankfully, whilst there is work to be done, we are going in the right direction as flexible hours are becoming normalised – for dads, as well as mums (and indeed for anyone who is a carer). Companies will need to continuously think about their corporate culture, and what community they are building. Does your company, for example, have clear parental leave policies in place (or is it still something negotiated on the dreaded ‘case by case’ basis)? Are parents in your company able to go to school sports day and Christmas concerts without taking a whole day’s leave? Can they easily work from home when a dependent is unwell without colleagues rolling their eyes? This is not special treatment; it’s a positive way society can behave, and a mature way of building employer / employee trust. If your company is doing this already, great. If not, why on earth not? We’ll be working longer, right? Absolutely. In 50 years’ time there will be way more over 50s than there are children in the UK. This is a massive societal shift. Do you want to be doing what you’re doing now, forever? Hell no? Non-linear career paths and career switches will become more normal. But, for now, think about how you perceive age. When you look at a CV, do you instantly scroll to the back page to ascertain the applicant’s age? Are you instantly disregarding people based on their abundance of experience? Do hiring managers in your company only ever hire people younger than themselves? And think about this: with fewer young people entering the workforce, companies will need to develop stronger L&D strategies to help their existing employees keep up with the pace of change. Hopefully scrapheaping will be a thing of the past. Of course, keeping up with the new is a challenge for us all – personal and corporate. Every day is a school day: keep learning. And for gawdsake don’t put off your retirement planning. Will we move jobs all the time? That’s up to you. People are indeed moving jobs faster than ever before and our relationship with our employers is changing. The term ‘gig economy’ can make it sound like career nirvana is just around the corner: you can choose your hours, earn bags of money, skip from one gig to another and be totally #winning the life/career merry-go-round. The point is to stick to your path and – if you are choosing to move jobs – do so when it is right for you, not because ‘everyone says’ you should move companies every 12-18 months. Employers highly value attributes such as adaptability, pragmatism and resilience: the more senior you get, the more they will seek out those qualities. In return, you should expect a decent suite of grown-up benefits and play by grown-up rules. And we’ll all work remotely from the beach, yes? Tech will continue to enable us to work effectively away from the office. It can (quite literally) be a breath of fresh air and we can only predict this gathering pace. That said, I doubt we’ll all completely forgo working in an office environment. Businesses are a community of people, after all. The happier the individuals are, the better the community works as a whole. Being together will continue to be part of that...just not necessarily parked at a desk for nine hours a day with a hellish peak time commute either side. With that said, do try to switch off. Put your phone down. Stop checking your emails late into the night. Unless of course you are actually on the beach and working to a different time zone. So where will we be in 2068? I’d hope: looking at a diverse pool of talented people working in the vibrant, globally respected creative industry that I have adored since I was a teenager. Mainly though, I hope we will all have followed our own path in life and remembered the most important things: family, friends and community. As that’s probably all I’ll remember when I’m 90. In the meantime, we’ll raise a glass to say Happy 50th, Campaign. And happy golden anniversary, Elizabeth and John. Love you guys.