The Job Search

Recently I was given an assignment for my portfolio class to research and contact agencies where I might be interested in working.  I asked for advice and insights into how to improve my portfolio and what it would be like to work there. I talked to some really friendly and helpful creative people and was given some really good advice. This is the paper that I turned in to my professor.

Breaking Through the Clutter

When it comes to getting hired, the word ‘daunting’ doesn’t really suffice. All our high school and college lives are filled with warnings about picking a career path and finding ourselves as soon as we can. We’re told over and over how terrible our odds are these days and how the job market sucks. And all of this is true. But I think the most important thing to do is this: Figure out who you are. Know who you are. Know what you stand for and know what you want. All the other stuff is just going to weigh you down. At least that’s what I’ve come to believe through my encounters thus far.

In the advertising world, everything we do is with the intent of breaking through the clutter. Being new and exciting and actually noticed by our audience. And that mindset needs to apply to our job search as well. It’s important to know who you are, because that’s how you’re going to sell yourself to potential employers. They don’t always have time to sit down with you and cup of coffee to have a heart to heart and really figure out who you are. In fact, in my experience, they barely have time to read the subject line of your email. So they just don’t. It’s a lot like consumers. They’re hustling and bustling and don’t have time to read your awesome novella about toothpaste on a sign en route to the subway. You’ve got just a few seconds to get them to read and comprehend your message. Just like how you’ve got just a few seconds to catch the eye of a potential future employer.

So I began with the basics on this assignment: what do employers look for, what do they like, what should be in my portfolio, yada yada. And I basically got the same info from everyone I talked to: show an eye for the details, make the copy clever and meaningful, have a good mix of work, have good insights, etc. All of this I’ve heard since day one at SCAD. I was kind of disappointed; surely there’s something else that sets the people they hire apart from the people they don’t. Is it really just “their kerning was a little better” and “that headline is brilliant”? Surely it’s not that shallow. Almost every adult in a “real world job” I’ve spoken to has said that they learned more in the first 6 months on the job than they ever did sitting in a classroom. To me, that means they showed potential—not expertise—in the interview. If they learned so much and improved so much in the first 6 months, surely they weren’t that amazing in the interview, right?

I know I’m not the best copywriter. For example, I love puns a little too much, and that’s essentially a slap-on-the-wrist offense in this industry. But I do know I’m extremely adaptable. And I know that I learn quickly—especially when I’m given the chance to do things on my own. Give me some parameters and demonstrate it for me and I’ll go do it. And I’ll ask questions. I want to learn to do it better. I will learn to do it better.

So how does someone like me—a non-expert, slightly unrefined newbie—compete with the person that the employers are apparently looking for—the person who did it all right already? Because according to everything I’ve heard about nailing an interview and getting a job, I’m kind of screwed. According to the portfolio-reviewers out there, everyone else is showing that they’ve already done it, and all this time I was hoping to prove that I am capable of doing it.

This is when some advice I received once came back to me: Know who you are, know what you stand for, and know what you want. Now despite sounding a little self-centered, I think it’s actually incredibly relevant and helpful advice. In advertising, when we work to sell or communicate something, there’s an important first step: find a single thing to focus on—an insight about the product or service or audience that makes it unique. That’s how you sell something; you set it apart from its competition. Everything else about the job search has been remarkably similar to the advertising process, so why wouldn’t this crucial element be as well? Well, it is. This is where knowing who you are comes in to play. Learn what makes you unique. That’s how you’re going to sell yourself. Just like that’s how you sell Crest instead of Colgate (back to the toothpaste novella).

So what if you examine your life and yourself, and you come to the conclusion that the only unique thing about you is that you like to eat soybeans with mustard? (That’s not me by the way—that sounds disgusting). But really, what if you don’t think you’re that unique? Or if you think you’re actually pretty boring? Because that’s kind of where I am right now. I feel like a boring individual who happens to be kinda good at a lot of things, but not excellent at anything, yet who learns new things quickly. Awesome. So now I’m back to square one. Right? My book doesn’t show evidence of an amazing copywriter, I can’t claim an amazing skill, and I don’t have years of experience backing me. So what can I claim?

Well, this is what I’ve decided: I can claim my personality. What is my personality? Well, I’m not sure I can really quantify it or label it, but I’m hoping that I can express it— at least a little. I’m thankful that I at least have a little skill in writing so that I can more easily communicate my personality in an email or cover letter to a recruiter or employer.  With all the advice and guidance I’ve received regarding it, I can’t deny the importance of my portfolio and evidence of some talent or skill. But there are thousands of other students vying for the same jobs as me, and I really don’t know what kind of chance I stand against them in terms of talent. Now all that I’ve said doesn’t mean that I’m not confident or proud of what I’ve done, but I know I’m not a pro.  I feel like I know my place and I know my odds. Probably the most appealing aspect of getting a job to me is knowing that I’ll have tons of new experiences and learn from some amazing people. Sure I want to write, and have a job and a paycheck, but ultimately I want to keep learning. I don’t want to sit in a classroom, I want to experience new things firsthand and learn from others. This is what I want to communicate to potential employers. I want them to yes, see my book and be impressed, but also I want them to see my personality and my desire to be a sponge and learn from them.

Probably the most important thing I learned from this assignment is that you need to fight for a chance to talk. Because a catchy email subject line and a pretty design can only get you so far and don’t always tell who you are. After calling and emailing and calling again and finally reaching someone, I now have people waiting to see my finished portfolio. Once I finally reached a person and respected them and their company by naming them as a place I want to learn from, they finally gave some interest in me. The questions began to not only come from me, but from them, because suddenly they wanted to know more about me. I’m going to do the best that I can on my portfolio and on the work that’s in it, but I’m not going to let that define me. I went from my first day as an advertising student walking in to Creative Copywriting thinking I was going to be learning about copyright laws because I didn’t even know what copy was, to a full time copywriting job offer at a really awesome agency, in about a year. I want my ambition and willingness to learn and grow be what defines me, and hopefully what gets me hired. Any potential employee like me can find the best synonym or write a great headline, so I hope to set myself apart by continuing to be a sponge. But I know that I can want to learn from an agency more than I’ve wanted to learn how to do anything else in my life and still not get hired. And that’s where the initiative comes in. I’ve learned that initiative goes a long way and shows a lot about you, and it’s crucial in the job search. How will anyone know you exist if you don’t first reach out to them? I’ve learned that it’s imperative to make that initial connection.  I can make a book that’s practically sparkling it’s so amazing, and I can be the most interesting person in the world, but without taking the initiative and contacting them, they’d never know I even existed. I’ve learned that people are impressed when you call because you want to know about the place they work, and I’ve learned that they want to hire people that will be excited about working there. I’ve been told that asking a lot of questions about what it’s like to work there indicates you might be a passionate employee someday. So in my job search, I intend to keep asking. To keep learning. To persist and prove that I’d be a passionate employee. To prove that I’m worth the potential risk of not being as good a copywriter as the next applicant. Because I know who I am and I know what I’m capable of, and I believe the job search is really just about finding someone else to believe in you too.