Predator by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






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My 4 easy ways a rookie can penetrate a creative agency and get noticed.

The fact that I’ve been busy this past month is no excuse to ignore my responsibilities I know. But the truth is I’ve been busy learning how to use the gun…of course not that metal but the mental gun. Six months ago I was a rookie with STB McCann Lagos but now I can confidently say that the story has change. What brought about this was as a result of the conversation I had this morning with a new rookie my agency just recruited, she is frustrated and disappointed at the ways things are going. And this just got me thinking about how I started with STB McCann. I left M2 magazine (a marketing magazine) where I was working as a journalist to join this agency. Before then I had tried securing a job as a copywriter but I wasn’t fruitful. Back to why I’m blogging this, my new colleague said “Yetunde, I was given a three month probation, but I’ve not been given any assignment that will let me prove my ability, what can I do? Because am tired of coming and not doing anythi…” cut, that was it there, the same frustration I had when I got to this place. I believe in my creative abilities, I talked my way into begin put on probation but there was no assignment to test my abilities with when I got in. You know how frustrating and useless creative people can be when there is nothing to do. After a month of trying to understand how things work I took some funny steps and it has helped so far and it is just the advice I gave my colleague.

Talk to a senior colleague you can tap from

Trust me, that work wonders. When you’ve tried all you can and you are stuck, talk to someone who has the job experience as well as knows the agency’s philosophy better. They will be able to put you through in a more informal way, cause in a working environment nobody wants to officially take you through you’ve been taught in school. What I did was go out for a drink or two with some of my colleagues, while there we talk about life, work, experiences and expectations generally. I ask a question there and there and gradually my confidence boosted.

Take every shortcut you can

What I mean here is, be in their face as much as you can; go for creative, strategy meetings even when you are not part of the team working on that account. It may sound unreasonable and rude but I did lot of that in the early days… since I had nothing much to do. (I intruded on their meetings, and when they challenged me I simply say, “I just want to watch and learn”)While in such meetings I make few contributions and even though my ideas weren’t considered my voice was heard. A good plus I had too is - I could type faster, with that I was of use in such meetings.

Have a special skill

Other than what is obvious, be known for more. My agency doesn’t have an in-house photographer, so whenever there is a need for a visual representation of any sort I volunteered to go take the pictures because I have a photographic skill. My shots were journalist and just what they wanted. Without been schooled I deliver on brief. So, in meetings whenever I make comments or suggest an idea, the team listens to me. Gradually I was given some minor copies to write

Come up with a WOW Idea

And trust me when they are hooked you are in. plus, who works better on a wow idea if not the originator of that idea.….it’s not all the way for me yet but I’m definitely on track.

Mind you this may not be applicable everywhere because most agencies have their own peculiarities, but as a rookie trying to shoot a gun in impenetrable agencies I guess this can work…