Great Online Primer

Check out this very cool website from Aquent. At first you don't really know what it is. The design is black and white, kind of template-y. But once you start clicking, you see that is a primer about the online space. Definitions of interactive components and a (very cool) list of what jobs you'd need to create it.

It's the best primer I have ever seen to explain what people getting into the industry might really want to know about career possibilities. (Not to mention how super smart a staffing agency was to create something like this).

Here's a sample of the information Aquent provides.
Interactive Design:
Interactive Design is the process by which an idea is nurtured and cultivated to become a truly awesome online experience. Any experience, from a Web app to a full site, depends on it. The key to this winning formula is equal parts beauty, functionality and practicality, built on a solid layer of code to make it accessible and engaging.

You’ll need:

Interactive Designer
Interactive Designers are masters of the balance between form and function. They can design user interfaces that engage (and retain) visitors. They know what the latest tech can do, and they utilize every last drop of designer-y goodness to deliver an experience that is both easy to use and totally gorgeous.

Front End Developer
Front End Developers are the folks behind the curtain, utilizing the latest Web development standards and solid hands-on technical skills to create sites that function properly across a wide variety of browsers and platforms. They connect with Quality Control to ensure flawless execution. They make it work.

Interactive Copywriter
Interactive Copywriters are a rare breed of Copywriter. In addition to being funny, modest and gorgeous, they understand the intricacies of writing for the online world. They know how to write something as simple as a killer tagline, or as complex as an entire blogs worth of content. Quite useful, indeed.

Project Manager
Project Managers are the baking powder for your Interactive cake: you need one if it's going to rise. They coordinate the details of design and development, working directly with clients and resources to ensure on-time delivery. They also handle budget and staff management, taking even more off your plate.

User Experience
Developing fantastic user experience (UX) requires: user research, interaction design, information architecture, visual design, and usability testing. UX covers all of these, so your website or application is engaging and intuitive (oh and best of all increases sales, better conversion, and more).

Brilliant.

Lemonade

I've never been laid off which, in advertising, is rare. Watching Lemonade, a short documentary about being laid off from a job in advertising, made me feel two conflicting emotions: depression and inspiration.

Depression first. I am the person doing those layoffs. Big fat ugh. I'm the one saying, "Can you come into my office for a minute?" knowing full well I am about to let the person go. Seeing how that feels from the other side hits a chord and not a fun one.

Then inspiration. Suddenly I want to be laid off. All this talk about finding your true self and living to your fullest is heartwarming. We all have a grander purpose in life beyond our jobs in advertising. I loved seeing people go after it. Very jealous.

Have a watch.

Just plain cool

Small Tip

When a creative mails in a portfolio to our agency, it gets routed to me. Even when it is addressed to someone else, it will make it's way to my desk. A creative manager is the person who filters the candidates before anyone else sees them. So anything even remotely creative-related comes my way.

The other day a candidate mailed me a portfolio packet. A day later another copy of that same packet was left on my desk by the HR Director who was so kindly forwarding me the creative's work. Couple days later another copy of that same packet was left on my desk by a creative director who was so kindly forwarding me the creative's work. Kid you not, a day after that, another copy was left on my desk by another creative director who was so kindly forwarding me the creative's work.

Ugh. You do not need to mail the same agency 4 or 5 times over. I know you are trying to hit as many targets to up your chances of being noticed, but I'm not so certain this is a good strategy. Also, the amount of paper and postage it is taking to mail so many pieces must be time and cost consuming (and don't even get me started on the paper waste).

Couple tidbits:
The ECD is not opening mail unless it is really important. His assistant is weeding through it and sorting out the things that are essential for his eyes and turning the candidate-related stuff over to the creative manager.
The HR Director is sorting through their mail and turning the creative candidate-related stuff over to the creative manager.
The Creative Directors are most likely opening their own mail. At bigger agencies, they may have assistants doing it. Sending one to them might prove helpful. But ultimately they'll turn the candidate-related stuff to the creative manager to follow up on.

Be selective and targeted with to whom you send your information. Your follow up with the correct person (the creative manager) is what's really important.

Zac Ryder

I am most proud when the juniors I hire move on to bigger and better things with regard to their careers. The end product of my work efforts is a person, not a portfolio.

Zac Ryder was a junior copywriter trying to get his foot in the door when I met him back in 2004. His relentless pursuit of a job was endearing (which in some cases borders annoying, but not so with Zac). He called, he emailed, he said he'd sweep the mail room, he offered to work for free and, eventually, I hired him as a junior writer.

It's one of the best hiring decisions I've ever made. Zac spent three years here at Y&R and contributed beyond his years and experience from day one. Seriously, he was concepting on new business pitches and presenting to our executive team right out of the gate. His passion was infectious and he had the talent and drive to back it up.

When a creative gives their notice, I'm happy and sad at the same time. Happy that the person is taking what they've learned at our agency and building the next part of their career from it. Sad for obvious reasons. I am very proud when a creative takes the next step with a portfolio filled with a few years of great work from the opportunity they had at our agency. Zac Ryder continues the trajectory of his career and makes me very proud indeed.

Up the Ante

I care about the up and comers. Not in a motherly type of way. I care in an honestly concerned, somewhat obsessive kind of way. Every one of us should be that concerned. The next generation of talent is who will transform advertising. It’s imperative we do everything possible to teach them, push them and guide them along the way (we may think we’re doing that already but I assure you, we aren’t).

This quote hangs in my office, “The core responsibility of management is the next generation.” We must be overly and obsessively concerned with those entering our beloved business. Otherwise any transformation this industry sees will be slow going and far less revolutionary.

As a creative recruiter, I’m drawn to entry-level talent. They have a freshness about them that’s contagious. I spend a lot of time meeting with students, speaking at schools, basically finding any way I can to help shepherd their careers. If I can affect one student‘s passion for advertising and help cultivate their talent along the way, my job is done. Being exposed to so many students, recent graduates and entry-level talent is starting raise my eyebrow in more than a few ways.

First, anyone can get an advertising degree with relative ease. Diploma in hand proves nothing about your talent. Diploma + portfolio certainly helps a creative’s cause, but what about the thousands of others who aren’t entering through a creative portal?

Now, imagine this.

Imagine if they had to pass an exam. Lawyers have to. Doctors have to. Lawyers and doctors have to prove they are worthy of the profession they are about to enter. They prove it by knowing what’s most critical about their industry. Those tests establish a minimum entry into the field. Advertising, not so much.

Heck, there are even the most basic careers you can get certified in: massage therapy, career coaching, personal training, nurse assisting. Quite the opposite: you can be in advertising and not know a click about the industry (well, I guess you could watch Art & Copy and call it a day); or not know what your production/broadcast/media departments do (trust me, the majority don’t); or not understand how agency work impacts clients’ business (frightful, yet wholly possible).

Let’s change that.

In order to transform advertising, we must change that. Let’s mandate every senior pass the “Ad Exam”. We come up with select questions about the industry: history, media and technology advances, the science and art of advertising, the finances and operations of an agency, the best and worst work, and so on. Fail? Well, study up and try again in 3 months. Students currently have no skin in the game (unless you count an upwards of 6 figure tuition bill). The Ad Exam solves for that.

Second, part of what is holding us back is a general lack of understanding, at a junior level, of how an agency operates. How can we transform advertising when a chunk of those working in it haven’t a clue how the gears work? We are so eager to make those new hires and get jobs filled, we don’t take even a minute to train them in the most basic things.

Imagine if they had to complete a residency. Again, like doctors who, after 12-16 years of school must work another 4 years completing on-the-job training. They aren’t real doctors until their residency is done. Even hairdressers have to do their fair share of shadowing, stuck in the shampoo sink for a few months before they can actually cut someone’s hair.

What if new hires spent weeks working in other departments before they were even allowed to start the job for which they were hired? Pessimists will say there’s no money for training, no time to commit, no resources to wrangle it. I say we’re raising a generation of talent that knows little about what they are doing (or worse, why they are doing it).

Let’s change that.

Let’s mandate every entry-level new hire must complete an agency residency. They aren’t promotable until they do. I know a traffic person who became an account supervisor within 3 years of starting in this business. How is this possible? A year in traffic is an excellent primer on how an agency works I agree, but getting to be an account supervisor takes years and years of experience. Someone may be good at what they do, but promoting them before they’ve had enough real-time experience is a disservice. Through residencies, we at least assure that entry-level talent has the basic tenets to use as a foundation for their career.

There is no doubt that innovations in media and technology will further transform advertising. Just look at the past 5 years and you’d agree. But, those changes cannot happen without the properly trained minds to put them to use. By upping the ante to get into the advertising game, we’d transform a whole lot more than the level of talent and creativity. We’d transform history by investing in our future.

Holiday Advice

21 pieces of very worthwhile advice. Give yourself a gift this year: read it and heed it.

My favorite: Be bold and courageous with your work. When you look back on your professional life, you will regret the the things you didn't do more than the one you did.

Happy Holidays.

Transforming Advertising

I received this email from the 4A's a few weeks ago. You'd better believe I have a few transforming ideas about advertising. Each and every one of them involves juniors. Look out for my response next week.

Dear Cecilia,

Like you, I’m tired of hearing from the same industry thought leaders talking about the same so-called thought-leading things at industry conferences. What I really want is to hear from you: If you had just five minutes in front of the entire advertising community, what would you say about transforming advertising as we know it?

I’ve started a new program called 4A’s Transformers, and we’ve just opened up our call for entries for anyone—inside or outside advertising—to share his or her transformational idea about advertising. For winning Transformers, we’ll give you five minutes on the conference mainstage at Transformation 2010, our annual meeting, which will be held February 28 through March 3, 2010, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

What’s the catch? There is no catch. I’ll pick up the tab for your travel and hotel stay at the conference (roundtrip coach airfare and one-night at the Hilton). All you need to do is dazzle me (and the 4A’s Board of Directors) with your brilliant idea for transforming advertising.

You’ve been blogging or twittering about what you’d do if you were in charge for years. Now’s your chance! What are you waiting for?
Nancy Hill

Please

When you send an email to a creative recruiter, please make sure to say if you are a writer or an art director somewhere in your note. So easy, but I am telling you frequently not done.

I save pretty much every email from a potential candidate. That way, when I do need to fill a particular position I can just scroll through the collection of names and books and links I have and quickly (key word: quickly) see who might be a fit. All too often, I come across a note from someone from a year prior who I don't remember and there is nothing in their note that indicates writer or art director.

Sometimes I don't have the time to click through the link and locate your resume and figure it out. Make your position part of your email signature, it's so easy and oh so helpful.

Cecilia Gorman

Creative Recruiter

Thought and Meaning

A couple of nights ago I attended a Graphic Design portfolio review at Cal State University, Fullerton. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the work. There were a few gems amongst them and I am very happy that a local college is producing some worthy design graduates.

A recurring conversation I had that night involved the story and meaning behind what the students had designed. While reviewing a set of logos, I asked one student, "What do those circles mean?" She was silent for 10 long seconds. She didn't know. Or at least didn't know enough to be able to communicate it to me. To end the awkward silence, I suggested what I thought it meant, yet what I think it means and what the designer intended it to mean are two totally different things so that wasn't much help.

We ended up having a long discussion about what the company stood for, its values and reason for existence and how those very important facts tie into the makings of a logo. That holds true for any piece you set out to design. Another student had a random heart beat line going across the spine of a book jacket. Again, I asked "What does that mean?" Silence.

A huge part of finding out about a candidate is learning how they think. I can see your work. I really can't see how you think or got to what you ultimately put on paper. This discovery is fascinating and it is what sets you apart from every other designer. Know why you designed something. Know why you put a circle or a color or a texture into your work. Meaning cannot be extracted from design.