So You Saw Mad Men Once. Now You Want To Be an Ad Wo/Men

A how-to guide for Breaking into Advertising + Becoming a Strategic Planner

Advertising. We love to hate it, we hate to love it, and many of us thought it’d make for a sexy career.

The fact is, breaking into advertising is a tough business to crack. No Ivy league degree nor perfectly polished LinkedIn page will be a straight shot ticket to a job in advertising.

But there are a few ways to stay ahead of the competition and up the ante as you look for your first job in our industry. Already in the ad world and just want to be a planner? Scroll down to the second half of this article for some hopefully helpful tips.

1: DESIGN YOUR RESUME

We work in the business of creativity. So if you present yourself to a creative agency, you have to tell your story creatively. Make it colorful. Put some personality into it.

What are your hobbies and interests? You’d be surprised at how often one seemingly obscure interest can jog conversation in a job interview.

(Pro Tip: If you don’t know the first thing about Adobe InDesign or Photoshop, don’t worry. You can buy a resume template online. Some of them are even made for MS Word. Etsy is a great place to start.)

2: KNOW YOUR STUFF

Read about what’s going on in our industry. AdWeek is like our Bible. It showcases great work and recent events in our industry. AgencySpy (an AdWeek off shoot) and AdAge are both great seconds. We also read Mashable and TechCrunch to keep up with digital trends.

Additionally, it’ll be helpful for you to understand the different departments of an advertising agency before you start applying for roles you may not be qualified for. Learn about what creatives do, the account management team, production, project managers, strategists, media planners, the UX/UI team, etc.

If your university didn’t teach you the in’s and outs of advertising, you can learn how an agency works by attending events, networking with people in the industry (literally just by treating strangers to a cup of coffee and asking them “Hey, what do you do every day?”), or taking a certification course.

3: START A BLOG

Even if you’re not from a traditional journalism background, blogging is a great way to showcase how you think and what’s important to you.

In the ad industry, we love when people can talk about brands they care about and why they care. Lots of people will ask you about your favorite brands or commercials on a job interview. So why don’t you blog about it? Write about a brand that really messed up– and why. Talk about a cool experiential marketing event you went to (a la Refinery 29’s 29 Rooms or the Samsung flagship in NYC) or an app you downloaded that has an awesome UX flow. Try to channel whatever it is that excites you about the prospect of working in advertising and put it out there for the world to see.

Which leads me to my next point:

4: SHOWCASE ON SOCIAL

Think about yourself as a brand, too. Shape the kind of person you want agencies to see when we stalk you on social media. As you’ve heard time and time again, don’t post things you wouldn’t want your employer to find.

But take it one step further — post the kinds of things that tell a story about who you are, with a professional twist. If you’re the kind of person who gets really political on Twitter, maybe hide that persona (aka don’t attach it to your unique last name) and instead, create another Twitter where you can share your new blog entries, Ad Week articles you like, and retweet great creative work from agencies you admire.

5: NETWORK LIKE CRAZY

In many cases, it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know. This is especially true for breaking into the advertising industry. Leverage your friends who may have an agency gig, friends of friends, 2nd degree connections on LinkedIn, alumni of your University — anything and everything that may help you get a foot in the door.

If you’re still out of ideas — every now and again, you can message a complete stranger on LinkedIn (do it tactfully; they’re busy people) who may agree to coffee. I am a firm believer in the importance of paying it forward and so are many other agency folks. That said, I don’t hold the keys to your 1st agency job and chances are, neither do they. Go into these coffee chats with a clear set of expectations — ask specific questions and always end them with an ask to be introduced to someone else.

A few tips for these coffee chats: come prepared with questions about what it’s like at my particular agency, in my particular role, working on my particular clients. Do your homework on who you’re talking to and don’t be afraid to be candid about what you’ve found. Talk about my portfolio, ask advice on how you can improve X, Y or Z in yours. If you want your resume critiqued — don’t be afraid to ask. Sure, it’s important to have your story crafted, too, but at the end of the day, it’s not likely that whoever agrees to meet with you will have a job available.

Beyond that, you’ll start meeting people at the networking events you attend.

6: BONUS TIP FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS:

While this one doesn’t apply to everyone, there’s a really awesome program called MAIP for minority students pursuing their bachelors or graduate degree. MAIP seems like an amazing network and peer group, plus a way to genuinely diversify our industry. MAIP brings in brilliant talent and skyrockets their careers with internships at prestigious agencies that usually lead to full time gigs. More industries need a MAIP program.

GETTING TO THE CRUX OF IT. HOW DO I BECOME A PLANNER?

First and foremost, if you really want to be a strategic planner — start thinking of yourself as a planner. It’s incredibly hard to land an entry level planning gig. It’s so hard that we’ve already written about it before.

But don’t give up. It’ll be easier to break in if you already see yourself as a planner. How do you do that you may ask?

1: EMBRACE THE WEIRD

I strongly believe every planner has a quirk. We have quite a few, actually. These quirks help us think outside of the box. They keep us diverse — in thought, in interests and in perspective. A huge part of our job is to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and sometimes, those shoes may not be on the feet of people with mainstream points of view. The more you can own your “weird” tendencies, hobbies and behaviors, the better equipped you’ll be for imagining someone else’s.

2: KEEP LEARNING

They say curiosity killed the cat. Good thing we’re not cats.

It’s crucial for planners to stay fresh, keeping up to date with the trends. We’re always the expert in the room on how the consumer thinks about a product, an experience, an event or culture in general. There’s tons of ways to keep your mind engaged, but for starters, read books, listen to podcasts and scrounge around Reddit threads.

3: CARRY A NOTEBOOK

Maybe this is a bit old school, so if you’d rather jot things down in your iPhone notepad, that’s cool too. It saves trees.

But in all seriousness, write down things you overhear on the street that you find entertaining or interesting. When you’re reading a book or an article, jot down your favorite quotes. Lines from a TV show. Anything that makes you feel something in the moment.

Why? Because you’re starting to shape your ability to find insights. To develop universal human truths. A great insight is something rooted in a feeling. The first time you hear it, it makes you say “Oh wow. I didn’t think of it like that before. But I agree.”

4: GO OUT AND DO THINGS

This is so important that agencies sometimes write about it. Attend art gallery openings. Concerts. Comedy shows. Pop-up museums. Keep an open mind about what sort of events you attend.

In NYC there’s a restaurant that’ll serve you a plate of grasshoppers. What does that have to do with strategy? It doesn’t. But it makes you open minded and pushes you out of your comfort zone. Good planners are constantly pushing their own personal boundaries to experience things in new ways, gaining different perspectives.

Professionally speaking, find out how you can volunteer for conferences like the 4A’s StratFest (where you’ll be in front of lots of CSOs). If you’re in New York, start going to Mark Pollard’s brain buster workshops (even if they meet at 8 AM on Friday mornings) and if you’re not, check out what events are in your city or find webinars that may be hosted online.

5: BE CREATIVE IN YOUR APPROACH

This is true in any industry but, sometimes, a career isn’t a straight trajectory to the top. Sure, we climb up corporate ladders, but sometimes we have to get a little creative and eat a slice of humble pie to become a strategist. The fact is, there are WAY more people who want to be planners now than there are entry level jobs.

Even if you’ve already established your career in a different industry or, maybe you work in advertising but in a different department, try taking an internship. It’s a way for the agency to test how you think with no strings attached, and a way for you to learn the ins and outs of being a planner and get your foot in the door.

Perhaps, too, you may want to look into Miami Ad School’s Boot Camp for strategic planners or a graduate degree from VCU Brandcenter.

6: BONUS TIPS

If you want more insight to the different types of planners there are — feel feel to check this out. Or if you’re really curious about Comms Planning in particular, try this. Our BBDO Medium blog is chock full of resources on Comms Planning (and strategy in general).

OpenStrategy is another great resource filled with templates, frameworks, and brilliant strategists to follow…just absorb as much as you can.

And be patient! Your time will come :)

If you still have a burning question after reading this, comment below and I’ll do my best to answer!

*This article originally appeared on the BBDO Comms Planning team blog.