It has been co-written by industry insiders from trade charity NABS, online ideas company OpenAd.net and the headhunter Liz H, who already co-operate on a number of services for students, and is full of personal insights from top UK creatives including Ben Priest, creative director of RKCR/Y&R; Owen Lee, creative director of Farm; Kim Papworth, creative director of Wieden and Kennedy and Simon Learman, executive creative director of McCann Erickson.
Amanda Wallace, the guide's co-writer and creative client services manager at OpenAd.net says some of the insights came from her former life as an advertising creative. She adds: “I graduated from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College five years ago and spent five years working as one half of a junior team. There was nothing like this around to help us then and I wish there had been. We've tried to keep the facts relevant and the tone readable and we hope as many people as possible find it useful.”
Some gems of advice:
The 10 steps to landing that perfect job include “Be one half of a dream team”, “Crits are the key to success”, “Placement heaven” and “No more beans on toast”.
The guide recommends working with a partner, provided you can ask some tough questions first such as: “Are they at least as good as me?”, “Can I really spend 95%of my waking hours with this person?” and “Do I fancy them (always a bad idea)?”
Listening to advice from those in the know is essential because: “The more good people who see your book [portfolio], and slate your book, the better chance it has of becoming the best book in town.”
Don't just pester the Big Boys, seek advice from junior and middleweight teams since: “You get very few shots with a creative director – don't waste your chance or their time.”
Once you get that placement: “Only present your best work- 10 great ideas is better than 50 OK ideas.”
And realise that even that first job may not be the end of the story, with the guide suggesting that you always “keep your eyes open to other jobs. Redundancy does happen – don't take it to heart.”
Goodbye Uni… Hello Job is available now, free of charge from OpenAd.net's and Liz H's websites, www.openad.net and www.lizh.co.uk and will be available on NABS website, www.nabs.org.uk shortly. It can also be downloaded from www.openad.net/pdf/GraduateGuide_OpenAd.pdf.
