Well, it’s been an ingredient on the blog for long enough – I think it’s time that it got some space of its own.
I offer the following not as instruction, but as my observations from having run three Planning departments and now running the Planning on a massive international client – the common thread being: I hire Planners – and I have been doing so for the last eight years. Here is my advice for anyone who writes to me about how they can get into advertising or Planning.
- Prove that you are interested in creativity
There should be some inkling that you are interested in Planning because you are interested in creativity. Not because you have been to University, not because you are tired of the process and rigour of Account Handling (if you’re a half-decent Planner, your rigour and process will make Account Handling look like slip-shod shabbiness). Don’t talk about money, status, thinking – talk about creativity and how you can enable it. And if you really are interested in creativity, bring some work with you: either your own, if you’re already in the business, or what you admire if you aren’t yet: bring things torn out of magazines, taped off the TV, or links to YouTube, or bring a laptop. It’s easier to talk about work and you’ve already convinced me that you’re in the right business…
- Be able to tell me a story
Have some sense of structure in your head: a beginning, a middle (and most of all, for the love of GOD) an end
- …or be able to give me a soundbite
Know when you can give me a one-word, or one sentence answer. Our job is to clarify, simplify and inspire – so don’t tell me that you can: prove it. An interview is not an IPA paper, I don’t need to hear any sentences beginning with “The Client came to us and said…”.Tell me the business problem, tell me the thinking that led to, the creative development process, the idea, the work and (if possible) the results.
- Say what you think, not what has been written on a chart
There is nothing less involving, or more dispiriting, than an interviewee who (come hell, or high water) is going to soldier on to the bitter end of his “presentation” however much you try to break in. I need to be able to see that you’re a supple thinker, not the Mr. Memory of PowerPoint.
- Please be open to changing your mind
This isn’t the same thing as saying “agree with what I say” – but if there’s a new thought, accept it, process it and THEN respond. There is nothing wrong with saying “I hadn’t thought of that” (with some obvious exceptions), but there is something wrong in the undying defence of “The Earth is flat” when you’re staring at a picture taken from space…
- Demonstrate that you believe in being Martin Scorsese, not Robert de Niro.
I have to believe that YOU believe that you are in it for the glory of the Creatives. You are there to help them get clear, effective and inspirational work made for your Clients. You are not there (or more precisely, you won’t be HERE – and you’d like to be) if it’s clear that you live to be told how great your thinking and presentations are. That’s like being told that you run a great rehearsal, but that everything you do falls apart in performance.
- Don’t tell me how many people you know
I don’t give a fuck if you’re mates with John Hegarty, Ed Morris’ beard trimming assistant, Juan Cabrol’s Godson or Tiger Savage’s buttplug polisher: you’re here to work, not bump up the number of friends on Facebook.
- Spend some time making yourself interesting
Me: “So, tell me what you’re favourite work is at the moment.”
Interviewee:“Oooh – that’s a good one… Haven’t really thought about that.”
He wanted £140,000 p/a. From an advertising agency. True story.
- Be current
Especially important if you’re trying to get into advertising, but just as vital if you’re looking to move around: demonstrate that you are interested in what’s happening now. If I ask you what you like at the moment, make sure it’s out there NOW. If I ask you what your favourite ad ever is, then that can be from any era – but please make your answers different to each other. And try and show that you don’t think that advertising is something that happens exclusively on a television screen: wherever possible, talk to me about campaigns, what the strong components are, where it’s weaker – anything.
- Be personal
While it may be the case that Planners are born and not made, it is certainly not the case that all the best Planners have always been Planners. The best Planners that I have ever hired were previously Account Handlers, but what they unequivocally were, was a Planner by personality. The way they responded to things, the way that they talked, the things that they picked up on, and their personalities – everything marked them out as people who thought in a certain way, and proved that they would be idea to help others do their job better. I’m not suggesting that you should pretend to be something that you are not. I am suggesting that if you are a Planner, you are one whether or not you have the title.
Good luck.
