Not to add stress, but there can be untruths in what people who
want to hire you say.
They know you want a job.
You know you’re competing with classmates, other portfolio school
and college grads, interns, even people who’ve been working for a while.
Unless you’re dealing with a top tier (one
w/principled management and a sincere interest in employee growth and success),
top culture (ditto, + fair salaries, honest opportunities and great work) shop,
you’re likely to encounter at least one of these scenarios during your career.
Heed my cautions.*
There are great agencies who play fair. Finding them and getting hired is the
rub.
Lie #1: “The work hasn’t been up to creative snuff,
but we’re retooling and hiring people to change that (+/- starting with YOU).”
Change starts at the top.
Of ALL departments. Has the CEO
signed on? Everyone on the Account and
Tech side? What’s happening to the
creatives who’ve been there all along?
Are established and new clients on board?
Ask to see current work.
Talk to new hires and old hands.
Ask to see what they’re working on now.
How the approval cycle works (if they gripe about how hard it is to get
things approved, has new Creative direction made a difference?).
If they’re starting the new creative push with YOU – a
Junior – who’ll mentor you? Good people
take lesser jobs for many reasons.
Health insurance, location, money.
Hold judgement for jury duty. If
it’s the same creatives who’ve been there all along, they may not – or surprisingly
may – be the mentors you want.
Do your
homework, find out.
Lie #2: “We can only pay X now
but raises and bonuses come fast and generous.” “People work here for less
because we do such great work.”**
The national average raise is 2%. Wages are historically depressed. Pay varies with city, agency, accounts,
perceived abilities (remember, it’s all subjective) and what you let them get
you for.
LA shops pay less because everyone wants to live there. SF, Boston, NYC shops pay more, but have you tried to
find – and pay for – an apartment there?
If a great creative shop expects you to work for less - up to you. The one time I took a pay cut
for creative reasons I got burned.
If they’re small, have small accounts and nobody’s getting rich, it’s
one thing. If all the money rises to the
top, something else. (One former student
tells tales of a Chicago shop customarily ripping off employees with a When
we get rich, everyone gets rich lie.)
Everything is negotiable, but you have to appear to be
trying to figure out how you’ll survive on that salary, then make them want to
bump it up. Unless you
negotiate it beforehand and get it in
writing, review dates are too often the least important thing HR and CDs
remember.
How much of a raise?
Remember that 2%. Negotiate a
minimum or range up front. Get it in
writing. You may also want to negotiate
a new title with that. Salary ranges
often tie to titles.
Bonuses? Sound good,
but they’re a better deal for the agency.
Everything is based upon salary.
Benefits (profit sharing, 401K, etc.), future raises, the salary at your
next job. A bonus may be a quick shot in
the financial arm, but when you negotiate your real raise, you’ll be working
from your original, lower salary, without the bonus.
Lie #3: “We’ll start you out
in the social media pool/worst account/your worst media nightmare, but you’ll
move up soon.”
Suspend belief.
Once you prove you’re good at something no one else wants to do, the
likelihood of quick change is slim. I’ve
worked in shops where there was an account hierarchy – start on the worst
account, move on when someone else was hired. But that required a vacancy or new business win.
Former students – writer’s writers, good creatives, smart
strategists – became so valuable in the social media pool they hated, they
were stuck. When they interviewed
elsewhere, they had nothing else to show. No surprise, they decided advertising wasn't for them.
If the agency starts Juniors off on junk copy, but
competes teams on the good stuff, you’ll get a chance to shine. But will you have time to work on it? Or will you be so busy with the stuff no one
else wants to do, you’ll have to work nights, weekends if you want to be in the
running?
I don’t want to scare you.
I want you to be aware – but don’t want you to think
that’s the way it works at all agencies.
It’s not big agencies or small agencies.
It can be any shop, any candidate, any time.
There are as many honest, fair dealing shops as those taking advantage. Between an agency with good
personnel policies and those selling ice to your Eskimo are many versions, both
good and bad.
How do you know which is which?
Ask. Ask your network
of Circus grads. Check the apps and sites populated by present/past employee critiques (with a jaundiced eye – some are strictly
sour grapes).
Want to ask someone who works there, but don’t know
anyone? Check for work you like, note
the creatives responsible, email them.
Don’t start with questions about whether they’re working at an offending
shop. Start talking about their work,
how much you like it, what did it take to get it produced, can you show them
some work for critique?
Don't like anything anyone's done? Shoot for the Juniors. They're closer to what you'll deal with.
Build a
relationship BEFORE you need one. You’ll
get all the dope you need.
I know the pressure of student loans. The pressure of actually doing the work you
trained for, have come to love. The
pressure of finally getting your foot in the door and being able to afford craft
beer.
I understand the fear of blowing an interview.
My job is to open your eyes, arm you for what may – or may not – lie
ahead.
The key to interviewing, negotiating, developing
almost second sight into anyone you deal with? Prospect Centricity.* The
same Prospect Centricity that’s key to great creative. Know who you’re talking to. Who/what you’re dealing with.
Above all, don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t be afraid to negotiate.
It’s their job.
But it’s your future.
*See That Recruiter isn’t looking for another BFF, 8/21/18.
**I’ve written extensively about salary negotiations. My thoughts – and methods – have been
published in CMYK and How to put your book together and get a job in
Advertising, 10th edition.
This post, as with everything posted on
kamikazecreative.blogspot.com, is ©2018, Doreen Dvorin/Kamikaze Creative.
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