New Grad’s Guide on How to Transition to the Real World
Everyone is going to give you “advice” and “tips” on how to get the perfect job out of college. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to tell you my story about how I had absolutely no plan after college and eventually ended up finding my passion and working in a job I love. No advice, just experience.
Graduation
The day I graduated was an exciting day! It was also a scary one. With peers getting jobs from their internships, I’d be lying to you if I didn't tell you I felt a little behind the curve. I spent 4 years with professors giving me “advice” that the competition is high today, and you need to be the best of the best in order to stand a chance in the real world. There was a lot of pressure to be employed quickly.
After Graduation
My story doesn’t start out with countless interviews and finding the perfect navy blue suit, (because statistically, you have a higher chance to be hired in a navy blue suit.) The truth is, I was at a party. I was talking with my fellow new grads about their new internships and jobs, which I mainly just listened to due to the fact that I hated the question “Hey PJ what are you doing now?” I met one of my friend’s older brother, who by chance was looking for a copywriter for his web development company. I said “I can do that!” By Monday, I had a job!! Part-time, but hey, I had an answer to the dreaded question.
The Copywriting Days
I worked on writing blogs, social media content, copy, and SEO meta descriptions for a small web development company. It was a team of four of us and I worked about 15 hours per week. The best part about it was the creative freedom I could apply to the work.
Eventually though, I found that I really needed something more full-time. I applied for a copywriter position at a big corporate web development company, and got it after the 2nd interview. This had me excited at first, my first “big boy” job was a huge national company. I saw myself climbing the ladder to CEO status, hopefully by the time I was 30. A long shot? Yes, but hey you got to dream big, right? Well that dream slowly diminished as I learned the difference between a small company and corporate. Simply put, I found my skills to be a lot more valuable outside of the corporate world.
I quit. Everyone told me I was being foolish to quit a steady job without another job lined up. I didn’t care. People also told me “your twenties are a time to screw up and bounce back”. So that’s exactly what I did. It felt like the right thing to do, so I took some time and re-evaluated what I really wanted out of a career. The bills never stopped however, and I was eating Easy Mac and ramen for a while.
Discovering Accounts
Sometime later, I got a call from the first small web company about W2 information. It ended with, “Oh, so we were picked up by an ad agency, there’s a sales position open if you’re interested”. It just so happens that I just finished watching the movie “Yes Man” and I was all about opening myself up to new possibilities. I got the interview, made it past the second interview, and got hired.
My first day, I felt completely overwhelmed, but I surprisingly picked up the pace pretty quickly. This experience was different. I didn’t feel like I was doing meaningless tasks that no one else wanted to do. I was thrown into important meetings, large deals, and big clients all at once. After a while, you become comfortable in this realm. Before I knew it, I was the one hosting the important meetings.
I learned how to speak to potential clients, how to negotiate a quote, how to close deals, how to manage projects, how to work with a budget, how to produce results, and most importantly how to love what you do for a living. Working in accounts has been challenging and exciting all at the same time, and I feel like I have something that a lot of people don’t find in life, career passion.
So I didn’t get a prestigious internship that led to the perfect job. I made mistakes, opened the wrong doors, and fell into the right place. My only advice to someone stressed about graduation is to never be afraid to fail, because you will. You ARE going to make mistakes, so it’s better to learn to roll with the punches than to avoid the inevitable. Life throws curveballs and you can only plan so far, so make sure to never lose the courage to change, it could be the best change you ever made.
Real Mad Men, 1960 vs 2013
Creative
One of my favorite aspects of the television show, is how they nail the creative process. The research, development, execution, and pitch. Sometimes no matter how hard you want to magically have a great idea, it just won’t come to mind. Other times you can think your idea is ground-breaking, but the client isn’t onboard with your direction. As far as the business world of a career in the creative industry, Mad Men is spot on.
Office Culture
Always watching their back from their coworkers, the cast of Mad Men are consistently out for themselves. Everyone is trying to get ahead, and willing to go to extreme lengths to be at the top. Today, this would be the perfect set up for a failing business. Burning bridges won’t get you far as an agency, as well as taking the time to lend a hand. A successful agency is sustained by good relationships, not only with clients but also with the entire team. Going the extra mile rather than cutting corners is what makes a great agency stand out from a good agency.
The Power of Advertising
In my opinion, this is the biggest change to advertising due to technology. In the 50s and 60s, the media had a certain control that it no longer has. With so many product options, advertising clutter and noise, ways to order, and convenience of the internet consumers’ brand loyalty is nowhere near where it was in the past. Being able to search for the best prices around allows consumers to be fickle with their purchasing decisions.
The power today is in the hands of the consumer. Rather than creating a marketing plan that you think is effective, it is important to put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Would I benefit from paying attention from this ad, or is it just feature dumping like the other 3,000 advertisements that I see on a daily basis?
Conclusion
So, would an agency like Sterling Cooper be a top agency on Madison Ave. in 2013? No, just as the world evolves over time, so must agencies. Technology has pushed agencies to become more consumer-driven in their strategies. While Sterling Cooper would wine-and-dine their clients into their ideas, it was mainly their way or the highway. Today a lot more listening needs to be done rather than talking.
As Don would say “If you don’t like what people are saying, change the conversation.” However Don never had to deal with Yelp reviews. Sorry Don, your persuasive words might not make the cut in modern advertising. Time to work on your people skills!
The Human Billboard
Is it only a matter of time before all professional athletic jerseys implement some form of advertising? It hasn't bothered Europeans and basketball has become a global phenomenon, with similar jersey styles as a soccer jersey. Could you see Lebron James wearing a Heat jersey that had a McDonald's logo on it (and McDonald's already hosts an All-American game that sports their logo on the jersey)? I could, and I think that the advertising could be done subtly enough that it wouldn't invoke the hatred of fans. Think of the possibilities… consumers who want authentic apparel would also have the advertiser's logo on their jersey otherwise it wouldn't be identical to what the player wore. These fans would wear their jerseys, becoming human billboards for that product. Don't forget about exclusive jersey advertising rights (after all, companies pay a fortune for naming rights to the venues and not too many people stare at the exterior; they watch the star players). Not only do I think this is inevitable, but I think the U.S. should spearhead this movement. Someday, you may just see the Mad Men Marketing logo on the back of a ballcap being worn by a Jaguars or Jacksonville Suns player.
Mad Men Marketing Looking to Hire
An Account Strategist is responsible for the initiation and execution of the company’s business development strategy. He or she will be responsible for identifying new business opportunities, generating new leads, learning about a potential client’s needs, educating prospects about the agency, closing sales, and taking care of the day-to-day workings of accounts – including estimating and project management.
Our ideal candidate must be self motivated – with a positive attitude, and have the desire and ability to focus on growing new and current business. The position is suited to an individual who is “sales driven” and who can utilize his or her exceptional skills to produce effective and successful results.
Main Duties:
– Lead generation, cold calling, and getting appointments
– Develop new business relationships and grow current accounts to generate income for the company
– Present to potential clients through: direct communication in face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, and e-mails
– Actively and successfully manage the sales process: lead generation, credentials pitch, asking questions, solution pitch, negotiation, close, and delegate further tasks to internal departments
– Self-management of time and individual responsibility for new business. Support by management and staff is available for pitches and strategies
– Managing and maintaining a pipeline and ensuring all sales administration is current
– Effectively interact with other departments
Key Accountabilities:
– Establish contact with Company Directors/Marketing Managers utilizing existing or self-generated leads
– Develop and promote sound working relationships with all external customers in order to promote the company and enhance business awareness
– Develop and maintain positive relationships with agency account and creative teams
Requirements:
– 4 year degree from an accredited university
– 1-2 years of sales experience
– A positive and determined approach to researching and analyzing new business opportunities (with new and current business)
– Travel. You will be expected to spend 80% of your time out of the office in meetings.
– Valid drivers license
Desired Attributes:
– Ability to use initiative and pay close attention to detail
– Capable of hands-on problem solving, with the ability to generate ideas and solutions
– Ability to cope with competing demands and to prioritize tasks
– Strong communication skills in all forms, including written, oral, e-mail, telephone and presentation
– Excellent organizational and time management skills
– Capable of working independently with individual responsibility
EXPERTISE
Mad Men is a B2B and Business to Consumer marketing agency with expertise in consumer driven campaigns for all types of media.
ESSENCE
We empower consumer driven brands. It’s simple. We take a company’s mission statement. Strip it down to its essence. Make it speak to the consumer. And sell. You take credit for the smashing results.
NEW
Since 2008, we have the advantage of being new to the market, contributing fresh ideas to a dried up industry, with a small efficient team to produce excellent results.
ACCESSIBILITY
Mad Men headquarters is in Jacksonville, FL – In the heart of the downtown district.
Jacksonville-based Mad Men Marketing, is a privately held company servicing Jacksonville, the St. Louis area, Nashville and NYC. The company is a Full-Service marketing firm providing a variety of specialties based on client needs locally, regionally, nationally and internationally; offering interactive creative ideas, with consumer-driven branding; all incorporated through the three types of media services using our specific capabilities to get the job done. Additional information about Mad Men Marketing may be found on the Internet at www.madmenmarketinginc.com.
Contact:
J.D. Blair
President/Client Services
904-355-1766
jdblair@madmenmarketinginc.com
AntiSocial Media
Connecting with an audience is the most important goal an advertiser needs to accomplish. Beyond pushing your agenda, your message and your product… you need to connect with your consumer on their level in order to make your brand or product relevant to their daily lives.
This desire to make a connection inevitably and quite naturally found itself taking over the internet. It makes sense… Go where the people are. You cannot get through a single work day without logging on, so why not focus advertising energy to those sites which are visited most. But, how can you make your efforts social and interactive? Many have found their answer to be: By incentivizing! How many businesses have you liked simply because you liked them? Or did they have to ask you to, boasting some sort of promise? Do you still visit those websites or has the social media realm captivated your attention?
This brings me to my title for this piece, AntiSocial Media. I believe, as I said before, that social media is a necessary evil, but an evil nonetheless. And while its title implies a form of communicating which promotes social behavior, it, in fact, diminishes our abilities to be social, connect and interact on a personal level. What’s the need for calling your college buddies to catch up when you can view their lives on the internet, look at pictures of their wedding and see their kids grow up in the posted family photo albums…? No need to call your friends about buying that new house, just post it and they can take the tour themselves!
This reminds me of the car commercial where the daughter says her parents aren’t really living because they don’t have any friends on Facebook, all the while, they are out enjoying their lives while she is sitting at home socializing on her computer, alone.
Through all this quick and easy connection comes a very real disconnect far greater than I think we would like to admit. What’s more important, living your life for you, or so it fills your wall nicely? Do you take pictures for yourself anymore, or has personal photography reduced itself to the sole purpose of showing off? I hope we can get back to a healthy balance of communication where we can supplement our lives with technology but not replace it entirely. Unfortunately, it has become so common, that to not have a presence means you don’t exist.
We continue this trend because “everybody else is doing it”, and I certainly have nothing against the platforms themselves, just what human nature has done with them. So, we do what we have to, to prove that we exist and that our clients do as well – but I look forward to a time when advancements improve our abilities, instead of hindering them.