A new direction
We’re here to help you hunt down the best new job making sure you’re in there first, feeling confident and armed with all the best interview techniques. But we are also here when you’re not looking too. You can register with us so that when you are ready to move we’re ready to help. You are then welcome to call us for career advice at any time or indeed to pop in and see us for our view on everything from how to get promoted to the best way to motivate creatives or what the market is paying at the moment.
Our promise to candidates:
- We are honest with our career advice and provide a realistic appraisal of your position
- We interview you thoroughly and offer tips and guidance on interview technique
- We are selective and we work only with agencies we are happy to represent
- You'll have access to a comprehensive client list comprising a wide choice of integrated, agencies from large global groups or small privately owned agencies.
- We will never send you anywhere without checking with you first
- We will brief and debrief you before and after each interview offering constructive feedback and guidance
To give you a flavour for the type of advice you can expect to receive, here are our interviewing tips
Top 10 tips
- Sell yourself - be a great candidate not just a great account handler. Describe what someone said about you or a situation where you did something really special.
- Describe what you’ve done as a story - with a beginning (the why - context, consumer issue, business problem), middle (the campaign itself) and end (happy client, results, motivated creatives). This will engage the interviewer more and demonstrate your strategic ability
- We & I – use ‘we’ statements to demonstrate your team skills and ‘I’ statements to demonstrate ownership - initiatives you took, ideas you had, problems you headed off at the pass etc
- Enthusiasm and energy - people want to know that they will enjoy your company not just that you can do the job. Look happy to be there! Deliver with conviction, saying “I really enjoyed working on acme brand” in a dead pan voice won’t convince anyone!
- Do your research - agencies are naturally proud of their brand be prepared to answer ‘why do you want to work at this agency’. Look at client’s website and their competition.
- Your brand - write down some adjectives that describe you so you can be ready to describe yourself in an interesting way. Show the interviewer that you know yourself.
- Demonstrate your values - use emotive language and speak from the heart about how you work e.g. with openness, integrity, innovation or what you believe in
- Make connections - it’s what great agency people do. Observing what’s happening in the world, the client’s market, competition or economy and what that means for the client you’re interviewing for will always go down well.
- Be memorable – talk about something extreme or different, it is amazing what people remember and connect with. It may be the factor that will differentiate you. Pick a ‘brand halo’ like you would for a client, a small example that will tell the client a lot about you.
- Be smart - we all make instant observations when we meet someone, don’t take shortcuts in presenting yourself. If in doubt be smarter than you think, it’s better to look too keen than that you haven’t made an effort
