The Monday Morning WHIP // 37

ed — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:54:27 +0000

Have you got a piece of paper from a University? We do. When you went to your first job interview, did you take it off your parent’s wall and cart it in with your book? No! Don’t be silly! They’re useless – a certificate to say, “I have a massive HECS debt, lived on centrelink paid for baked beans and drank lots of beer for three years.” Whoops, hope we didn’t steal Stan’s thunder. This week he’s gonna shake the shit out of you spoon-fed uni grads still whinging that life is hard. Suck it up and read on.

I’ve been asked to contribute in the development of a Postgraduate Diploma for advertising people.
The academics involved are interested in my opinion on the skills gaps that students encounter when they get their first job as a creative person.
Thing is, I don’t think a skills gap is the greatest problem that graduates face. I think the biggest problem for kids today is one of unrealistic expectations.
So to help you overcome this, I have compiled a list of the 3 things you should expect to encounter when pursuing a career as a junior creative.

• As a junior you should expect to struggle to get a job.
• You should expect to get paid a shitty salary.
• You should expect to get very few opportunities to showcase your talent.

After you come to terms with these expectations, only then can you can you work to overcome them. Because, as I have said many times before, a piece of paper from a university is just that – a piece of paper.
It is not a guarantee of big bucks and superstardom. Only passion, persistence and drive can help you achieve that.

See Stan our resident WHIP cracker in person at the next JUNIOR EVENT – Wednesday August 12. He won’t be talking about how to get a job, but how to still have one 10 years from now. It’s going to be rad.

Junior - Celebrating life at the bottom » SALARY

The Monday Morning WHIP // 37