Once we get over the question of, “What does a Digital Strategist do?” the next most asked question is, “How do you get a job as a Digital Strategist?”
So, I present Emma Brooks’ “Top 5 Tips for Getting a Job as a Digital Strategist”:
ONE. LEARN
The first thing I would recommend is to read, read, and yes, read. Try to find out as much as you can about the digital ecosystem (oh, did you like my buzz word there? I made it myself. WINK.), both here in Canada and abroad.
I’m talking general information, just to help you get a good lay of the land. Ask yourself questions like:
- How many people are on Facebook?
- What are brands doing on Facebook?
- How many Canadians are on Twitter?
- What’s their favourite reasons for using Twitter?
- What’s the next up and coming app? Why?
- On average, what’s the penetration of broadband internet in Canada, compared to other countries?
- What are some factors affecting consumer trends in digital (UBB, Netflix, Groupon, etc.)?
Dig. Get a sense of what’s happening out there. And continue digging. (You’ll be doing so for the rest of your career…)
TWO. DECIDE FOR YOURSELF
OK. Now you’ve got a good overview of the world we’re living in and the important thinking starts. Start looking at what brands, advertisers and marketers are doing out there in the digital world. Do you like their campaign? Was it smart? Did it drive business objective? (Can you guess what those objectives were?) Why or why not?
Form your own opinions about this. I guarantee you, you will be asked some kind of question about the latest and greatest campaigns out there in an interview. Have several campaigns in your head and your own opinion on them. And don’t worry if you’re hyperventilating at this big scary idea of coming up with insights all your own. Start looking around. What are other advertisers/digital strategists saying about the campaign? Read their thoughts to help start your own forming.
THREE. TALK TO OTHERS
All right! You’ve got a good idea of how digital is moving these days, you’ve even got some great thought starters on that last “viral hit” for Old Spice. Now what? It’s time to hit the streets, my friend. If you don’t have a lot of connections to the industry (like me, coming out of school, native to Nova Scotia, heading to Toronto on my own for the first time), don’t panic. There are two secrets to getting your foot in the door and I’m going to share them with you:
1. Cold calling
2. Hit up your connections
1. Cold calling: Seriously? Yes. Seriously. Yes, it’s the digital age but it’s much, much easier to ignore an email from an overzealous newbie than it is to ignore your phone ringing. Call around and do so until someone answers the phone. And here’s the secret sauce, ask for an informational interview. I will say it again, just to make sure you got it: Ask. The. Person. On. The. Phone. If. You. Can. Come. In. For. An. Informational. Interview.
Got it?
Good. Here’s why, as my friend Jon Perry so eloquently said yesterday on Twitter: “Informational interviews are like taking employers down the candy isle. If they see something they want then they’re probably gonna buy it.”
Look. No one can really say no to an informational interview, provided you ask nicely enough. It’s not like they’re promising you anything, except a little bit of their time. And people in advertising are really nice, generous people (most of them, at least) who remember what it was like starting out. Generally, they are more than happy to sit down for a beer and talk about their experiences. Or a phone call, if distance is an issue.
So, you meet and wow them, and then suddenly, they know they need you on their team. They’re not going to let some other agency snap you up! They will fight for you. This is how you get a job through cold calling.
2. You also need to hit up your connections. “But I have no connections!” you may whine. Shush. You do. Assuming you’re coming out of university with some kind of related degree (marketing? advertising?), your professors are your connections. I did this exact same thing 4 years ago with my Marketing Strategy professor, Dan Shaw.
I went into his office, politely asked if he had any connections in Toronto and he was kind enough to hand me a bunch of names and contact information of people in marketing/advertising. And, because they knew Dan, they graciously granted me some of their time for an (you guessed it!) informational interview.
But, here’s the trick: At the end of the meeting, whether it will result in an actual interview or not, ask them if they feel comfortable passing along some of their contacts. This is how you expand your contact network and it can work wonderfully. Trust.
FOUR. SHOW YOUR PASSION
So you’ve got your informational interviews set up with a number of agencies and people in the community. Remember your stats! Make sure you have your opinions! And one last thing? Don’t forget your passion.
The reason a lot of us get hired – and I think especially at Publicis – is because we show our passion for this amazing, crazy, frustrating, exhilarating industry. There can be some very long hours in this industry and at the end of the day, the only thing that will keep you standing is your passion. So you better show it. People will recognize it, get inspired by it, and want your passion to infect the rest of their agency.
You come off as apathetic (or worse – underwhelmed) and you can bet you will never get a second meeting.
FIVE. START ELSEWHERE
I firmly believe that any Digital Strategist should work first on the creative or accounts side of an agency as their primer role. It can offer a viewpoint you won’t get in all your years as a Strategist and one that I think is incredibly valuable. It helps you understand where the creative or account people are coming from, and the kinds of challenges and frustrations they deal with on a daily (hourly) basis. It can help you develop empathy, which will do wonders when they’re in your office, completely stressed out about a project.
My first 6 months at Publicis, I worked as an Account Executive. Working on the account side offered me the chance to learn skills I continue to use, as well as helped me understand the process of an agency much better. So if you’re not finding much luck getting hired as a Digital Strategist right out of school (and generally I would say most agencies don’t hire Jr. Digital Strategist – someone correct me if I’m wrong), think about whether you can get in with an account or creative position.
So, these are my tips to you, future Rockstar Digital Strategist. How did you find them? Helpful? Confusing? Out of date? Beyond awesome? I would love to hear what you think – and if you have any to add to this list – in the comments.
