Competition between classmates. It’s inevitable. Just like sperm racing to an egg, graduates scrap to find jobs. It’s just over four years since our class graduated. And since then we’ve all carved out a slightly different career path for ourselves.
That could be down to the shambles of our course – it wasn’t the study of just advertising, but branding, design, photography and god knows what else.
I knew I wanted to be a creative in an agency environment, and I’ve always been conceptually minded. Yet I got marked down for scamping ideas in my final year – what does that tell you? I did however learn enough to land and hold down a job. So it clearly wasn't all that shite.
But it‘s no surprise that only a handful of us went into advertising, either as creatives or as account people. Others ended up working as graphic designers, sandwich makers, nurses, betting shop assistants, receptionists or ski resort managers. What I’m getting at is they didn’t manage to forge out a career in advertising. And that’s fine – it’s tough going. I spent a while on the dole, getting ignored or rejected by agencies on a daily basis. You feel pretty worthless – you just have to stick at it.
Upon graduating we've all stayed in touch (or stalked each other on social media) to see who was gaining experience and where. Between us, we’ve ticked off a few big names such as DDB, JWT, McCann, TBWA, and RAPP, as well as some regional ones like Bray Leino, Nexus/H, and Golly Slater.
Us ‘chosen few’ in advertising will continue to compete throughout our careers – and it’ll be interesting to see where we’ll end up, who’ll win the most awards and who’ll go on to become Creative Directors.
Either way, I’m glad I’ve ended up in this industry – I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus, none of my classmates can say they’ve picked out the underwear for a playboy model (except my creative partner).
So with that last point in mind, I’d say I’m winning the race at this moment in time.
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