Creative vs. Creative Director

There's an article in CA's Interactive Annual by Xanthe Wells called "Promoted to Fail." It includes  this chart from Rob Schwartz.

I love it. It's true. Absolutely true.

But if you're a young creative with aspirations of becoming a creative director, don't just jump to the right-hand column. Embrace the left side. Be about your book. Have lots of ideas. Worry about now. It's what you need to do now.

Someday, you'll realize you're more concerned about the client than your book. You'll know what finding the idea feels like. Unifying won't sound so lame and kumbaya-ish.

Nothing wrong with either column. Just know where you fall. And play your part as best you can.

Q&A with Cecilia Gorman

Cecilia Gorman is Director of Creative Services for Oakley in Orange County, and Creative Career Management where she runs workshops and career development for junior creatives looking to break into the industry. With so many of our readers graduating and entering the job market, we though we’d ask her a few questions.

Q: What are you looking for in junior creatives?
A: Mostly I look for Individuality, Conceptual intelligence (lack of cliches and sameness), strength of design style (art directors/designers). I want juniors to be different from one another and allow me the variety to choose from. When they blend into one another, it is hard to make a choice.

Q: What is the most common mistake junior talent makes?
A: Not being daring enough to take a risk and stand out. Being cocky or presumptuous.

Q: What do you see when you look at the job market today?
A: I see a lot of opportunities for folks who are willing to try a different job market or a slightly left of center position. If you are seeking a junior job in Los Angeles with no openness for anything different, you are up against thousands of others. But, if you are open to other states, other related jobs you have way more choices.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing junior talent?
A: Competition definitely. Portfolio schools are getting stronger every day, graduating very strong candidates every quarter. That is your competition, so juniors need to keep finessing their portfolios and adding new, strong work even after they are graduated.

Q: What advice would you give someone about to take a first job?
A: Be humble. You are new, you are learning, you are at the bottom rung. If you stay humble and remind yourself you are there to learn as much as you can every day, you will climb those rungs quicker than others.

Follow Cecilia on Twitter here. 

Stop Being Such a Baby

At some point in your career, you're going to be a junior creative who no longer wants to live under the title "junior creative."

Maybe it’s wanting to shed a label you think no longer applies. Maybe it’s wanting more of the creative opportunities that usually go to the senior creatives. Maybe it’s just about ego. Whatever the reason, getting people to see you as something more than a junior creative can be harder than it should be.

Here are a few ways you can stop being a junior. With two caveats:

1. This has nothing to do with politics, brown-nosing, or acting like someone you’re not. That stuff will get you nowhere.
2. Reasons for advancing vary from agency to agency. The size of the shop and your relationship to the people in it have a lot to do with it.

Work hard.

Duh. If you produce great work, it will be recognized. By your bosses. Your peers. Headhunters and other agencies. Just make sure you don’t confuse working hard with treading water.

Stay at the same place for a long time.

Some places may promote you eventually. This requires patience and the afore mentioned “hard work.” But when you’re not only invested in the company’s culture, but you’ve helped maintain and build it, you should be bumped up eventually.

Ask for a promotion.

Tell your CDs that you want to advance. That you want to spearhead a pitch. Or have more facetime with the client. Don’t expect it to happen immediately. But let them know where you see yourself in five years. Then do what it takes to put yourself there.

Be lucky.

You have so little control over this, it’s almost not worth mentioning. But there it is.

Get another job.

This is probably the most effective way for junior creatives to become non-junior creatives. New agency. New faces. Suddenly no one knows you as a junior. It's also probably the most effective way to increase your salary. Just remember, the better your work, the better chance you have of getting the job and opportunities you want. It always comes back to the work.