My Quest: To get a job as a Jr. Copywriter with an Ad Agency.
Okay well maybe I am not searching for the actual holy grail that Sir Lancelot and his chums were searching for. Although I wouldn’t have minded a stop at the castle Anthrax where Sir Galahad avoided almost certain temptation.
Too bad.
No no – I am and have been on the hunt for a job in the Advertising industry for a week now.
What does that mean?
I made a kickass resume – the likes of which you’ve never seen. Take a look.
Then I crafted cover letter than screams my name. Literally. Again, look here.
Applications:
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) there are 310 registered agencies in New York City.
As of today I have personally contact each and every one of those firms.
Responses:
As of today I have heard back from 16 agencies. 7 said they would keep me in mind.
The other nine are interesting:
4 are CEO’s
1 is an HR rep
4 are creative directors or copywriters themselves.
Can you believe it?! I am writing back and forth with the CEO’s of these mega agencies.
Their comments range from: “wow, that’s funny,” to “I am interested, tell me more”
So how have I done it so far?
Well I drafted that CV, Cover Letter and then a simple email that gets the readers attention and urges them to read my documents.
I personalized each email, searched tirelessly for the right contact information and in a week I had gotten through them all.
Most importantly I was myself in the entire process. This allowed my personality to bleed through the page, as it were.
It turns out that there really are people on the other end of these internet tubes. You just have to catch their attention.
What’s next:
Well I am moving on to the next markets, Chi City, BOS, LA and SF in search of my holy grail.
I will be relentless. Soon I will start to post my exchanges with these CEO’s (without disclosing their firm or identity to give you an idea of how our e-mails go back and forth – and maybe get some advice from you as to how to move forward).
Tomorrow I apply to the SF & LA ad agencies – updates to follow.
Until then – keep cool.
Liam
The Blog of Liam Mooney 