At Powell's Books in Portland, I picked up a book entitled, “Pick Me. Breaking into Advertising and Staying There” by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, Chief Creative Officers at Ogilvy, Toronto. This book is a great resource for college advertising students and fresh graduates. I read the book looking for authors’ viewpoints on HR's role in an Agency.
Result: almost nil. HR had been reduced to in-house recruitment and external headhunting and by all means was not presented as a partner to the Creative Directors (CD) or a contact point for job seekers.
In the authors’ experience, “most of headhunters don’t know a great book from an okay one”. They further imply that in-house recruiters do not do their job right given that student “letters are getting lost in the big stack of mail that’s full of resumes".
According to Vonk & Kestin, headhunters can be, however, helpful in passing one’s CV to the CD and assessing what one is worth given their good understanding of salary benchmarks (p.77). But, they “don’t play much of a role in placing juniors” nor the very best creatives. The latter are “well known, and the CD often contacts them directly” (p.171). There were no good remarks on in-house screeners “a necessary evil at some big places” (p.44) either,
Instead, the authors suggest outsmarting HR. For example, the aspiring copywriter or art director should try to get the CD’s attention – the only decision maker while aspiring account service pros should approach the managing director (“Try sending the managing director of the agency a reel of your favorite spots with a smart list of reasons why you like them so much (heavy on references to good strategies and consumer insights)” p.126).
I am not going to cry for HR folks, but seriously where does it leave us? Is this industry-specific?
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