A lot of people say you need connections to get a job. Well, if you don’t have them, make them! That’s how I got a job as a Jr. Art Director at BeCore! I needed to use my creativity to get noticed and I realized that could be done as simply as sliding into someone’s DMs!
Of course I needed to know who to message so I was constantly on the lookout for inspiring creatives, cool ad agencies and stayed up to date with what they do. I was a Sophomore the first time I reached out to the Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi. I didn’t have much of a portfolio but I read a lot about him and was inspired by his work. I was surprised when he responded to my message right away, inviting me to chat at his office. It didn’t give me a job but it gave me an eye opening experience and a starting point before I reached out to the next person!
The same year I applied to an internship program at Deutsch where I designed Deutsch branded chocolates and personally delivered them to the agency to get noticed. I also filmed a vlog about it in front of their office, posted it on YouTube and tweeted it at some of their creatives. I didn’t get the internship but I got the motivation to get better! So I DM’d the Creative Director of Deutsch asking for some feedback. He was just featured in AdAge talking about gimmicks and I wondered if my gimmick was the one he referred to. I wanted to know what I could do better and he offered to help. We chatted for a few hours and he taught me SO much. Thanks to him I entered two advertising competitions the following year (D&AD and Future Lions). I didn’t win either but I gained a lot of experience and two great portfolio pieces.
Fast forward to senior year, I wanted to advertise myself to agencies in a fun, creative way. This time I decided to make it more about me and less about the agency. I read this cool article about Wieden & Kennedy and how they’re:
“ […] pushing the “branded everything” approach that inserts brands into pop culture in unexpected ways, using everything from Reddit to comic books. “ – AdAge
So I decided to brand myself using that “branded everything” approach. I created an icon of my face as my logo and started placing it on everything. I created branded VR googles, coffee cups, wine bottles, laptop covers, phone cases, hoodies, even car refreshers! I loved this project and I truly believed it could make a difference when applying for jobs but I was still stressed that it will go unnoticed since I didn’t have any connections.
While waiting to hear back from all the big agencies, I kept looking for more. I knew I wanted to work as a creative and come up with disruptive ideas, but let’s be honest, I would be making banner ads for at least a year if I went to a big agency and I wasn’t about that life. I wanted to skip the line and enjoy the fun ride, so I started looking for experiential agencies, not knowing if they even existed but the idea of it sounded fun.
Obviously I found BeCore right away and I instantly knew I wanted to work here. I did some research on the company, absolutely loved their work, looked like a great work environment with a strong company culture (all of which is 100% true) and I decided to reach out to Lyla Morrison, the Creative Director, who I related to right away when I read that her bio said: “I can’t live without inappropriate people”. After sliding into her DM’s in the middle of the night (I was too excited not to DM her right away) she agreed to get lunch with me and the rest is history!
Now I’m a Jr. Art Director and I couldn’t be happier – working with amazing people everyday, coming up with disruptive ideas for cool clients and being given so many incredible opportunities every step of the way.
Getting a job as a creative is stressful and competitive but all you need to do is set your goals and keep pushing forward. Accept that you’re gonna fail a lot, learn from your mistakes, keep asking questions, reach out to people who already know what they’re doing and be bold! Do what you love and your passion will show, just like it does with everyone who works at BeCore.