Advertising Careers: What to Expect
Advertising jobs are great for people who want to use their creativity in the business world. Organization, people skills, and forward thinking are also great traits that will help you in your quest for the right advertising position. You'll deal with deadlines, clients, and a team day in and day out, so you'll need to be flexible and focused. Some jobs in advertising require you to do market research and completely understand the area where your ad will be running. If you have these skills and talents, take a look below at the types of careers available in this fast paced field.
Advertising Jobs
Depending on where you're at in your advertising career, you'll have different opportunities available to you as you enter the job market. In smaller ad agencies, you'll probably have a wide variety of responsibilities, whereas in a larger agency you'll be more specialized and won't be asked to do much outside of your particular job description. Most people start in advertising as assistants and work their way up, so if you're just starting out, look for these jobs in account management and media departments.
- Media Careers - Media careers usually start in assistant positions, where you will be doing a great deal of clerical work. For example, the assistant media planner analyzes consumer habits and makes recommendations on where an ad will most likely get the consumer's attention. Assistant media buyers actually purchase the airtime and ad space and follow up to make sure that the ads appear at the appointed time. When your career progresses and you become a media buyer or planner, senior media buyer or planner, and on upwards, you'll take on more responsibility with your clients.
- Account Management Careers - When they first start working in account management, people in high level positions in this area worked as account coordinators, administrative assistants, or assistant account executives to ensure that ads when smoothly from concept to reality for a client. Sometimes, some research is required for this job, but usually the account executive handles the important aspects of an account. Perhaps the most important part of these advertising jobs is setting client expectations and managing the team that will produce the ad for your account.
- Careers in Account Planning - These advertising jobs are great for people who love to analyze data. On any given day you'll find yourself conducting focus groups or doing research on why people love one brand and not another. Once you quantify and qualify consumer desires, you can make strong recommendations concerning the proper direction for an ad campaign.
- Creative Advertising Careers - To get started in the creative advertising field, you'll need to put together a portfolio of sample ads to show ad agencies. You can start putting together your portfolio while working as an assistant in an agency's creative department. Your first official creative job will probably be as a junior copywriter or art director. You will assist a senior employee in either writing or designing the ads. Both departments work together to come up with creative ideas for a client's strategy.
- Advertising Production - Entry-level positions in ad production involve a lot of physical labor, but the rewards as you move up can be substantial. You'll get to have more say in the design of the ad and will be responsible for the physical creation of the ad itself. Production can be a great path to work in other aspects of advertising as well.
Applying to Advertising Jobs
Finding a job with an ad agency will be much easier for you if you have a bachelor's degree with a liberal arts background in advertising, public relations, sociology, psychology, literature, or journalism. You can also increase your chances of success by getting an internship and taking courses in marketing, statistics, economics, and other business related subjects. Creative design courses can also help. You also might want to consider taking courses in HTML or other interactive technology so that you are more valuable to perspective employers.
If you know you want a creative advertising job, consider getting a degree in art or applying to a design school. Employers usually look for a BA or MBA with a focus in marketing for their sales and marketing focused jobs. If you're just starting a career in advertising after working in another industry, be prepared to go back to school or start in an entry level position. Because this industry is competitive, it is much harder to make a lateral move from another industry.
The Advertising Job Market
As long as there is media to display ads, advertising will be a thriving industry. As long as you have a passion for the business and are willing to start from the beginning, you can look forward to a long career in advertising.
JobsOnline Can Help
If you've had trouble sifting through all the job listings on the internet trying to find the right position for you, JobsOnline can help. At JobsOnline, you can search posts from all over the web by industry and location. You'll be able to find great jobs in advertising in your area in no time. Use JobsOnline to find the perfect job today.