Frank Blossom Diane Teall“You want a template for an ad career, you got a template. So what are you waiting for?”

Powerful Personal Game Plans for Landing the Big One

HIGHLYSCENARIOS OFTHE

SUCCESSFULAD STUDENTS

Frank teaches advertising at Grand Valley State University, runs The Polishing Center, orchestrates The Yardsticks Sessions each October, suffers with the Chicago Cubs each summer, runs Frank Communications, and serves as a Creativity Coach for businesses and organizations. In his spare time (What’s that?) he walks his dog, Stella.

FRANK BLOSSOM

Diane is a Grand Valley graduate and Virginia transplant currently residing in the Western Mitten. She is a self-taught artist (Aren’t we all?), graphic designer and cookie connoisseur with a passion for creative and good advertising. This foodie also loves tastefully bedazzled clothes, Italia, and her boxers Rupert and Stanley.

diane teall

So you want to get a job in

ADVERTISING?

ell, getting an ad job is hard. Heck, it’s tough to even get an interview these days.

It’s a job to get a job. So work it. Employers are just as interested, maybe more, in what you did outside the classroom as in the

classroom. The reality is that grade points and diplomas are table stakes. They get you in the game. They are important. But it’s what you do in addition to classes that set you apart from the other 500 advertising and PR majors at GVSU. Yep, 500, plus the students from Hope, Calvin, Aquinas, Western, Ferris, Central, State… you get the picture.

Why do employers, HR managers, and execs (the people who can hire you) care about your non-academic stuff? Ad people are passionate about the business and their companies. Most will tell you it doesn’t feel like work. They love it. The business is hard work, but it’s energetic, exciting, and a lot of fun. And those ad folks are passionate and very committed to their companies and they are looking for signs that you are also passionate and committed.

WWIt’s the real work, and related activities

on your resume that moves it from the bottom to the top of the pile, ahead of the 150 other students hungry for that job.

What you do outside the classroom shows your drive, your commitment and determination to be a great ad person. Past behavior is the best indication of future behavior. So where do you start? Turn the page and you’ll get a glimpse of seven successful scenarios; seven GVSU grads who, 30 days after picking up their diplomas, were picking up paychecks in good advertising jobs at great agencies. See what they did – the internships, part time and full time jobs, activities, projects, associations and clubs, to set themselves apart. Read up and wise up. Some started preparing in their sophomore years; a few late bloomers began in their senior year. All of them realized they needed to do more to prepare, to prove to employers that they were ready for advertising. And it worked. They are all working at great agencies, getting noticed and getting even more job offers. So check them out. See what you can learn from their success. Get smarter. Put your plan together. Get started.

“During my sophomore year I realized that I wanted to major in Advertising and Public Relations and that I needed to get involved. I joined the advertising club and things catapulted from there. I became heavily involved in Ad Club - helping with projects, volunteering, meeting up for events, The Yardsticks, AAF West Michigan, PRSSA - I really dove in head first.”

When you decide to get into advertising,

“go big stay in bed.”

or

0101JOSIE G.

“Use social media, show

you’re active. Wieden+Kennedy

searched me through my profile

on LinkedIn and recruited me.”

JOBSJOBS

Activities

&STUDENT SENATE, PR COMMITTEE

THE YARDSTICKS, MARKETING COMMITTEE

I n t e r n s h i p sGVSU HEAlTH WEllNESS MARKET ING

SPECTRUM HEAlTHREAGAN MARKET ING

AD AGENCYSTARTED OWNAD AGENCY

IN COLLEGEReagan

marketing

CURRENTJOB

CampbellEwald

projectmanager

@

Reaganmarketing

social mediastrategiest

@

CampbellEwald

ACOMMUNITY MANAGERWIEDEN + KENNEDY

“I applied to internships across the country, over 100 in all, to no avail. In hindsight, this was a huge mistake. I should have selected the 10 or 15 places I'd kill to work for and then created a plan to stand out in their eyes.”

(not just people who want to be in advertising)

companies want to hirePEOPlE WhO WAnT TO WORk FOR ThEM

22 A n G E l A A .

jobsServer @ B.O.B.

GVSU Campus Dining

Marketing Coordinator@ Home Healthcare

THEN

NOWFREELANCE ART DIRECTORSaatchi&Saatchi

{} GVSU Men’S LacroSSe

GVSU FiSh LadderUnited Way

Ad Internships

A AActivitiesActivitiesGVSU AD ClUb

NSAC

THE YARDST ICKS

THE POl ISHING CENTER

“Network with coworkers, guest speakers, interviewers, at events - everywhere; you never know who you will meet and who

they know. Be creative and use your resources. Make them work for you. Check

out the S.O.C. Bulletin Board, even there I found several opportunities that

definitely paid off. From experience, it’s not just what you know, or who you know,

but who knows you.”

“I wasn’t really sure about what direction in advertising I wanted to take, so I started looking into internships. I went to a GVSU internship seminar that taught me how to search for internships in the Grand Valley and West Michigan network. I came across a non-profit that I applied for and, for whatever reason, the director liked me (with the little experience that I had) and I got the internship!”

FREELANCE WRITER @

&G R A N D R A P I D S P R E S SO N T H E T O W N

jobs

AD2 AAFAD CLUB

She registered with a temp agency and picked up marketing assistant jobs all through college.

Internship

WRITER: Big Idea MagazineA Communication Arts trade

publication covering Twin Cities, Detroit, and Chicago

Activities

I got my first job by being flexible. I was a copywriter/traffic manager/office supply organizer and,

eventually, a full-time copywriter.

33COPYWRITER

GREY MATTER GROUPMASTERS PROGRAM

SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN

Current

“

n I CO l E C .

”

1st Advertising Job

“I had several colleagues critique my resume and I went to several resume-building events. Networking was key in my success at GVSU. People I met introduced me to new opportunities, but it was up to me to follow up and earn them.”

A n D R E W R . 44INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY ANALYST

AGENT Xn o wn o wA

AD2

The Yardsticks

Polishing Center

Freelance Photographer

internship

“I SEO’d my web site content to raise my search position. I

networked with ad industry leaders through Twitter

and LinkedIn.”

nominated for

30U N D E R

PEOPlE TO WATCH IN

WESTMICHIGAN30

STEKETEE GRIENER & CO.

Activities

“After I decided to pursue the creative side of advertising, I did everything in my power to catch up. I read books like Hey Whipple Squeeze This, attended seminars through the West Michigan Ad Club, entered competitions like

The Yardsticks, ADDY Awards and CMYK’s creative contest and enrolled in programs like The Polishing Center to build a portfolio. Then, as I graduated, I realized that my journey had just begun.”

55M I k E R .

ACTIVITIES

RARESIDENCE ASSISTANT

POLISHING CENTER

SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTIONS

> music committee

ORIENTATION AMBASSADOR

GVSU

Student Senate

Produced videos for:Student Life

History Dept. Career Counseling

Study Abroad Office INTERNSHIPSAdSuparama Supa Monkey (London)

Williams Group

Hanon McKendry

GRTV

Triangle Productions

G E T I N T H E R E A N D G E T D I R T Ycollege is the time to find out what you hate and what you love.

J O B S

(Freelance)

FILM/VIDEO PRODUCTION

dance hall craze

productions

english teacher

(Thailand)

Writer

(TV station)

(Freelance)

copywriting

A Current ACurrentCREATIVE DIRECTOR

17 TRIGGERS (BANGKOK, THAILAND)

COPYWRITER PHIBIOUS.COM, (CAMBODIA/VIETNAM)

Advertising Job1st

“”

6“When I was 12, I had an interview for a middle school program. To prepare for it, my dad coached me. He asked me common interview questions and gave me lots of encouragement. But here’s the twist: We did the practice interviews while playing Ping-Pong. This forced me out of being rigid. I had no time to think of the correct script! It pushed me to speak naturally. It really made interviewing fun. And it taught me how to make an interview more of a conversation and less of a one-way exchange.”

66 J U l I E k .

JOBSad jobs current

AD ASSISTANT @ TIGER STUDIOASSISTANT PAID SEARCH MEDIA

PlANNER @ TEAM DETROIT

“Get really involved in clubs, associations, try out a number of

internships and network.”

ASSOCIATE PAID SEARCH STRATEGIST@ MORPHEUS MEDIA, (NYC)

AD INTERNSHIPS

ACTIVITIESGVSU AD ClUb

PRSSA

THE YARDSTICKS MARKETING TEAM

AAF, PRSSA NATIONAl CONFERENCES

GVSU INTERNSHIP SEMINARS

West Michigan Trails & Greenways

Stevens Advertising

WGVU TV & Radio

“The knowledge you gain in the classroom is far inferior to that which is gained in an agency; however, once you’re inside an agency, you realize you will be a student for the rest of your life. In that regard, be sure to keep learning, reading not just trade publications but also any other area of interest.”

Notes

7A J M .7I N T E R N S H I P

(DEVElOPMENT)GVSU Student Housing

Activities

JOBSFREELANCE

COPYWRITER

golf club fitting

technician

@

galaxy golf

sales

@

whittaker

associates

research

The Yardsticks

NSAC

GVSU Ad Club

Addy Awards

GVSU AMA - V.P.

Polishing Center

CMYK Creative Competition

AAF - West Michigan Seminars

COPYWRITERCRISPIN, PORTER + BOGUSKY

C U R R E N T

“I interned, making thousands of cold calls for

marketing research, so I got comfortable communicating with

people who wanted nothing to do with what I had to say. It wasn’t directly related, but it’s all had an enormous impact on how I craft

my creative today.”

1 s t A D V E R T I S I N G J O B

COPYWRITERTEAM DETROIT

“The hiring process from Team Detroit was an interesting one. I had reached out to Team Detroit SEVERAL times my senior year of high school and got no response. The HR representative, who contacted me about the position that I have today, went back and retrieved all the emails that I sent her and said she was impressed with my determination and diligence. MY hARD WORk hAD PAID OFF!”

“I had a good answer for the question,

‘What’s going on in social media.’”

“I met the AD AGENCY RECRUITER who hired me when she came to GVSU. look for those opportunities to start

relationships.”

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“The HR person said she liked my experience abroad as well as my portfolio that came with it. One thing that stuck out to her was the fact I was a Black Belt in karate. Oh yes, and

“I think Team Detroit hired me because I had experience in what they were looking for (Social Media from my previous internships). They were also very impressed with how highly involved and active I was in school and for all my efforts of reaching out to them.”

“I was the only applicant to send her a thank you card.”

I asked the Co-Chief Creative Officers why they hired me. He actually said he didn’t want to, but the other one talked him into it. Their main motivation in pulling the trigger was that I had produced a couple pretty good pieces at what they considered a sub-par agency. They said, “If you could get those ads out of that place, we were curious what you’d do under our roof.” And beyond that, they knew coming from a blue-collar state meant I was ready to work hard.”

“

“Check out the School of Comm Bulletin Board, even there I found several opportunities

that definitely paid off. Because, from my own experience, it’s not just what you know, or who you

know, but WhO knOWS YOU.”

SO WHAT?Now what? You’ve seen what seven highly successful students did while they were at GVSU to set them up for great jobs in the ad business.

Seven people who sat in the same seats, had the same advisors, took the same classes, probably ate some of same lame pizza at Kirkhof. Just like you.

You’ve seen how they combined internships, jobs, activities and associations along with their major into a power package that helped persuade some top agencies to hire them.

These seven people demonstrated their desire, passion and commitment to the ad business. So can you.

And guess what? The GVSU Ad Club, PRSSA, GVSU AMA, the National Student Advertising Competition, The Polishing Center, West Michigan AAF

and all the same campus organizations are still out there. And they are all looking for new members, officers, volunteers and workers. The internships, jobs, seminars are out there, too.

These seven highly success-ful students took advantage of the opportunities while they

were in college. They didn’t sit back and wait for something to happen. And they are knocking down good salaries at great agencies today. Having a lot of fun, too.

They didn’t sit back and wait for something to happen.

Make your plan.Work your plan.

High fives and chest bumps to AJ Musial, Nicole Corley, Julie Kuhn, Andrew Rushmore, Angela Antonio, Josie Goldberg and Mike Rios for sharing their successes.

And huge kudos to Paul Soltysiak and Holland litho Printing for taking our words and designs and turning them into a solid piece of successful communication.

thank you