Temple Alumni’s Young Professionals
Has anyone ever talked to you about the benefits of joining Temple Ad Club? Well if they haven’t, I’ll give you one reason you should. The guest speakers are an amazing asset to your education here at Temple and an even bigger asset when you go job searching after graduation. At this weeks Temple Ad Club meeting we were proud to bring back two of Temple Ad Club’s Alumni, Dani Masi (former TAC President) and Benjamin Dailey (former TAC Agency Director). Together they gave the low down on the advertising industry, how they approached getting a job after graduation, and why it’s important to stay ahead of the game.
Dani Masi a Spring 2012 grad now works as an account coordinator at D4 Creative Group here in the Greater Philadelphia area. D4 has a variety of tools including a green screen, video suite, and their very own in house photographer. Dani was very fortunate with her current position after being hired as an intern and then within two weeks being hired full time and now 5 months into her first job she is the lead account coordinator on the Veria Living account, a health and wellness channel. One specific area that I was particularly interested in hearing about was how Dani got to be an account coordinator after completing the copywriting track here at Temple. She said it is not uncommon for you to shuffle through various positions in an agency when your starting out. During the interview process Dani told them her strengths and after two weeks as an intern they placed her where she would be able to effectively use those skills as an asset to the company. Her best piece of advice was to, “be confident about your skills and honest about where you are interested in learning more”. She followed up by saying “This is the time you can be picky” referring to applying to agencies or companies that fit your particular needs. It is imperative to choose an agency that you feel you would fit into just as much as they choose employees based on the same. Life in the agency was another issue Dani addressed and sure enough started out with, “Advertising attracts the weirdest people” and that we should all expect to spend late nights working. The good news is that she said the freedom and creativity of an agency life make the long hours easier. Her advice to current students in the advertising department here at Temple is to be on the social networks, learn how to use them because it will impress your older bosses and most importantly believe in your work. Having a tough skin is imperative in the industry because clients will yell at you, coworkers will yell at you but you have to power through it because in the end it will work out for the best. Dani also asked her coworkers at D4 to offer up some wise words for our students as well. They included: Have an Opinion. Debate graciously. Do things that make you uncomfortable- its finally okay to talk to strangers. Sometimes clients don’t know they asked for the wrong thing until they see it for themselves. Ask people to explain their jobs to you, ad people LOVE to talk about themselves. Lastly, read Hey Whipple Squeeze This.
Ben Dailey another Temple grad from Spring 2011 now works as a junior strategist at MRM in Princeton and sometimes travels to New York City. Ben offered tons of advice for students looking to get into the advertising industry. He started out by emphasizing the importance of staying active at Temple by joining clubs such as Temple Ad Club as well as keeping good relationships with your teachers, they have the best connections! Some advice for outside the classroom was to subscribe to Ad Age and know whats going on in the industry your about to break into. Take a look at marketingprofs.com, mashable.com, and gizmodo.com. After graduation Ben advised looking into the possiblity of portfolio schools including Miami Ad School and Chicago Portfolio School. If you want to break straight into the industry however he advised looking at a few sites including, glassdoor.com, indeed.com, mediabistro.com, and of course linkedin.com. A great way to utilize your teachers once again is to ask for recommendations on LinkedIn as well as from bosses at any internships you may have had. Ben also touched on how life at a bigger agency compares. The good and the bad include, “You work so hard you would think your the owner of the company, everyday is different and refreshing, you form a bond with your coworkers- they are like a family, its laid back for the most part, you work late hours in a sometimes stressful environment, and the advertising industry has a high turn over rate.”
Overall both Dani and Ben expressed that agency life is nothing to fear. Every job has its ups and downs but advertising is an incredibly fun and rewarding industry and students should be excited to prep their books and perfect their resumes because entering the working world will be here faster than you know it!
