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Toronto ad fish 🤠 I’ve spent most of my career working as a copywriter in London (6 years here, 2 years Toronto) and the market is pretty different here. I’m planning on moving back home but wondered….how do you find work in Toronto? Agencies barely post openings, is the recruiter scene strong? Is it mostly who you know?
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That’s a tough spot to be in, but it does happen more often than you’d think. I usually try to find specific examples or patterns before bringing it up, just to make sure it’s not a one-off clash of styles. If it’s clear the team’s work is suffering, having a private, honest conversation with upper management can help, especially if you frame it around how it affects projects, not just personal opinions.
If someone’s level of work is affecting the team as a whole and bringing down the standard, then it’s time to escalate the issue. It’s a tough business, we all know that. If you can’t keep up, you get left behind. That’s the reality of it.
I mean of course there are other factors at play like effort and work ethic and general likability. Like if someone objectively isn’t good at big idea thinking, but does fine when you pick a lane for them, then put them on the lower funnel campaign level stuff. Not everyone is a superstar awards machine and that’s okay. Being a good leader means playing to your team members’ strengths.
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Have you given them a chance or jumping to conclusions?
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Curious what agencies in town have copy supervisors?
Health agencies
I was in a similar situation years ago when I was still fairly intermediate in my career. I handled the problem the wrong way which resulted in me getting terminated without cause with the company citing "fit" issues.
6 months after, a designer who newly joined the team reached out to me citing similar issues with said person. Then shortly after that I heard someone filed an anonymous complaint about her to upper management. Eventually the person was demoted and transferred to another department. So I got axed for being right about them. That's how internal office politics works.
As someone else mentioned, just stay in your lane, and out of trouble. Just focus on your work and your contributions.
You have to remember there's no such thing as the perfect employee. Everyone has their weaknesses and flaws, as much as they have strengths.
In my experience, it's often a cause of the person being in a unsupportive work environment or someone being in a role they weren't suitable for in the first place. Maybe they were promoted because there was an internal business need. I've also seen this in agencies that don't have senior budget to hire talent and then hire underqualified candidates to perform at a level they don't have the experience or internal mentorship for.
There's a lot of complexities to it. Not sure what your role is or if you have to work closely with the supervisor but you'll just have to work around them. Focus on your own thing, let the rest sort its self out.