Have you ever felt trapped by your agency - like you're not happy with pay, projects, or whatever things but also the work isn't good enough to get you quality interviews -what'd you do next?

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Posting as :
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The longer you stay, the harder it’ll be to get out.

likesmart

I was stuck in a job/agency like that during a relatively early part of my career. The only thing I could, and did, do was to work on spec work in the evenings and weekends. In other words I’d look at the clients/jobs/projects going through my agency and then completely re-imagine them, including changing the briefs, to the point that they would be good projects to work on. Then I’d do my damndest to come up with great ideas. At the very least you end up with a book of good ideas that ‘the client didn’t buy’. And the actual process of doing all that is good training too. Admittedly this was as I said relatively early in my career. As a senior writer you’ll have to consider whether it’s tight for you. But it’s a good way to get past the crap work barrier.

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Side or proactive project that gets a lot of press.

I know a decent creative who won like 15 lions with one side project and it shot them up mediocre creative at a mediocre agency to now being a CD at a much better agency.

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Time to start looking.

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I think they’re saying they are looking but can’t get interviews.

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Freelance. Make connections.

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I started side hustles that got noticed by the press and has helped me get in great agencies. Side hustles get a bad rep (and I get it - #selfcare etc) but they’re a great outlet for those who work in environments where all the stars don’t align.

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Solving problems they are aware of.
Eg. Making this up - With the rise of live social audio, how do we make platforms accessible to people who have hearing disabilities?
A recent problem (or ongoing) that hasn’t been solved and gives a fresh perspective

Something that makes them think, “wow I didn’t think of that - so smart yet so simple”

All the time, for about 20 years.

Posted your question on Linkedin...will share good responses as they come in.

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Paul Renner is a great guy and CD. My advice is to take his advice!

Thanks for the gamut of suggestions. We'll see what comes. In the meantime I'll keep swinging away at each brief on the hopes they're not all deaf ears.

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We should make a shareable version of those templated AICP Awards Judge Portraits, but for people in furlough.

It will be an exciting series of job seeking announcements.

likesmartfunny

What should I be reading to keep up to do date with new (good) ads. Adfreak? Other?

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What's Your Take?:

Asking creatives to work on a project with lots of award potential but minimal budget/billable time allocations. So the majority of the work would be done on personal time.

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likesmartfunny

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This showed up on my Facebook feed. Is it because I put the blackout square (I didn’t use that incorrect hashtag, by the way).

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Feelings about project managers? Good, bad, otherwise?

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