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As a CCO (who was once a junior) I can offer three pieces of advice:
1) Ask the creative service manager and also every CD in the agency if they could use an extra hand. Help to help, not to get credit.
2) Pay attention, be aware of the teams and leaders who are putting in long hours. Again, offer to help. Make this about reducing their pain, not a way to demonstrate your talent.
3) Be eager, be enthusiastic, but also be patient. From your perspective, things may seem to move slowly. But your bosses probably have a lot going on that you just wouldn’t see or know about.
It’s not easy to be a junior. You have more to offer than anyone will know. The trick is to be smart without looking like you’re trying to prove how smart you are.
I wish you a great career!
One of the issues is only one creative team is allowed on each project. So there’s never room for an additional creative, which makes it tricky to help on things. Additionally resourcing has stopped me from ‘helping out’ because there wasn’t scope to add another creative. So if I can’t get on things by asking lower level CDs, my next plan is to go up higher and express what I see as them not getting the potential value that I’d like to be offering.
Great advice from the others but the truth is get good at Politics. Learn how to move in this industry. Learn how to speak up, and when to speak up.
Befriend the right colleagues, eat lunch with the CDs and SR folks.
Don’t pour your soul into this. Be passionate but don’t tie your worth to your work load. Live life, be on time, and be attentive.
Great advice ^. As a junior producer I made the resource manager my best friend and always let them know when I felt “light”. I would always rather be too busy than sitting around and while that can be stressful at times, it gave me a huge leg up when it was time to move up.
I think all this advice is great but also I want you to be really aware of burn out. Don’t take on too much either. Do just enough to be billable and build your book. I am almost two years in recovery from burnout and I still feel the affects of it sometimes.
People are being tactful here with some great advice. I'll be less tactful and say going over your CDs head to complain to your ECD is a dumb move.
I have mandatory reviews where I’m encouraged to be open and honest. I think I’m taking everyone’s advice and will voice it in my next review in a couple months. Definitely watching my tone and going to try and express my honest desire to want to help out more, and that I am actively attempting to do so. I think I underestimated how aggressively I need to be to actually pick up bits and pieces of work (it’s like wresting a tennis ball from a dogs jaw). I appreciate all the great words everyone has imparted 🙏
Great advice above. Proactive ideas for your clients are also your friend.
I have done stuff for our agency and the bosses have enjoyed that! I’m continuing to come up with stuff when I see our leadership has bandwidth and appetite for it. Appreciate the encouragement.
As a CD, I still always volunteer for any teams that need help. You want to stay valued and billable. And to grow your skills and build your book. More exposure means a better path ahead. And if there are any training ops, jump in to show you care! And, at the end of the day, ask if anyone needs any help so they don’t work too late.
Rising Star
Speak to your ECD if you can’t get anywhere with your manager or CD. Some CDs hoard their people, and don’t share them more broadly because they prefer to control what their teams work on. It depends on the size of the agency you’re at. But when a junior schedules time to meet with me to ask advice on their career, and offer help on anything, I almost always take them up on it. The only exception is if the junior is not as talented as they think they are. Make sure you’re nailing every assignment you’re given by your manager if that’s a sup, ACD or CD.
This might be a stretch but have you ever asked your HR/talent experience/opps team/ERG programming lead if they need help with any writing? A lot of agencies have internal comms or programs that they could use creative help with (making slides for a presentation, making in-office signage or emails, social posts, etc). Might sound kind of lame but it can get you a lot of credit and visibility within the agency 🤷🏻♀️