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Chief
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Chief
What agency is doing the new Twizzler ads?
Anomaly, good move or no?
Going in house is the move, right?
Creative at MediaCom NYC. Thoughts?
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Rising Star
It’s a common practice and many even see it as a professional courtesy that you give them a shot at retaining you, particularly your direct manager.
Realistically though, I haven’t seen it actually play out like that before. They almost never beat/match the competing offer in our industry. There’s also something to be said about staying somewhere everyone knows you were ready to leave…not sure how big of a deal that is but it’s a consideration.
As a manager, I almost never counter. But if someone is great, an offer can accelerate a timeline that was already in progress. Have you *asked* about a promotion? Has your manager taken that seriously and talked about a plan? Because showing up with an offer should be your last resort, not your first attempt. It’s often going to be read as “this person wants a title change so they can leave for even more money”.
In that case, you should look for an offer. But be ready to leave. A manager who can’t meaningfully advocate for you, isn’t likely to help your career advance, even when under pressure.
I’ve negotiated a few promotions and sizable raises this way. The thing is you have to be serious about taking the new offer, because if they don’t match, there’s no going back.
But a lot of the time people just aren’t thinking about you and your situation. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I’m on year 7, I feel you. If you’re title is actually AD (and I know in our industry that could mean 10 different things/levels depending where you are), I assume you’re still in earlier realm of your career. If so, It’s definitely worth entertaining offers, and especially if you are going to get a good opportunity at career growth and a decent pay raise. When the industry was singing with opportunities galore 10-15 years ago, everyone would make a jump every few years. It’s slowed down a lot and those endless open jobs with competitive pay are harder to come by, so if you get a good opportunity I say take it. A lot of people actually boomerang back to old agencies after some time, so you could potentially come back in two years time at an elevated position even.
Yes you’ll need an offer. However, in this economy they might not match it. Instead, most will use your role. As a time to bring in a contractor. Or lower the salary for perm. The non promotion already speaks volumes.
Years ago, i went about four years without a real promotion - got a 1% pay in that time once. Had about 4 or 5 managers in that time too, so nobody was around long enough to fight for me. Interviewed and let my new boss know of the offer (great title and 20% salary bump) and that while i really liked team, it was the best thing for my career. He went to HR, got a title bump and 12-15% increase.
My next raise wasnt for another 3 years and I’m sure if i try it again, there wont be a counter again.
The reality is that the only real way to move up the ladder in this industry is to hop around, don’t burn bridges and you’ll eventually land back at the agency or with the people you really like.
Ive seen some super OK ADs leave and then come back a few short years later as ACDs/CDs with minimal skill increase.
In this industry the best way to get promoted is to leave. I’ve only been promoted once at the same job and it took about 4-5 years.
I know one person that did it successfully