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Bny taken all 3 interview on Saturday & cleared all. #1 Code pair + technical #2 Cross functional #3 Bar raiser . On Monday, HR asked me to send require documents but not scheduled any HR discussion call. I sent docs to HR. Is there any HR discussion call happening in BNY ? How much time BNY takes to release offer post document submission/HR discussion ? BNY Mellon | Pershing Bny mellon technology BNY Mellon BNY
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I wouldn’t hire a Creative Director today unless I could verify that they legitimately performed in the roles and titles they claim. It’s the opposite of OP’s dilemma: I know of people assuming CD titles with one year or less of experience (or none) in the ascending roles. In an era when every agency, brand, fashion house, hospital, local grocery chain and roller rink has a Creative Director, the title has been as debased as those who worked hard to earn and achieve it. Many who deserve to hold it are forced to hide their experience while some who seek it aren’t above inflating theirs or making it up entirely.
Is this an East Coast thing? That's the impression I got in NY. Not so much in SF.
You can only put off the inevitable for so long. It’s a small industry, not that hard to figure out where you’ve been. And it’s hard to look eternally youthful. Even with all the lopping of decades and messing around with resumes it’s hard to look ten years younger.
At some point, the game ends.
I had a great career. Did the Max Headroom campaign for Coke. Did the Saturn Launch campaign. Worked in BMW and Levi’s. If you think you’ve got problems, I can’t show any of that work because it’s all SD and looks like it was done by Neanderthals. But that’s water under the bridge.
I stayed in the game until I turned 50. That was in 2003. I pivoted, got into video production and had a good 15 year second career in that space. Now, even though I was trained as an art director, I’m writing. And it turns out there’s tons of work for me. I work directly for clients, small agencies, production companies, myself. I’m 65 years old.
My message is this - there’s life for creative people after agencies. But you have to get out of the agency mindset. Your knowledge and experience are invaluable but agencies have twisted things horribly so you need to hide it.
They make noises about how important the creative is but the brutal truth is that at the end of the day most suits see creative as window dressing and creatives as annoying crybabies who have to be tolerated until they can be booted out and a fresh crop of naive, wide-eyed babies are brought in. It’s economics. It’s expensive to keep people around who have decades of experience and what they’ve found is that they can get away with using malleable youngsters until they get too expensive.
So move on. Don’t be the person standing outside in the cold looking in the window at all the beautiful people enjoying their sumptuous meals and fine wines. Use your creative skills to make your own reality. A reality in which you are in control and not beholden to people who just do not care about you.
You can do this
This is a great, thoughtful response. Thank you.
What a pathetic statement about our biz.
While I’m still employed I need a new gig and I’m about to do the same. I worked on some top brands in the 90s and early 00s and it kills me to “crop” that off my resume to help make me seem more 30. Alas, I have to play by the rules, and the rules today say experience is not valued.
I feel for you, OP. I’m in the same boat
With all the 80s and 90s childhood nostalgia factor trending, you would think they’d be LOOKING to hire all of us
And with all the disposable money that boomers have (I’m Gen-x) you’d think clients would be putting $$$ towards that demo rather than Gen-Z and Millennials
I just did this on my LinkedIn and took off everything before 2007. I’m only 41 and really didn’t think I’d experience this yet. :(
I did the exact same thing last year and got a job in a week that has turned into FT Director level. I couldn’t get an interview for 10 months before I did that.
I did this about a year ago but often I’ve had recruiters ask me to send another rez with dates. Ugh! I was also told by a recruiter that she thought I was the most qualified and best fit for a CD position but couldn’t even send me for consideration because the client specifically said they didn’t want to see anyone with more than 10 years’ experience - even when I lop 10 yrs off my rez I still have too much experience!
That’s ridiculous.... they want LESS than ten years of experience for a CD? 10 years should be the minimum...
I’ve thought about doing this, but I’ll just go in-house if agencies are gonna be that myopic. No wonder there’s a brain drain to in-house.
I suppose it depends on industry and company. There’s a lot of in-house work outside tech. And even all tech companies aren’t the same. My wife works in-house and her CD is in her 60’s.
I'm sorry you're having a difficult time. I hope this works out for you.
They’re only interested in the last ten years. More than that and you’re old, outdated. Sad but true.
WK (and similar agencies) will get you 5 more seconds when recruiters look at your book. But if the work is old and begins to look more like a museum it’s probably a good idea to archive the work.
I had a good run with WK and MAL when they were really recent. My cold calls to recruiters got a response. But as time passes, the work becomes dated.
What market are you in?
Put those agencies down as freelance. Then you can show you worked there, without having to reveal how long you were there. It’s an easy and realistic way to cram a lot of agencies in a short period of time.
What also sucks is that I may have to remove stuff from my book. There are a few pieces that use an older tagline that give away the age of the campaign.
I have a Blackberry ad in my book. Death by kwerty
Does this bias happen at the recruiter level? Because I would never see experience as a negative and I can't imagine many ECDs would. But maybe recruiters are editing them out.
Heard it from a ton of recruiters. They are your gatekeepers and filter out the people you get to see.
How is this legal?
It’s not legal. But it’s reality.
Is this real?! This is terrifying.
Question: if you were chopping off Wieden, would you still do it?
Hey c’mon, you’re stereotyping. Some recruiters were also yoga instructors, managers at a GAP store or art school flunkies.
Do you do this on LinkedIn as well? I feel it’s harder to “hide” dates unless you delete them (ie when you graduate college)
I thought about doing this too. Please update to let us know if you start getting better responses.