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Ok be honest, candidates. I really love this set of questions, I’ve been considering shifting my current interview style to these questions - I think they really give you an idea of who this person would be within the work setting. But the questions almost feel too deep for a recruiter to ask. What would you think if a recruiter took a different path and asked these questions instead of the usual ones?
https://blog.shrm.org/blog/9-interesting-interview-questions-that-actually-reveal-a-lot-about-candidat
Hi,
If I get referred at IBM, get a mail for details from the HR but do not reply as I currently don't want to switch because of some reasons, can I get referred again after say 3 months?
Asking cuz the profile blocks for an year after applying/getting referred at Accenture.
Please help with the answer.
IBM
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Off Topic : 1) When Does a software engineer start financial planning for retirement since the our Career span is only 15-20 years on average.
2) How much and which schemes to invest to mitigate the risk?
3) How much do we need for retirement? Tata Consultancy Infosys Mindtree IBM Wipro Capgemini Cognizant HCL Technologies
Hi,
If I get referred at IBM, get a mail for details from the HR but do not reply as I currently don't want to switch because of some reasons, can I get referred again after say 3 months?
Asking cuz the profile blocks for an year after applying/getting referred at Accenture.
Please help with the answer.
IBM
Additional Posts in Advertising
God damn Carrie Fisher you guys
Mute button horror stories.
Your opinion on VaynerMedia?
Pro
Ahh get a second job. Thanks Wired.
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My favorite part was when he complained about a Creative Director not being held to the same standard as a production intern. Like, ya think? One of these people has proven themselves over the years and the other is trying out for a job. Get real.
AD1 first of all. Ad agencies consistently say they want diversity that comes from unconventional places. Then, when they get talent like the intern in this article, they treat him just like any talent. You can’t expect everyone to just adapt to your industry’s bullshit ways ESPECIALLY if you say you want people that don’t come from your way of life. Just think how would YOU have felt if you didn’t know shit about the industry and you had this guy’s experience? And for you to say he should’ve spoken up and defended himself? Are you out of your mind? Do you have any semblance of empathy for how it must feel to be an intern in a field you don’t understand. Second of all. And not sure why you brought this up. But since you like to read between lines that aren’t there. But Black people deserve MORE period. Especially considering how this industry and the world has treated them. But honestly that’s none of your musty ass business.
Lol. This is why conversations are hard! Hard to have one without everyone shouting each other down!
It does sound like normal agency stuff - and that’s because most agencies are awful in general and even more so from a d&i perspective.
Am I missing something?
It really sounds like everything I went through when I was an intern...the experiences from someone who was very green and didn’t quite know how to navigate their environment yet.
But isn’t that kind of the purpose of an internship? To learn how to operate in an agency environment?
I feel for the guy, but sounds like he went in with expectations, got stuck on them and didn’t know how to make the most of the opportunities that were in front of him.
Chief
1. Just because agencies treat everyone terribly doesn’t make it okay. I can’t imagine how much worse it is for POC.
2. Regardless of his employment status his CD specifically said he would call him for an exit interview and never did
As SMM1 said, the behavior is still not ok. It's not normal and shouldn't be normalized in this industry or anywhere else. You can call out the offender or remain as a victim to it. AdAge though is definitely using the topic of race for issues that do happen to people beyond race. There's a lot of a-holes that got to move up the ladder without consequences in this industry.
Im sure he experienced racism. There’s no doubt. But a lot of the stuff is typical advertising stuff that happens to everyone. Like getting ghosted after great interviews. Claiming they didn’t hire him because he’s black with zero proof is absurd. Also, the dude was an intern who thought all agency people did was sit around and come up with cool ideas, and he’s surprised he didn’t get hired? He knows nothing about how an agency works. Maybe stop yelling racism and listen instead.
I just want to thank everyone for their discussion and points of view. A couple people have said things to the effect of “I can’t believe we are even having this conversation.” I think the conversation is the point. If everyone already agreed with what was in the article then there would be no point in publishing it.
I’m already glad I asked this question because I legitimately did not think what he mentioned in the article sounded like racism. It sounded like what we all experience every day. But what I as a white man experience as “part of the job” has to feel very different to someone entering the workplace as an other. Someone who has been treated as other his whole life. Thank you to everyone who had the patience to respond and dialogue about what was written above.
Pro
Strategist. This isn't something to be analyzed or handled. I see someone spewing bs, I call em out. It's one umbrella, systemic racism. Y'all really don't get it, there's no telling folks how to react to oppression. Not after 400 years. We tried allat.
Pro
After growing up a minority, the way agencies typically treat their staff and freelancers could very well feel racially motivated.
And maybe it was racial
But I think what many of us are saying here is that it may not have been. Just agency asshole-ness that he projected his pre existing beliefs and experiences onto.
Pro
Advertising publications aren't known for their journalism.
It's 85% just copying and pasting agency press releases. Should we really be surprised when, given the chance to do some actual journalism, they drop the ball?
This is an AdAge hitjob on 72. That’s what it is.
He had a bad experience that could easily have been made better with minor, less sloppy tweaks. At least he got paid though and it wasn’t an unpaid internship. Still the lack of mentoring is bad.
(Though not exclusive to 72, despite that not making it right)
BUT: to conflate this with race, highlight 72, and neglect ALL actual sexual harassment, gross negligence, institutionalised racism stories? Because this was bigger news? AdAge might have some soul searching to do about clickbair virtue signalling and what is actually important to the diversity cause.
I just couldn’t get passed the part where he filled out the general application on the website and got a call back? Who does that happen to? That’s some rom-com level of awesomeness right there.
Rising Star
Right, and “totally normal agency stuff” is perfect and shall never be questioned.
Holy hell. This dude had interviews at a couple agencies and wasn't hired??? That's some vile racist trash right there. This is exactly what we've all been protesting against. This is what the movement is about.
I’m having a hard time seeing this story framed as an example of racism or bias. It looks like this guy took a role he didn’t want and didn’t understand and he wasn’t great in. The trope of the non-creative who wants to be creative is also pretty common in this business. I’ve definitely seen FL fired abruptly or dumped into a conference room when space gets low. If they paid out his FL contract thats really all he is owed.
At best there seems like a mismatch between what he thought production or strategy is at an agency and what it’s called in a school.
If somebody wants to point out where they see racial bias in this story that would be helpful for me, thanks.
huh?
These sound like standard internship and entry level issues. It’s great if people make an effort to mentor, but most employers are sink or swim.
Sounds like pretty standard agency stuff to be honest, don’t get me wrong, bad shit goes down in agencies every single day. Just like any company. People are disrespected, treated like second class citizens and under-utilised all the time. Flat hierarchies are bullshit. The people that get on and move up are the ones that remain driven, upbeat with clients, and most importantly, keep resilient. Agency life, like management consultant life, or law life, or banking life, is about resilience. I look at this guy and think ‘what a disappointment’, you can’t fix the system from outside of it. Not to say that agencies have MAAAAASIVE issue with acquiring and then RETAINING diverse talent. I had a friend hired by AKQA and the ECD spent most reviews asking to touch her Afro....
Isn’t it a downer that all this bad behavior has been normalized...standard practice & tolerance. Advertising is no role model.
Chief
Freelancers don’t get exit interviews.
The good ones do.
Pro
Only a small percentage speak up, that number is growing: https://www.thecut.com/article/excerpt-this-is-major-by-shayla-lawson.html
That was a great read, thanks.
How can someone who was an intern also be a freelance strategy Exec???
“Serial entrepreneur” is killing me. Congrats on the 500 bucks selling cookbooks, big guy.
Well I hope he doesn't want to work at an ad agency again because calling out a specific agency in that article pretty much guaranteed he won't be anyways.
It’s not just you
Lol, good luck with that