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(Unfortunately) you have to know someone to get an "in" when you have minimal experience & the industry will only work for you when you network. Best of luck!
Not to be nosy, but why are you looking for internship positions if you're already an AP? Maybe you could put in time there and switch within your company?
I would just apply to entry level roles if I were you and work on building a portfolio of your ideas. If you have a network that's really what matters.
Strategy internships are pretty hard to get if you don't have a network. I think they're also in high demand, so even if you have an "in" you really need to make sure your portfolio is up to par.
Make it up. Pick brands you like or that you think should revamp and then outline an insight/strategy in a concise in creative way. Look at strategy blogs and brief templates for guidance. Ask planners you know for feedback. I doubt any agency will expect an entry level strategist to know exactly what they're doing, they just want to see your thinking and research skills.
1. Do people really do 3-4 internships these days?! That's insane!
2. Agree that you should apply for entry-level roles. Just because you don't have direct experience doesn't mean you aren't qualified. You have actual job experience in a related field, which is valuable and means you understand the world of advertising in general. You understand the strategy of planning media, so it's not a stretch to think you can understand the strategy of planning creative, especially considering many media agencies tend to present topline creative concepts these days. To plan media, you have to have some understanding of the role of creative. You very well may not be getting these internships because you're "overqualified."
Honestly, having the media planning experience likely even gives you a leg up on your competition because you can also bring insights about media placement types (or whatever you guys do) into your creative strategy (and that could be a big benefit seeing as how there is often not alignment between media and creative agency POV). Position yourself to show why working at a media agency is a strength and apply for a junior planner/strategist role.
Edit to add: it also couldn't hurt to take some free coursera classes or something similar to get more knowledge to show you're passionate and dedicated to this. YMMV on whether or not you want to include that in your CV. Maybe in your email.
Any recommendations on where to find strategy spec. work to put in a portfolio?
I recently hired an entry level strategist - rare! She has at least three internships so it is indeed a thing.
I had three three major internships and contract roles while in college 🤦🏼♀️ also- do not listen to HR. I asked the same question on here a couple weeks ago about moving from strategy to creative strategy. I was told to pitch it and sell how you can be valuable to creative strategy teams. Also not sure where you work now but if it's not a creative agency try to find a strategy role at one. You interact much more with the content and brief your creative teams. Then you might have smoother transition into creative strategy given that you've partook in the execution of creative campaigns. It may take several steps but a demotion from an assistant planner to an intern should NOT be one of them.
Is this just norm for strategy or is this normal for all jobs now? Am I really that old?
I'm an Assistant Media Planner looking to move in to creative strategy which is why I'm applying to internships. And my company only does media so I can't really switch within.
You're not getting them because you already have a full time job (after college, presumably). What others said above. (And btw, how do you know who gets the internships and what their background is, including that they've done 3-4 internships already???)
@AD I just look people up on LinkedIn to see who ended up getting it.
And every HR person I've spoken to has told me I need internship experience before they can consider me for full time roles.
Don't talk to HR, talk directly to planners! Also I'm currently an entry level planner and I technically had 4 internships before I got my current job. It's a very normal thing.
On my 4th internship, shopping for #5. For my first strategy internship, I did a faux deck acting as a strategist for the brand I was interning in-house for (art museum). In hindsight, the deck was terrible. But apparently something about that appealed to the strategy team I interviewed with?
Yeah, it makes no sense to be doing multiple internships about the exact same role and somewhat wasteful to not be making money. I can't imagine hiring for an internship anyone below sophomore for an internship at strategy. And it certainly makes no sense to go back to intern after having an actual full-time entry-level job, like ABS1 said
It's also difficult because I almost never see the entry level jobs posted. I see the internships. I see the positions that need 3-5 years of experience but not the entry level ones.