Related Posts
Bowl Leader
More Posts
When do GSB calls usually come?
What is tech consulting hike ? For staf 3 senior
Taking Reg this Friday so wish me luck
Additional Posts in Strategy & Planning
How would you define "strategy” in one sentence?
What is a go-to-market strategy?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
I hope when people say “how long were you a strategist” they mean the title and not the discipline. A Senior Strategist with 1.5 years experience in strategy makes a mockery of the word senior.
My year and 8 months answer was in reference to how long I was at the strat level before moving up to senior. Before strat I was a junior strat and before junior I had a little over a year in another discipline
1.5 years-ish. When I stopped asking for direction as frequently and was pretty autonomous it felt time...was easy to be self-sufficient because my boss was always traveling and I became a valuable resource in the office for questions and project kickoff guidance.
Note...I did have to ask and actively follow up to get the promotion but it came within a few short, yet painful months.
A year and 8 months, but it was overdue at that point (and acknowledged it was overdue) but we were in a really bad spot financially at the time.
Similar story to SSP1. I was leading projects on my own with minimal oversight, didn’t need hands on direction anymore, had trust with counterparts (and above) in other departments.
I mention the last part specifically because sure, you can be doing things within your discipline more on your own but the reality there are politics involved (depending on where you work the level of politics changes, but it’s always there). For example, even if you’re running point on things solo, are you crushing it in meetings to where your GAD is going to your department head to give you kudos? Having advocates that have those types of convos work in your favor vs you exclusively trying to push for something
Agreed on the advocates point...having a boss that was supportive helped expedite all the raises and promotions
The standards also vary wildly by agency and even some times by team.
There are some agencies where you’re a senior 1.5 years into your career and others where you’re a senior 5 years into your career. (Not suggesting it’s about years, it’s about abilities and performance, but some agencies have higher standards than others.)
There are some agency guidlines (Ogilvy, BBDO?) floating around the web that detail the expected capabilities at each level.
Very true. At Droga there aren’t many layers in the department compared to other agencies (e.g. we don’t do VP, SVP, EVP type titles).
Just junior, mid, senior, director, group. And juniors typically already have experience under their belt so by senior you’re really expected to lead (process, be the face with clients, minimal oversight if any, etc)
4-6 years
3 years... I was asked to interview at agency and wasn’t aware it was for a senior role until the last interview/job offer... so hmm