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I’m sorry op. You seem like you have great work history and you’ll make it out on top! I believe in you
Yeah, no need for anonymity when you need a job! www.JonathanJMiller.com
Wait, I got let go twice this year too :-/
Don't you just love when you wake up and everything is broken?
Is bad luck worse than no luck? I’ve been looking for 18 months and haven’t gotten hired yet in LA. This LA market is real tough these days. I’m sure you’ll find something before long....your hiring stats are pretty good.
OP you’re not getting hired because you’re book is just not great.
And looking at you’re CV, none of the shops you’ve listed are notable.
My suggestion... reposition yourself as a designer. Aim for a better agency and find a more jr. role. Rebuild you’re book with a National brands (not regional work) and go into any new role ready to burn the midnight oil and ready to learn and check any previous experience/ego at door.
Good luck!
@ACD1 it's tough to let the work speak for you aaaaaaaalll the time. I believe at a certain level pretty much everyone in advertising knows what a good idea is and how to make one. But clients don't always know. And they don't always trust. So you can end up presenting cannes level concepts with no chance of them ever seeing the light of day.
Sometimes a guy just needs a chance, yeah?
Both sides of this are fair points! I have experiences that count. I know how to run a video production and talk intelligently to a front end dev. I've pitched big accounts and collaborated with c level executives. So whatever I can say about how "creative" I am or not, these experiences are why I personally have the confidence that I can walk in anywhere and be successful. And sometimes you can be damn good and never given a chance at awards. I worked at an agency for three years that never once pitched new biz or submitted for an award. But I had a great deal of success there.
But also, I'm in LA. It is super competitive here. So if you've never done a huge budget TV campaign, I understand the hesitation on the agency's part at the level I'm aiming for. But we all also know too many talented people get ignored and too many not great people get rewarded because of names on a resume.
Care to share a link to your work?
Thank you to everyone who reached out with constructive advice. It is clear to me now that I haven't been presenting my work as clearly as I should. I've already invested lot of time in improvements to launch soon.
Just because there aren't huge TV campaigns there doesn't make my work "regional"; everything there was national work for a national brand. Major web redesigns, national franchise rebrand, and even global work. So if the takeaway is otherwise, then it's a failure on my part.
I was gonna say exactly what cd1 said above. If you want to more conceptual work, you'll need a more junior position to prove you're capable of the work. Just not seeing much of it in your portfolio and agree that the agencies you've been at aren't as noteworthy. I've been in the same boat so know that you're not alone.
That's fine but I would sooner take a mid-level writer position then junior designer. I don't know why any big agency would hire a jr designer with no bona fide design experience. I'm a writer. A growing writer still? Yes. But a writer.
Even if the agency was an A list, no ecd or cco will care unless you have work that made them say "wish I thought of that." The only agencies in the states that have the power to get you a job even if your book is meh are 72, w+k or maybe Martin agency. But having to defend your work this hard vs letting it speak for you should be a sign that you need to make a change if you want a job at an r/ga etc. Go look at what's winning at Cannes and d&ad for inspiration. Stop leaning so heavily on a resume that's not doing you need any favors and know your time as a strategist while a nice to have isn't gonna show up as years of experience as a creative.
How long were you in each role?
More than two years in the first. Less than three months in the second before the office closed suddenly
Ah man well that's no good! No issues on my end. Maybe try and go directly to www.jonathanjmiller.com/work ? Thanks for looking either way!
Odd. Your link is broken from here, but when I googled you it worked fine. http://www.jonathanjmiller.com/work.html
@Creative Director 1, could you elaborate on the drawbacks of regional work? I always assumed that if the work was truly excellent work, it wouldn’t matter if it was regional or national
Sure... regional doesn’t have the same stakes. It’s harder to prove regional is real. Regional doesn’t have the same stake holders. We want to see you can think and operate on big huge brands and big budgets and sell and execute great work through the many layers inside an internal brand and big agency. Regional doesn’t have the budgets. Regional doesn’t have the media. Finally, If i don’t know you’re little regional store, it’s harder for me to judge whether the creative is great for that particular brand/product.
Not saying if you do something regional and it’s amazing you shouldn’t put it in your book, it’s just going to be dismissed easier, and for it too catch my eye, it has to be that much better.
Also for hrs, it’s a great way to show you can think when you’re starting out...
But if you want to work at the shops he mentioned, as an ACD or Sr. Writer, well fuck man you gotta have more than small time mom and pop stuff in your books.
If he was a designer like I originally thought, looking at his book, I might say, he may not be a big thinker or he may have yet to have the opportunity, BUT. As a CD he can layout print, decks, OOH, design a site etc... I’ll bring him in as a mid level designer and after he gets settled and into a rhythm give him the opportunity to learn/prove he can think bigger.
And not harp on Duder, but the trampoline gym for example wasn’t great writing, and while the design was fine, there wasn’t anything conceptual or big thinking going on. So strike one is it’s small local gym. Strike two the thinking and concepts aren’t great.
If the writing was 30 percent better and it was Nike or something, you might not get many points on creative, but it’d show you know how to sell and work with a big national client.
Unfortunately for this work it does neither.
Hi Jonathan, what did you make/do on INFINITI? Saw it on your resume but didn’t see any auto work.
That's the job I was only in for three months before they got rid of everyone and went back to CP+B. Nothing really produced.
I agree with what you all are saying about the lack of "conceptual" work---to a degree. Like I said, there aren't massive TV campaigns here.
But A: the trampoline gym is one of INC magazines top ten franchise businesses every year. 150+ locations in US. It's international. Completely rebranded and repositioned with a new look, tagline, everything. Completely reversed their failing business.
Integrated global launch campaign for Kawasaki? Yes.
A three-part animated web series starring an influencer that I created and co-wrote? Yes.
But really, it's my interactive and social work that should make me a decent candidate for an R/GA or HUGE or something in my mind. There's a lot of interactive in my book. This is far less conceptual work and in no way less important!
Y'all have your manifestos but I've broken sales records and grown investment from multiple national clients through digital campaigns.
So all I'm saying is that there's a bit more to the story here. And I'm sorry but even though it's right, the "no notable shops" thing is BS. #1 it's not completely true as I started at an A-List agency working for the marketer of the year--its where I learned a lot of what I know. #2 let's maybe realize that at small agencies a lot of good talent exists doing good work that doesn't get recognized because you're small.
I know intentions are good here, but I'm a writer and a strategist for 9 years. I'm good at what I do. My clients like me. I win new business. I mentor other writers. If I'm doomed to lesser known agencies for life so be it. I am not a designer. That ain't happening.
Congrats on your accomplishments. That's "your": y-o-u-r.
Thanks for your advice and salary details.
I'm still working on trimming some case studies but I've made some pretty significant updates to my site if anyone cares to look. Thanks again to those who offered feedback and encouragement.