Unravelling the mysteries of media
Medialand’s newest employee is John Dawson, who joins Mindshare in a few days time. He shares the story of how he got into the industry, and offers his first impressions.
Approaching the end of my uni degree some months ago I faced the fact that I had no idea what I was going to do when I graduated. Well, not quite no idea. I was fairly sure I wanted to be involved in the media industry and thought I’d like to give media and advertising a go but I had questions: How do you get a start? What did the industry look like? What jobs did people do? Was there a future?
It’s incredible that university does so little to actually provide answers to the many practical questions that I imagine many students like me face when finishing their last exams or handing in their final essays.
During those final months, it was especially annoying that an industry like media seemed only accessible if doing a prescriptive media degree or by having a contact who was already working in an agency. Majoring in politics and Spanish, it seemed graduate opportunities were out of my grasp.
Confronted by this impending graduation, I emailed Mumbrella: “I would appreciate an opportunity to talk to you and hear your thoughts on the industry and any advice you might have for me.”
I received a reply within five minutes with suggestion to register for The M Grad Project which was about to take place at the Mumbrella360 conference. What luck!
The M Grad Project was curated by WPP’s Group M media agencies and across the day explained what agencies do, and how they work.
The week before the event, I was consumed by researching GroupM and the people who would be presenting. To be honest, by the time I got to Mumbrella360, my ignorance had been replaced only by a slightly more-informed confusion.
At the end of the day though, having met the people working in media agencies, I was inspired and felt reinvigorated – I was sure that this was for me, even if at that stage I didn’t really understand what anyone did.
The next morning I went through the business cards I had been given and emailed them all. By that afternoon I had an internship at GroupM and could not wait. Again, I was incredibly excited but also incredibly unaware of what I would actually do.
What a learning curve it’s been! I’ve worked across GroupM, Maxus, MEC and Mindshare, and whether at construction sites in Sydney promoting Ford’s new ute, or running around an agency helping with a pitch, it’s been an exciting and challenging time.
Refreshingly, the industry and the people in it are dynamic and filled with unending enthusiasm. As media is evolving, the people I’ve met at GroupM are too, which means opportunities abound and youth is not a disadvantage. Far from entering a stagnant corporate hierarchy, working in media feels far more collaborative and supportive with a mutual respect holding the teams together.
I’ve attended a few MFA ngen events and have been blown away by the sheer number of opportunities to learn from the best in the industry regardless of whether they work in your specific agency or not.
Further to the talks and workshops, I’ve had a party to attend every week (amazed as I was, everyone says this is standard). With my student ‘$10 dinner’ mindset, the only problem with attending these events is knowing when to say no to the free food and drink on offer. At every event though, the hospitality of the industry continues to surprise me.
During the months I’ve been at GroupM, talent seems to have become one of the industry’s watchwords with both attracting and retaining it, major talking points. Having been given an insight into media agencies, their work and most importantly their people, I’ve decided that this is where I want to work. Unfortunately not all students will have the same experience I have had because media agencies will remain a mystery to them – this obviously needs to change.
If you’re finishing up uni and feeling similarly adrift, my advice is simple: be proactive. Send emails, introduce yourself and don’t sit and wait. There’s nothing to lose by getting your name out there.
I’m sure you’ll be as surprised as I was at the willingness of agency-folk to offer their time. Ask for advice, read about media, get excited and develop a passion. The last few months have taught me to be prepared for the opportunity – you can never predict when things are going to fall in your favour but you can certainly be ready to take advantage of it when it does.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities so far and am excited to start my career at Mindshare next month.
- John Dawson starts as a media assistant at Mindshare on November 10.
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The Force is strong with this one.
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Media assistant??
He should be MD
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Good one John, the industry needs more smart ppl out of uni seriously considering media as an option.
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Your Uni degree may not have given you the pragmatic guidance counsellor style help but they did give you the skills to do this:
“The week before the event, I was consumed by researching GroupM and the people who would be presenting. To be honest, by the time I got to Mumbrella360, my ignorance had been replaced only by a slightly more-informed confusion”
….and to be honest, skilling you up to learn for youself – as opposed to just telling you – is what a good uni should do.
And if you ever find yourself thinking you know all there is the industry – time to move
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I graduated a year and a half ago and am still looking for a job. Universities do absolutely nothing for students about finding a job. I’ve been proactive, I’ve been to seminars and coffees and collected business cards and emailed people and done everything I can to apply for every job I could. The industry seems happy to chat about itself and meet for coffees but do nothing to actually help people out. I have friends who I studied along side with who are equally strong students in similar circumstances. So while I’m happy for this guy, please don’t think this is a commonplace situation. Most people looking for a job in this industry straight after university don’t just email someone and get an internship a few hours later. The more common experience is rejection, desperation and a lack of help. The universities need to do far more to help prepare students for life after graduation and the industry needs to more to support these students and foster the next generation
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My mistake when I was in uni was leaving internships till too late (literally the last month before I graduated, when I should’ve been looking from my first year at uni). Have recovered since, but yeah…that’d be my advice, to start early. From the first day of uni, I should’ve been finding internships, volunteer ops, industry groups, freelance gigs, etc.
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You said you wanted to get into advertising and media. They are two very different industries. The former is fun and creative and you create stuff that people see in the world. The later is still primarily about buying and selling media space.
I could bet my bottom dollar you wanted to be in the advertising bit. Good luck making the switch at some stage – its tough.
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Sweet feature. Nice to know that final essays and University Medals can’t beat proactivity and a great personality.
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“uh oh” do you work in the advertising industry? Maybe you should tell your people to distinguish between the two on a recruiting level, because I can tell you that from a graduate’s position, the ambiguous (*pretentious*) term that is ‘a creative’ gets used similarly across fields of advertising, graphic design and media strategy – this is probably why a distinction between the two isn’t made when someone begins to consider “advertising + media”.. You’re feeding it to us together constantly.
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Great article – I agree that universities haven’t yet nailed how to help graduates with potential job opportunities, I also think that ambition sets you apart from many others. Is it the uni’s job to equip you with career paths, or is that ours? Either way, well done on the new job!
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Totally agree with Remer; It took close to a year for me to get a position after countless emails, phone calls, coffees, formal meetings and attending the Comms Council Graduate Trainee selection day. Most of my friends in the industry faced a similar experience also and it really can be extremely disheartening.
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John, I recall our meeting. You are demonstrating great drive, endeavour and focus. Wishing you success and satisfaction. MUmbrella, doing good. Peter
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I concur with Remer and J- this is hardly a typical example of how a graduate gets a job. I think if you spoke with most graduates they’d detail the difficulty in getting a media/marketing/advertising job. It can be a confidence crushing experience even if you do have contacts. Waiting weeks on end just to get a generated email to say you’ve missed out on a job, or worse, not hearing back at all from an organisation. Contacts who promise to leverage their industry peers to help find you a job only to provide nothing, while some don’t even reply to emails. You can spend hours applying for a job only to get nothing in return. It’s not easy.
John should count himself lucky to have found work so quickly. If only other graduates had such an easy experience…
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“If only other graduates…..” I have been in advertising for 20 years and it was exactly the same thing when I started looking for my first job. I don’t know why students have expectations of universities and lecturers being in any position to actually get them jobs… they are often based on the ‘academic’ side of things rather than the professional/business side and I don’t think they have much experience with this kind of industry competition. But maybe I’m wrong…?
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Have been Mentoring Arts and Media at University. Struck by lack of imagination of students who want to get into a business that is all about creativity – even the Media needs lateral thinkers.
Of course everyone wants to get into these cloudlands – wow factor plus.
Sadly I usually have to point out: You are not bringing a pot of gold with your degree. But if you actually looked up a client list, made aYoutube demo on one of their clients, uploaded and then sent it to the Agency – you just might show you know something about THEM. Because, again, sadly, it is not about YOU – it’s about what can you do for THEM.
Some Universities are not even connected into the business – one lecturer of mine had no Agency expeience at all – but had a PhD in Media! Never left Uni! So you often have to DIY.
I suggest to my students to go where the action is in Second year – by the time you leave you should have a network going.
Good hunting!
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