new musing, old friend

[bigbubba320]

well... lets see. im now a college graduate of 3 months, i cant find a job in my major, im working at the sheriff's office, im sober as a priest, im living with my mother... im hating life. I always knew it would be this way after i was down blowing my 50k wad at college, but i just didnt want to accept it... i came to the realization the other day

Comments

[grosely_clerx]

Old fart hell, son - you're younger'n I am, and I haven't hit my prime yet.

I'm gonna recommend that you do what I did, since you're a copywriter. Find a list of all the ad agencies in your area. The Birmingham Business Journal publishes a list of the top 25 or so, I believe, and a perusal of whitepages.com gives you a gigantic and baffling list.

If you have some disposable income, I recommend you buy, "How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising," by Maxine Paetro. It's not only a great guide to doing just that, it also details what you shouldn't do when vying for a job.

I also recommend, "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This" by Luke Sullivan. It's a copywriting book, and far and away the best advertising book I've read. But that's just on honing the craft.

Write out your cover letter, if you haven't already. Make it anywhere from half a page to a page. Explicitly tell them that you are willing to do whatever they want for low pay, and you will not bitch. Do this in a manner that proves you are smart, funny, and can spell.

It's very easy for many people to dismiss job applicants as nameless faces. If they're worth a damn, and you can make them see you as a real person, then they will want to help and understand you. Your job is to make that cover letter pitch you as a likable, capable, alligator-wrestling foot soldier.

The Birmingham Ad Fed has a resource online that might be useful, as well: http://www.bhamadfed.com/job.html. Similar organizations and resources exist in every sizable city in Alabama.

Here's what I did back in 2003, and it worked for me, and I was damn fucking lucky. But you gotta make your own luck.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/grosely_clerx/57823.html

Send your cover letter via e-mail, via snail mail, everywhere you can. E-mail is the most efficient way to reach people, as our industry found out long ago - find their web sites, and send an e-mail to every person you think might get you an interview. If you're willing to move, send your letter to every agency in every city you're willing to go to.

Intermark-Gillis is a good place to start - they're huge, in Birmingham, and highly sympathetic to UA grads (Cully Clark is on their board of directors, and half those guys wear UA rings).

Just throw everything you can at the wall, and see what sticks. Bug the shit out of people, because you're proving a willingness to put forth an insane amount of effort. Keep going, keep moving, keep pounding away. If you can't get a job in advertising, repeat with the journalism industry. Expand into other branches of the media, because a communications degree is incredibly versatile, and one from UA carries some cred in this state.

Best of luck, yo. If you happen to be in Birmingham around lunchtime some day, gimme a call, or shoot me an e-mail at shockrazer42@hotmail.com.

thanks!

[bigbubba320]

thank you so much luke.. that is some really good advice and websites. I really appreciate you looking at my lj and responding. I will get started using these tools and hopefully something will come to fruition... again thank you so much.

big wes