Thursday, April 18, 2013
Next up in the student reports of the third year's recent Loncon Week: The Talent Business.
The Talent Business - Gemma Reeve
To start our week in London we visited The Talent Business. Here we spoke to Martin Murphy, a talent strategist (who has been working for The Talent Business for 3 years now) about The Talent Business's role in helping young creatives build the bridge from University to advertising agencies.
Located in Covent Gardens, the Talent Business links creatives to the industry without being a recruitment agency. They have three teams within the business: Accounts, Media and Marketing. Employees here all have agency-based experience; with Mike working for Nokia whilst he was at University.
The Talent Business holds a global event each year called CREAM. A free opportunity for young creatives to submit their work to be reviewed by at least 25 judges where it will be marked on a scale of 1-10 (10 being you're hired!). Martin helps co-ordinate CREAM and NABS junior book clubs that aim to help graduates find their creative partners.
Martin gave us all really solid advice for those who are serious about a career as a Creative. He spoke about the current market being quite refreshing in comparison to previous years, with smaller agencies hiring young talent and now the bigger agencies are following suit.
He advised us to target 5 to 10 agencies that we respected, to look at their work and really get a feel for what that agency represents, find contacts (something that The Talent Business can help with) and work on a few campaigns that they have done to show your mutual interests.
He advised not to work for free, take placements for less than a month or continue in placements for more than 4 months where there is no likely job. Most placements span from 1-3 months with £250 p/w each being the average pay.
Martin emphasised the importance of not just having an amazing portfolio; you have to be an interesting person too! Build a brand for yourself, get on Linkdin, make business cards, start blogs, and craft your website to reflect not just your work, but your personality and other things you are interested in.
Whether it be photography, drawing or design work; make yourself stand out. It is just as important to know what you want from your career as what the agencies want from you. Show aspirations - if you want to gain experience in digital work, make it clear. Realising your identity will allow agencies to give you these opportunities.
Overall some very friendly, insightful and helpful advice! A very useful and enjoyable visit. Thanks Martin!
To start our week in London we visited The Talent Business. Here we spoke to Martin Murphy, a talent strategist (who has been working for The Talent Business for 3 years now) about The Talent Business's role in helping young creatives build the bridge from University to advertising agencies.
Located in Covent Gardens, the Talent Business links creatives to the industry without being a recruitment agency. They have three teams within the business: Accounts, Media and Marketing. Employees here all have agency-based experience; with Mike working for Nokia whilst he was at University.
The Talent Business holds a global event each year called CREAM. A free opportunity for young creatives to submit their work to be reviewed by at least 25 judges where it will be marked on a scale of 1-10 (10 being you're hired!). Martin helps co-ordinate CREAM and NABS junior book clubs that aim to help graduates find their creative partners.
Martin gave us all really solid advice for those who are serious about a career as a Creative. He spoke about the current market being quite refreshing in comparison to previous years, with smaller agencies hiring young talent and now the bigger agencies are following suit.
He advised us to target 5 to 10 agencies that we respected, to look at their work and really get a feel for what that agency represents, find contacts (something that The Talent Business can help with) and work on a few campaigns that they have done to show your mutual interests.
He advised not to work for free, take placements for less than a month or continue in placements for more than 4 months where there is no likely job. Most placements span from 1-3 months with £250 p/w each being the average pay.
Martin emphasised the importance of not just having an amazing portfolio; you have to be an interesting person too! Build a brand for yourself, get on Linkdin, make business cards, start blogs, and craft your website to reflect not just your work, but your personality and other things you are interested in.
Whether it be photography, drawing or design work; make yourself stand out. It is just as important to know what you want from your career as what the agencies want from you. Show aspirations - if you want to gain experience in digital work, make it clear. Realising your identity will allow agencies to give you these opportunities.
Overall some very friendly, insightful and helpful advice! A very useful and enjoyable visit. Thanks Martin!
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