Job Searching

Freelance Help – June 2024

Published June 7, 2024 | By Stuart Parkin

There are many conversations I have with candidates that have chosen to freelance perhaps as a temporary step, perhaps interim and for some, they are done with working full time for others.

In all these scenarios, however you postion yourself, you are now ‘in business’ and in this marketplace in particular, you will have your fair share of ‘getting business’ (versus fulfilling it) unless you’re smart, able and lucky, to be able to line up the client work before you leave full time employment.

Based on 24 years working for myself, as a freelance/consultant/business owner, some key realities/thoughts:

The work you get – Despite marketing yourself, the work you do will always act as the best calling card.

Reputation is key – Being kind with all you engage with is part of the key to building the reputation, which gets you referrals.

Core Referral Group – Despite all the thousands of emails, texts you send and calls you make, you will see that it’s a core group of individuals and those allied to them that provide the bulk of your work opportunities.

Fishing Location – Most of your competition and for a time you, will continue to seek opportunities where others seek work. Unless you have stand out content, find less crowded channels or expect low response rates. For instance, who these days sends anything in the post. Try it, most use social media!

Fishing Timing – The best time to have a conversation is ‘not’ when work is advertised. Decide who you wish to work with and engage them now!

Your Most Effective Channel – Working for yourself requires a range of opportunities and this requires raising your profile. Some newtwork well, some present well while others debate well and others prefer to write. Whatever you do you will do alot of it so, chose a path or combination of mediums which play to your strengths.

The Power of in person – Digital media is amazing but what’s more amazing, the connection you make with a person when you make the effort to travel to see them and the energy that’s exchanged from an in-person meeting versus a phone or video connection. I swear by this simple but overlooked reality.

Targeting – Topline, if you want to identify the lowest barrier to resistance to you getting work, follow the money. For instance, if an agency is pitching business even and particularly in cash strapped times, that is where money will be directed and potential great thinking welcomed and, one of ‘your’ best paths to working. I’ll have a seminar soon to really expand on optimal targeting of freelance/new business opportunities, how to identify them and effectively engage them. Please email me if you are interested to take part at: stuart@sparkinsearch.com.

Mindset – Final thing for now, when you aren’t getting work the last thing you want to do is smile as the pressure mounts. That said, smile, it’ll make you feel better and those you interact with are more likely to respond positively.

Posted in Adaptability, Career Optimization, Freelancing, Job Searching

Identifying a Great Place to Work in 2024

Published May 6, 2024 | By Stuart Parkin

(five minute read)

Unsure about your job security, I always say, ‘follow the money!’ And it’s usually thrown in large dobs at new business activity.

‘Yes,’ that’s where people are most likely to hear your cry for work, particularly if you have experience in the sector they’re pitching.

And why so much money thrown at new business? Because agencies are not good at holding on to clients!

“There are [fewer] clients that believe in long-term agency partnership,” (Michael Farmer, Madison Avenue Manslaughter)

He continued, “It’s an older concept. It’s amazing when clients [stick with one agency]. It’s just not the way the world is now.”

Why? Because of a lack of what clients are asking for?

Client beliefs – How to Maintain Client Relationships

I recently conducted a straw poll of US, UK and European based clients asking,

‘What factors damage a positive view of your agency killing your chances of longer-term relationships.’

‘The agency isn’t seen to have expertise and knowledge.’ (About the client’s business, exactly how they make money)

‘Agency personnel appear to have a lack of genuine curiosity for a clients business, meaning your interaction is more presentation versus conversation mode.

‘Patterns emerge of non or sub-optimal delivery of expectation.’

‘The agency fails to communicate understanding of commercial benefit’ (For instance, how precisely is a creative recommendation going to impact specific business objectives)

‘The agency isn’t up-to-date (or communicating they are) with the latest trends.’

‘The agency isn’t transparent.’ ‘We feel we are being taken advantage of.’

Encapsulating much of what was said above one client directed,

‘If you want to sustain our relationship, don’t wait for a brief to offer up a great idea. Be proactive with points of view, with cultural trends, with competitive moves, with new consumer understanding.’

It’s clear, there is a desire to see agency personnel get on the front foot/to be more proactive. As one respondent to this summary added,

“That’s exactly right. Then we know the agency is thinking about us after they have left the room.”

Holding Company Reaction to Stakeholder Realities

To be clear, the stakeholder priorities are shareholders then clients then employees.

The holding company reaction (of the last 20 years) to shorter client tenure. Cost reduction as a way to increase margins.

And because of this, there are regular client losses and with them reductions in job numbers.
“Every agency starts downsizing to make their numbers.” Michael Farmer

While the industry still believes in the importance of client relationships, it continues to undermine the ability to deliver them.

Whilst 100% allocation of staff is good for book-keeping it isn’t ideal if agency personnel are to get beyond a largely overburdened and ‘reactive dynamic’ to their work.

Along with regular job cuts, there has been a pernicious reduction of investment in the development of people, knowledge and culture.

And, a greater focus of time and investment in chasing new business, which is more expensive to acquire than organically building existing business.

The agency you should work for

Incentivizes CFO’s and key executives differently – It pays annual bonuses to staff but offers significant bonuses for KPI’s with a 3-5 year horizon encouraging investment in the business…in people.

Doesn’t 100% allocate staff – This agency allows bandwidth for the proactivity needed to sustain and build client relationships. In so doing it retains clients for longer.

Has Client longevity – This agency has more continuity of finance and therefore ability not only to retain staff but to invest in them too!

New Business Selective – Pitches new business very selectively and can because it reliably increases revenue each year through organic growth of existing clients.

Devoted Proactive Resourcing – This agency has a devoted ‘client building strategist’, (that used to be ‘pulled in to’ new business pitches) – This person’s role is to provide business building thinking/ideas each month, which are shared with clients, in so doing, changes the agency interaction from a reactive to a proactive dynamic.

What do you think? Is what I’ve written ‘pie in the sky’?

Love to hear your thoughts,

Stuart

Articles and commentary that might be of interest…

Posted in Career Optimization, Great Places to Work, Job Searching, Work Life Balance

Personal Agency – Key to the next career move you dream of!

Published March 11, 2024 | By Stuart Parkin

The advertising jobs market is a real mixed bag at the moment. And by that I mean, there are as many people losing jobs as gaining them, although the way I see it, there are certainly more losses at the moment.

Many more of you either out of your choice or through those quarterly ‘number balancing decisions,’ are now out of full-time employment and freelancing.

There are so many more of you freelancing now that freelancing has become much more competitive. Everyone it seems, and for different reasons, client, agency and individual, want more flexibility, which post pandemic, most of us have more of.

The point of this post is not to talk about the overall market but more for individuals either in jobs and feeling ‘stuck’ ‘under-valued’ and/or ‘vulnerable and those actively looking for their next role. If you fit in to either scenario, read on.

I was recently talking with a long-standing connection, whose pretty well known in the business both by reputation and in terms of their expertise. And, for the results he’d help achieve.

Like many, he’s been looking for a job/the right job, for a while, but well connected, wasn’t sweating it, and had a meeting lined up with a high-level holding company exec.’ He’d been waiting a month for this meeting but was very hopeful.

Last week I caught up with him having had the meeting and I asked him, how the meeting went.

He told me he’d had forty minute in-person meeting. “It was great. We caught up on the industry, world chaos and the kids.”

I was encouraged, it sounded positive.

“What else” I asked, waiting for the punchline role/roles he was going to be considered for or introductions that were being made perhaps as we spoke.

“What else? He replied?

“What did you ask him for?” I asked perhaps a bit to stern.

“I didn’t ask him for anything.” His voice dying away as he responded. Immediately realizing, that the person he ‘is’ in front of clients had not shown up for himself, when it mattered.

I shrugged my shoulders, and politely let him know what I think many of us take for granted.

“My friend, you ‘HAVE’ to let others know what you want; What you want to be considered for! At the very least, let the person in front of you know, how you want them to help you, even if it’s not a job that you want.”

“You know this!” OK, I know I showed a bit of exasperation here..

The point, everyone you know is busy. When you are upset that they didn’t ‘help you,’ think about it. Did you assume they’d know exactly what you wanted or how they could help you? If you did, you didn’t ‘make it easy’ for them to help you.

So many times, when it comes to ‘us,’ we don’t ask for something, either because we are complacent and assume by our reputation or resume, others know what we’re right for. While others don’t have enough self-belief to understand that there are times when it’s critical to ‘ask!’

Moral of story, however well-known you are or aren’t, don’t default to others telling your story for you, unless you specifically ‘have’ someone that gets rewarded to tell your story for you or in addition to your own effort.

If you don’t ask, you can’t expect.

If you don’t steer your own ship, you’ll either capsize, run aground or drift aimlessly. Any of these scenarios feel familiar for you?

Take personal agency, ‘the act or intervention producing a particular effect.’ Ask specifically for what you want, don’t assume others will act otherwise.

Ideally tie the ask in with something that will address a need/help the person in front of you and make it about something you really want, then you’ll come across authentically, or as Andy Wilson recently wrote:

‘Our livelihoods and (our sanity) more than ever before, are about doing what we love, with the people we love, for the outcomes we love. This is the good stuff, make sure others know about it!’

Posted in Adaptability, Career Optimization, Job Searching, Soft Skills

Strategy Jobs Market Update – June9th, 2023

Published June 9, 2023 | By Stuart Parkin

Strategy hiring Latest June 9th, 2023
‘Functional hiring’ predominates at the moment as opposed to ballsy risk-taking investment of whole teams.
Where the hiring is happening? In replacements for those leaving the business, by agencies that have won business, for clients insisting on a personnel change or, perhaps for a maternity/paternity fill.
Clients are cautious and even AOR work I hear feels more project focused, more performance oriented at the moment. Yes, even clients wants to keep their jobs!
A whole lot of anxiety – It’s palapable – Yellow skies don’t help the sentiment!
Stay positive. For yourself if not for others or better still stay positive through others.
While I’ve always kept my sanity through physical exercize, I’ve increasingly found that the best anditote to anxiety caused by job uncertainty, (and I hear it and feel it via all the conversations I have most days) is to focus on helping/being kind to others.
Being kind? This doesn’t even mean taking up swathes of time in the service of others, but simply being kind when you interact or, being less unkind than you’d typically be!
Do this and you will feel better about yourself and consequently less anxious. Be kind/be who you want to be, and you may also find that the things you want to manifest happen a little faster too:)

Give yourself a break and feel good by being kind.

Posted in Career Optimization, Job Searching, Job Security, Strategic Planning Market

Identifing an Employer Who Values Strategy/Planning

Published December 2, 2022 | By Stuart Parkin

When you’re in demand, you might be told things that don’t entirely resemble the reality of the culture or the work/It’s not always straightforward knowing whether a would-be employer, truly values what you do.
Below are some questions (open-ended typically provide more information for you) that I’m sure many of you ask, but there might be one or two that you don’t, that could get the clarity you need.

Q’s about department size/growth/effectiveness
What is the ratio of strategists to employees?What has been the principal cause of the growth of the function (strong leader, client demand, other)Does the business enter/and or win effectiveness awards?
Q’s about the seriousness with which strategy is taken.What role does the CSO play as part of the leadership team?How does the CSO or other department head, advocate for planning?Q’s about training/development What off-the-job training is offered to strategists in addition to on-the-job training?How is mentoring carried out for strategists?

Q’s about work process Is there an ECD sign-off for a brief/Is strategy a core part of getting to great creative work

Q’s about agency outputs and the role of strategy to deliver themWhat types of pure strategy projects do clients request?Can you provide examples of the types of projects clients request? Typically how long are these engagements?

Q’s about business development and the role of strategyHow involved are strategists in the process of pursuing new clients?

Q’s about clients/How they value strategyDo clients request strategy or is this something the agency insists on as part of its process?Are there any clients requesting not to have strategic input? If so, why?What do clients see as the role of strategists?

Q’s about creative outputHas most if not all work that has won creative awards been based on strategic input?And a few others:What are the biggest challenge for strategic work here?How many strategists have worked on this account in the last year?/Since the agency had the account?What is the turnover rate for strategists here/For the agency in general?

What other questions would you ask to know whether the job on offer was a career-defining one for a strategist?

All the best,Stuart

Posted in Career Optimization, Great Places to Work, Job Searching, Strategists

Identifying An Employer That Value’s Strategic Planners

Published November 29, 2022 | By Stuart Parkin

When you’re in demand, you might be told things that don’t entirely resemble the reality of the culture or the work/It’s not always straightforward knowing whether a would-be employer, truly values what you do.

Below are some questions (open-ended typically provide more information for you) that I’m sure many of you ask, but there might be one or two that you don’t, that could get the clarity you need.

Q’s about department size/growth/effectiveness

What is the ratio of strategists to employees?

What has been the principal cause of the growth of the function (strong leader, client demand, other)

Does the business enter/and or win effectiveness awards?

Q’s about the seriousness with which strategy is taken.

What role does the CSO play as part of the leadership team?

How does the CSO or other department head, advocate for planning?

Q’s about training/development

What off-the-job training is offered to strategists in addition to on-the-job training?

How is mentoring carried out for strategists?

Q’s about work process

Is there an ECD sign-off for a brief/Is strategy a core part of getting to great creative work

Q’s about agency outputs and the role of strategy to deliver them

What types of pure strategy projects do clients request?

Can you provide examples of the types of projects clients request? Typically how long are these engagements?

Q’s about business development and the role of strategy

How involved are strategists in the process of pursuing new clients?

Q’s about clients/How they value strategy

Do clients request strategy or is this something the agency insists on as part of its process?

Are there any clients requesting not to have strategic input? If so, why?

What do clients see as the role of strategists?

Q’s about creative output

Has most if not all work that has won creative awards been based on strategic input?

And a few others:

What are the biggest challenge for strategic work here?

How many strategists have worked on this account in the last year?/Since the agency had the account?

What is the turnover rate for strategists here/For the agency in general?

What other questions would you ask to know whether the job on offer was a career-defining one a strategist?

All the best,