Over 100 students & young professionals along with recruiters from twelve local agencies joined Ad 2 last Thursday, February 16, for their first internship event. Set at the new McKinney Roe in downtown Minneapolis, students were given the opportunity to get in front of hiring representatives from some of the biggest agencies in town. The night consisted of five rounds of speed networking over happy hour, where conversations shifted from internships to clients to company culture.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The impressive lineup of agencies represented at Your Big Break included: Broadhead, Carmichael Lynch, CLICK Talent, Colle + McVoy, Fallon, FRWD, Hunt Adkins, Martin Williams, McCann MPLS, Olson, Periscope, and Wunderman.
Students learned how to get a foot in the door of Minneapolis’ competitive ad industry from the people who see your applications first. Here are just some of the tips our mentors provided for students:
Know the agency. Do your research before an interview or getting coffee with someone. Each agency is different, and each one will want to know why you’re interested or want to be there vs. another shop.
Be thoughtful. Especially in your application, being thoughtful and thorough about why you’d be a better fit as a team member at that agency over all the other applicants will set you apart from them.
Work hard. No matter where you end up or want to go, always remember to do great work. There are only so many internships to go around, so if you don’t end up with one this summer, keep meeting people and working hard to get to where you want to be.
Be yourself. Your qualifications will get you the interview, but your personality and how you fit in an agency’s culture will get you the job. You won’t fit in to every agency, so define your brand and narrow your job search to a few agencies to save your sanity.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to our mentors along with their agencies and McKinney Roe for hosting Ad 2 for the first time with an extended happy hour! Having FOMO? Don’t miss out on upcoming Ad Fed events, including The Show on March 3, Freelance Unpacked on March 30, and another Mentorship Event on April 30.
By: Taylor Burke
The post Takeaways from Your Big Break appeared first on AdFed.
