by Faheem Chaudhry (@FaheemChaudhry) From graduates to those who have been in the industry for several years, many youngsters in advertising often find themselves at a crossroads: should they work at a small/specialist agency or one of the bigger players in the game? What are the potential consequences of either choice?
For young talent, this decision ultimately comes down to what type of value they are looking to receive in exchange for their daily endeavours.
Let’s further investigate each path:
Small/specialist agencies
Smaller shops have their own unique charm. Many begin their journeys as ambitious start-ups, looking to find their unique positioning in the industry and ambitiously wanting to take on the bigger players. So what do they have to offer?
An intimate environment
A benefit many smaller shops have is the intimacy of the way they conduct their business. Often a large continent of the company work together across various projects. As a result, young people have a higher access to the more senior members of the team. At a stage in their careers when learning as much as possible is a top priority, day-to-day interaction with management is of massive value.
Secondly, smaller agencies often start from a romantic belief the founders have in the type of company they can create. The organisational culture of such agencies, therefore tends, to be much like that of a family business, as people at various levels of the company have a large influence on the company’s ethos.
Rather than being swallowed up in the corporate machine of larger organisations, an intimate family of colleagues is often a powerful platform from which young people can start to practise their trade.
The deep end
Such is the nature of smaller companies that responsibility needs to be shared among a limited amount of people. This is purely due to the resources available, as all members of the team are expected to play a bigger role in campaigns.
The result for young people is a working environment where pressure and responsibility are demanded at an earlier stage. For high performers and early achievers, the opportunity to do senior work earlier in their career is an attractive proposition to a generation impatient and ambitious to progress.
The major players
Young talent has a burning desire to achieve. To deliver on their potential. To find out what they’re really made of. And large organisations offer the platforms to do so.
The ultimate competitive environment
There is no better test of one’s ability than going up against the best. Positions in the major players in the ad industry are tough to come by, and highly competed for.
Even once graduates land said positions, they find themselves among a number of equally ambitious peers, all looking to leave their mark. The result is a working environment that is face-paced and fiercely competitive, where only the very best work and talent make it to the top.
It demands exceptional effort from young recruits and therefore pushes young people to dig deep to make their mark. To get to the top, good isn’t good enough.
The longer the climb, the better the view
Unlike smaller companies, the climb within larger organisations is usually a longer haul, but the reward is increasingly satisfying for those who excel. With various levels within an organisation, young people need to prove their worth throughout their journey, and step by step make their influence and abilities felt.
To those who successfully do so, being identified as future leadership within large organisations can often set them on a fast track to the top.
To management, tasked with managing and leading a generation often facing these crossroads, it’s useful to keep tabs on what you feel your key players are after.
If you can pin this down and offer them the platforms and opportunities to derive the value they’re looking for from their workplace, you can turn an at-times puzzled workforce into an engaged, ambitious force for your business.
Faheem Chaudry (@FaheemChaudhry) is an account director at M&C Saatchi Abel. His monthly “The Millennial” column on MarkLives aims to give a voice to the industry’s next generation, giving insight and guidance into how to navigate the increasingly complex and changing tides of today’s communication industry.
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