Some advice for the aspiring ad-pro

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A student from Cazenovia College that I recently had the privilege to mentor during his senior year is now out in the world of work. Wisely staying in touch with me, as doubtless the college's career center advised him to do (this is a smart and driven kid), he wrote me recently looking for any insights I might have as he enters his second job (this time at a legit and 'hot' NYC ad agency). I thought it might warrant a more public distribution in case it proves useful to other incoming communications/advertising professionals. With that context, I'll pick up my email's introductory salutations and comments left off...

...in any case, [John Doe], the only advice I’d be audacious enough to offer:

• Make yourself indispensable, by playing every role – and wearing every hat – you can. (The flip side of that is you’ll acquire a ton of experience, across disciplines, in a short period of time. No matter how the relationship works out, that’s something you can take with you.)
• Don’t be afraid to speak up or toss out outlandish or crazy ideas, because [the agency you've just joined] seems the sort of place that’d be receptive to/would place a premium on them. Just be sure to have something of a strategy or rationale behind your thinking, ideas, or observations…even if it’s just personal experience or anecdotal evidence.
• Even better, of course, are creative ideas that are based on hard ‘data’…so live, breath, and eat your clients’ world to inform your thought processes, whether that means reading trade journals, studying their products and their competitors’ products, or interviewing their customers (e.g.: Agency hired to help market hair-care products for men? Talk to a few barbers and their customers; you may stumble on insights or even epiphanies if you do and, barring that, you’ll impress the hell out of your boss for taking the initiative!)
• Pay attention to and respect your peers, superiors, 'inferiors,' and most of all your clients (who are always 'smarter' than they might appear to be when viewed through the luxurious distance and objectivity of an ad agency!) Everyone brings something to the party and can teach you something if you’re listening closely.
• Get samples of everything you produce for the future. It’ll be handy to refer to later on – and handy to have in the next job search. Tied to that, keep track of who (on your team) did what to make the project a success, and share credit where it’s due, both during and afterwards. No one does anything alone.
• Take notes (on client input, objectives, budgets, deadlines, features/benefits, key stats, names and contact info of everyone in the room, etc.) Refer back to these for inspiration, to temperature-check your thinking, to keep yourself on-task/on-budget, and for future reference. (The contacts part will be prove useful in future career advancement.)
• Do your time-sheets or whatever time-keeping system applies: It’s how you get paid!

Thanks for listening,
John Hoeschele / VP