Why the advertising industry is still a promised land for fresh graduates
“As with all things in life, tough times come and go,” says Kamal Dimachkie, managing director of Leo Burnett Dubai and Kuwait, in reference to the advertising industry’s financial downturn-induced slump. But, he says, this industry must – and will – pick up again, for the greater good. “The industry may at times shrink, and it may expand, and certainly the past few years have witnessed both,” continues Dimachkie. “The fact remains that individuals and organizations everywhere need this industry to thrive and prosper; after all, its health has a bearing on the economy at large.” And that’s just one of the reasons industry insiders say fresh graduates should be encouraged to join.
In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would dissuade grads from entering the advertising and communications industry, and Dimachkie says that one bad year shouldn’t be a deterrent. “One tough year should not – and in most cases I suspect will not – be taken as an indicator as to whether people should join the industry or not,” he says. “Communication is a skill for life, so a career in the industry can set graduates on a promising path.”
Pooja Chandani, creative director at Wunderman, says the unpredictability of the industry is one of its main selling points. “It’s not a nine-to-six job, and who wants a boring job?” she says. “It’s such an interesting industry to get into it, and if I had the choice between this and doing a nine-to-six, very structured, job, I’d definitely choose advertising.”
And Dimachkie says it’s the fresh graduates and their youthful personalities who are best suited to the advertising environment. “Fresh graduates tend to have an abundance of energy, drive, ambition and ideas, and there aren’t many industries that provide graduates with an outlet to express and explore all of these like the communications industry does.”
Dimachkie says that anyone looking to join the advertising industry can expect to enter a challenging world. “It’s an industry they can sink their teeth into,” he explains. “While it is a creative, vibrant and in many cases a fun industry to work in, it can also be incredibly tough, so new joiners will likely experience a baptism by fire. But that never tends to put new joiners off, because while the next few years might feel like a climb up a steep mountain, it will also be an invigorating and rewarding experience. “
And according to Chandani, the next few years will also see a steep climb in the quality of the region’s advertising. “In terms of creativity, I think this region is going to hit its peak very soon,” she says. “We’re going through the same phase that South American and Asia Pacific went through a few years ago. It’s a great time for any creative to get into this industry, and the same applies to client servicing and media. Also, there’s a lot happening digitally, so the industry is changing. This is the right time to get into it.
Recession shouldn’t keep fresh graduates from joining the industry. “Your reason for not joining shouldn’t be recession based; it has to be because there are other things that may interest you in other fields,” adds Chandani.
But Dimachkie says if you are energetic, creative, and “curious about the world,” then the communications industry is for you. “The work we do revolves around observing people and how they react to the world around them, which gives us an understanding of their behavior that we use for developing ideas,” he says. “In that sense, our industry is a real school of life, because we are constantly on a voyage of discovery.”
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