For students and their parents, the best day in their lives may indeed be the day students graduate from college as evidenced by this video from Virginia Tech. The next day may be their worst. Suddenly, students realize they have to enter the real world and get a job. So whether you just […]
For students and their parents, the best day in their lives may indeed be the day students graduate from college as evidenced by this video from Virginia Tech.
The next day may be their worst. Suddenly, students realize they have to enter the real world and get a job. So whether you just graduated from college or are perhaps a savvy veteran looking to stand out from the pack, if you’re looking for a job in TV marketing, my advice is to show some creativity.
My career in the TV marketing and promotion business started when I answered an ad in the Sunday paper in 1986. The ad was looking for someone to write clever, inventive, memorable, effective television commercials. I had never written a TV commercial before, but I thought I was clever and inventive, so I applied.
I had stacks of resumes, letters of recommendation, some writing samples and other material laid out in piles on my dining room table. So I stuffed examples of each into an over-size manila envelope, took a black magic marker and wrote, Very Important Photos Enclosed, across the bottom of the envelope. (Yes these were the day before the Internet, when you had to use the U.S. Mail with postage, hard copies and actual paper. No links, no attached files, no email.)
In the cover letter, I wrote, “OK, I lied about the photos. It was a cheap gimmick to get your attention and I hope it worked.”
It did. I got a call, a meeting, a chance. Went from freelance to full time.
Here’s how two creatives in Hungary used their creativity to get the attention of some drunk creative directors.
Finally, consider a letter. We’re in the word business. So use your powers of persuasion to demonstrate your ability to create effective marketing by marketing yourself. I once hired a young lady who sent me a clever little booklet as to why I should hire her.
If you think attitude is going to help you get their attention, consider this letter from Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson to the Vancouver Sun in 1958.
Part of the letter promises, “I can write everything from war-mongering propaganda to learned book reviews. I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don’t give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations. I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of. It’s a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I’d enjoy the trip.”
Or consider this letter from then 23-year-old American author and future Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Eudora Welty, to The New Yorker in 1923. Although she was honest and respectful, she didn’t get the job.
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