Debbie Morrison has worked within the advertising industry for nearly 30 years. Debbie began her career as a planner in several ad agencies, moving on to the client side for a short spell and then joined ISBA, a body which represents advertisers in 1989

There are opportunities to work in-house: All the focus of these questions has been so far on getting into agencies. Other options are developing and another route might be to look client-side as many major advertisers also have in-house agencies or design departments and having experience in this environment may help you to eventually make a step up into a mainstream agency. The structure of the communications world is fast changing due to influence of the digital space and some clients now feel they are better placed to handle some forms of communication, for example social media campaigns and so on. More changes will result in greater opportunities for people determined to work in this space.

Look outside London for experience: London, although the hub of main agencies, is not the only city in the country where there are good communications agencies - why not at first try agencies in other cities like Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh where there are some great smaller creative shops and regional offices of the major London-based agencies. Explore internship opportunities in your own area, they will give you valuable all-round experience. I started my career in advertising in an agency in Leeds and it gave me great all-round experience which then carried me to London a few years later. Also there are many more types of communciations agencies now, from digital, social media, mobile marketing, media, direct, PR, design, as well as independent creative shops and the bigger mainstream ad agencies - do your research look at your core skills and target the right type of agency.

Do your homework and know what's going on in the comms world: It's not necessary to have studied advertising to get a job in an agency. Most agencies are looking for people who have determination and fabulous communications skills and more than that a passion for the communications world. It's also a people business so the ability to communicate on every level is so important and shines through in any interview process. I usually know within minutes of meeting someone if they are 'right' for the comms industry or just chasing a dream that they will not catch. You also need to do your homework and know what's going on in the comms world - track the major agencies and what they are producing - sign up to RSS feeds for agency news. You'd be amazed how many people I see who have done little or no research on the industry. Be the most informed person out there and have your own ideas. Be persistent knock on every agency's door. Contrary to popular opinion, there are thousands of good agencies in the UK.



Jamie Heath is group account director at McCann Erickson in Birmingham, an integrated marketing agency

Get to know the different roles within agencies: You should try and gain some understanding of the different agency departments, their roles and how they interact. The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) site is a good place to start with this. It's always difficult to find a role for someone who 'just wants to work in an agency'. Finally, there are regional organisations like PACE (Publicity Association of Central England - now known as the Birmingham Publicity Association) that hold free and paid-for events. These do offer a few networking opportunities if you can get along to them.

Oliver Disney is business development director from McCann Erickson

Standing out is key when it comes to applications: I get a lot of CVs dropping in to my inbox as my contact details are on our website. I forward them all on to HR, but do look them over too and you would be surprised how many look very similar and therefore become wallpaper. Standing out is key – through experience and content, but also in the presentation and delivery. Make it easy and enjoyable for someone to read your CV. An email appeared the other day from a young grad who had developed a microsite about himself, highlighting his passion for the industry, his creativity but also willingness to go that extra yard. It was very easy, in that instance, to learn more about him and how determined he was to work for us. I would interview him tomorrow if he wanted to work in my department. As an employer that is very refreshing.



Paul Bainsfair is director general of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). His 34 years of agency experience began at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1977 where he started as an account executive and rose to CEO within 10 years

Don't be afraid of rejection - agencies love persistence: The thing to do is to campaign like crazy for an opportunity. Accept that you will be up against the odds. Don't be afraid of a rejection. Think of it as one meeting nearer to a success. Find a way of reminding the agencies that say no today that you will be around tomorrow. They won't remember unless you remind them. Agencies love persistence.

Will Humphrey is currently a freelance account planner. Will was previously head of planning at public relations agency Edelman London. Will founded (and continues to run) a blog called AdGrads, which tries to help graduates secure a job in advertising and PR

Get out there and meet people: Through running AdGrads, I have met and spoken to a lot of graduates. The number one thing they need to do is to get out there and physically meet and chat to people in the business. It's not enough any more to read Campaign or look at the IPA's site (though both are useful). The business has changed beyond all recognition in the past 10 years, with the advent of the web and social networking. The more people you can meet for a coffee (and no, it's not impossible - maintain a twitter account and a blog, and connect to like-minded people), the more you'll be at the front of their mind when they have a junior vacancy, and the easier you'll find filling in graduate application forms and knowing what makes people tick. I had the problem of living in the Midlands and not knowing much about the London scene; as soon as I started a blog and connected with like-minded people, the easier it became to come to London, talk to folks and get in.

In terms of what to read, it'd be good to have a look at the following:

* Jon Steel's Truth, Lies & Advertising - the bible for planners/planning.

* Excellence in Advertising (various - edited by Leslie Butterfield) - this provides a great overview of the business, explaining what all of the different job roles to in a variety of different essays. You can still, I think, buy this from the IPA.

* Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! by Luke Sullivan - This is the best book about what it's like to be a creative/how to get in that I've ever read.

More general books would include the likes of Herd by Mark Earls (for current communications thinking), Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (ditto) and The Decisive Moment by Jonah Lehrer. Very few of these are directly about advertising, but they all relate to how we communicate with each other, and are good to know about and have read.



Understand what the campaign sets out to achieve: In terms of studying ideas and campaigns, agencies want to know that you understand what ideas are FOR - are they to stimulate sales? Change brand perceptions? This AdGrads post (my blog on how to get into the ad business) may help.

Meredith Schneider is the director of recruitment for the Account Management, Account Planning and the Integrated Video Production departments at advertising and design agency CP+B

Here is a quickie overview of some of the different departments within most ad agencies:

Account management - maintains the relationship with the client. Is the liaison between the client and agency (working directly with all of the different departments in the agency).

Creative department - responsible for the creative work. Usually broken out into teams of art director and copywriter. There are also creatives who specialise in digital creative work as well as graphic designers. Most creatives these days take an integrated approach and work across all mediums.

Account planning - responsible for the research, insights and strategic vision.

Production - liaison between the creatives and the director (TV), or photographer (print) and so on in making the actual creative content (the TV spot, website and so on)

Traffic/project management - responsible for maintaining the work flow of the agency. Works with all departments (especially creative and account management) to ensure all deadlines are met.

Experience design (UX) - these are the architects who envision and thus build (they make a blue print) the back-end experience of all digital/web content.

Designers - once the experience designers create the plan, these are the "interior decorators" who come in and design the work (along side the art director and copywriters who originally concept the idea).

Media - responsible for buying/planning and strategising where the creative content will live.

Check out the rest of the advice from the Q&A here.

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