Boastful or self-confident
"But... I feel like I'm tooting my own horn when I write these benefit statements." I hear this comment a lot when I give workshops on preparing resumes and cover letters for advertising agencies. Some people feel uncomfortable saying complimentary things about themselves. As a result, they have a difficult time with this exercise because they think it seems like a lot of self-flattering baloney. But in today's job market with the competition for agency positions at an all-time high, you have to be able to sell yourself. After all, advertising is all about selling a client's product, and if you cannot even sell yourself, then do not expect a potential employer to have much faith in your ability to sell a client's wares.
You are preparing yourself to present your best attributes in a letter and later during an interview. The best guideline to follow when you have to talk or write about yourself is to explain your qualifications and capabilities in a matter-of-fact, non-boastful manner. If you allow your tone to become at all self-aggrandizing, your intentions will be misconstrued.
It always helps to put some distance between yourself and the personal trait or qualification you are translating into a benefit statement, by stating that according to someone else this is one of your best qualities. Or you can put your personal assets into a context that refers to the specific needs an agency has. The two examples below illustrate these techniques.
I've been told that my attention to detail is my most important trait.
I believe that my ability to work well under pressure is an important attribute when it comes to the kind of constant deadlines people face in advertising.
If you can separate from or objectify the benefit, you will not be perceived as boastful. However, if you have any doubts about the tone or message being delivered in your benefit statements, ask a friend or business associate to read them, just to be sure you really are saying what you want to say.
Your agency compatibility quotient
The last part is to determine the compatibility levels between the personal assets you have to offer and the agencies you researched. To do this, go back and look at the information you collected during your agency research. Compare this to all the employer benefit statements you wrote in the last exercise. Try to locate similarities between the benefits you have to offer and the needs of the agencies you researched.
You should have already written down the names of specific agencies next to the various benefit statements when you wrote them in the last exercise. Spend some more time now going over your matches again. You will need to match up your benefit statements with your target agencies to write your cover letters. As you review the agencies, pay particular attention to their staff size, office environment, the kind of accounts they handle, and their areas of specialization. Then try to draw comparisons between the agencies and your experience, interests, capabilities, and job structure and environmental preferences.
Once you have thoroughly identified those agencies that appear to match up with the benefits you have to offer, you will know that these are the right agencies for you to target. When you write your cover letters, you can refer specifically to these areas of compatibility.
WORKSHOP
What specialized skills do you have to bring to an agency?
To help you pull together all of your assets in your search for the ideal job, we have this workshop. It will help you identify your specialized skills that are immediately and obviously valued by ad agencies. When you complete this workshop you will have all the information about yourself that you will need to put together a powerful cover letter and an impressive resume. You will be able to grab the attention of any hard-edged executive because you have translated information about yourself into a language that speaks directly to that executive about the only thing that matters the agency.
- Basic design principles:
- Color theory:
- Advertising principles and theory:
- Marketing research skills:
- Demographic information:
- Layout design:
- Paste-up techniques:
- Copywriting skills:
- Experience with designing and/or writing copy for print ads, radio commercials, television commercials, billboards:
- Working in a graphics design company, printing or publishing company, or an advertising agency:
- Business management:
- Office management:
- Supervising employees:
- Supervising freelance project collaborators:
- Computer graphics:
- Typesetting:
- Budget preparation and maintenance:
- Pricing:
- Sales work:
- Telephone work such as sales, interviews, collecting information, or conveying messages:
