Internship in 4As
Q I am now studying as an overseas student at the University of Minnesota, Twins City in the United States. My major is advertising. Since this is my third year in school, I am thinking about looking for an internship during the summer before I graduate. Furthermore, as I am planning to go back to Hong Kong after graduation, I think working as an intern in one of the ad firms in Hong Kong would be beneficial for when I start looking for a full-time job. Therefore, I wonder if there are any internships available in any of the Hong Kong 4As advertising agencies.
A Mike Wong, Chairman of the Hong Kong 4As, responded to the question, "The advertising industry always welcomes energetic and fresh minds. This is in fact the key for us to stay competitive, and internship training is one of the effective ways to search and develop future talents. There is no systematic recruitment process and individual agencies mostly prefer to select their own candidates. What you could do is to put together a presentation of yourself and send it to those agencies that you want to join. This also assumes that you have spent some time studying the background and philosophy of the different agency networks or independent shops.
While agencies in general do take on interns from time to time, the competition is in fact keen due to limited vacancies available, as there is a need to provide the necessary resources to coach the interns. It is no different from any job search for a permanent position, and agency heads do give serious consideration to the applications, as some of the interns we hire may turn out to be a top talent. Nothing ventured nothing gained, however, and I think you will find it a very rewarding experience once you manage to out-compete your peers. The process also helps to develop your job-search skill. This is the nature of the industry."
Experienced Agency Exec
Q I am a Filipino, currently working in an agency as an associate media planning director in Jakarta Indonesia. In the Philippines, I had been working for 14 years in an agency as account manager and strategic planner.
Apart from account servicing, I had the experience of working as a media planner/buyer, but my favourite job is account servicing. Somehow I have discovered the benefit of knowing a lot about media which makes my account servicing job more efficient. My question is that I am interested in looking for some other job opportunities in Asia, say Singapore. Do you think I have a chance?
A According to Juliana Campbell, Divisional Manager - Sales & Marketing, Industrial and Healthcare, Hudson Global Resources (Singapore), "It is very possible for you to find a job in Singapore in the advertising sector in the account servicing role, since you have done that before in the Philippines.
However, for the account servicing level, bear in mind that most employers in Singapore are looking for candidates who are already in Singapore, available for an interview immediately and who knows the market. Therefore, when sending your job application - whether to a client directly or to a recruitment consultant - your resume has to stand out. The resume also has to show that you can demonstrate a "transferable skills set", as well as the softer attributes, such as communications and presentations since you don't have the market knowledge. You need to do your homework beforehand as to 'why would you be interested to work for that particular organisation'."