*Sigh*
Sorry, that’s how I’m used to most of my conversations about my current job situation beginning. It’s usually followed by some rhythmic head bobbing and some shrugs as I say something like ‘Yeah, still looking. Yep copywriting. Hardy har har I did see that McDonald’s is hiring.’
Eventually the questions stop and I go back to being unemployed in peace but I can tell that my interrogator isn’t quite satisfied. It’s as if they don’t believe that I’m actually looking for a job all that hard.
This makes me want to explain to them just how difficult it is to get into an agency as a creative. I want to tell them how I’m applying for positions every single day, making calls to people I’ve never met to make appointments, sending countless emails begging people to look at my portfolio, constantly fine tuning my work, and reading. Oh God how I do so much reading.
It isn’t just the occasional relative, either. I’m getting messages from friends online telling me to go get a job. Even people that I barely even know and honestly don’t even remember are telling me to go get a job. Holy shit you guys, thanks for the great advice. I’ll go pluck one off of a tree somewhere. (Sorry, I’m not mad at you, I swear. I’m just mad at your words.)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re taking time out of your busy days to look after me, but please stop telling me to get a job. Trust that I’m doing everything I can to get out there. It’s not like I’m trying to be some sign twirling gorilla at the corner of a busy intersection. What I’m trying to pull off is tough. (No offense to any sign twirling gorillas out there.)
Let me try to explain because unless you’ve been through it, you really can’t fully understand. I’m trying to be a copywriter at an ad agency. I went to a school that offered no advertising major and only one advertising class. Everything I know about copywriting I learned from books I read in my free time and through trial and error. I haven’t attended portfolio school (which has almost become a must in this field) and I’m doing everything without the help of a graphic designer/art director. This is listed in the index of any copywriting book as ‘suicide.’
Getting into this I literally knew nobody in advertising. I had no connections or mentors or any of that. I had to build my network by sending blind emails and making random phone calls, banking on the kindness of humanity to get me started.
That’s like trying to make an NFL team as an undrafted Division 3 athlete with a broken ankle. Okay maybe not quite; I don’t want to over glorify what I do. But it’s hard.
I’ve come a long way, too. An unbelievably long way. I’ve had two different internships at two different agencies. I have a mentor and a pretty vast network of people I can call on for help. Recently I had two different creative directors tell me that my portfolio is good enough to get me in the door somewhere and that I just need to start applying.
I’m not trying to toot my own horn (how could I; I have no job). I’m just trying to defend myself. I’m proud of my friends that are doing what they love and am happy for them, but unless you’ve tried to make it in a creative field that involves some degree of subjectivity, please don’t tell me to ‘stop being a bum.’
Also, please don’t suggest I try doing something else. Copywriting, for better or worse, is what I love and it’s what I want to do. Clever headlines and perfect sentences get me excited, I just can’t help it. I would never encourage anyone else to do anything other than what they love so I’m asking for the same in return.
To sum this self-involved blog post up, thank you for thinking about me, please stop telling me to get a job, please don’t encourage me to work at McDonald’s, and know that I’m doing everything in my power to find work. I’m in a better position now than I’ve ever been and I may just be the hardest working guy out there without a job. I’ll be okay.
-Brian
Struggling Copywriter 