Beginning Your Career In Advertising

Are you a school leaver who is wondering what the next step is after leaving full time education? Not everyone wants to continue along that route by going on to read for a degree at university. If you are reading this, chances are you have decided you really want to get into the workplace, earn some money and also learn a skill.

Apprenticeships make it possible for young people to get out there into the world of work, earn a wage and also aim towards nationally recognised qualifications without having to commit to full time study. You also get structured training which means you will have all the skills necessary to push forward in your chosen career.

So, if you are thinking about advertising careers and you want to get into this line of work without having to go to university, how do you get a job in advertising? Advertising and media jobs are a popular career choice for many people, so you can make sure you get ahead of the game by applying for advertising and media Apprenticeships.

The advertising and media industry is worth over £20 billion pounds a year to the UK economy. There are various roles you can do when you are working in advertising and advertising and media Apprenticeships exist to provide you with skills in certain areas. For example, you could do a Digital Marketer Apprenticeship if you like the idea of creating social media advertising campaigns and using other digital outlets.

For this article, this is for those of you who are looking to do advertising jobs where you are involved across the whole of an advertising campaign right from receiving the original brief from the marketing team to the finances to the assessment of the final outcome. You could be working for large companies but there are also opportunities available doing advertising agency jobs for smaller set ups, too.

Apprenticeship advertising and media jobs are all about working as part of a team to create advertising campaigns intended to inform or influence people. An advertising and media executive helps that campaign to move forward and must be able to react quickly when changes need to be made at the last minute whilst also maintaining relationships with all involved in the campaign. This can be both colleagues and clients. An advertising and media executive usually reports to the Account Manager or Media Manager.

When you do Advertising And Media Executive Apprenticeships, your experience will depend on your employer. Wherever you are working, the fact that you are doing an Apprenticeship means that although your experience may differ from those completing their programmes with other companies, you will still receive the same level of IPA qualification (Institute Of Practitioners In Advertising) at the end.

When you are working as an advertising and media executive, you will specialise in one of two areas of the advertising process: You might choose to focus on creative advertising jobs or you could focus on media jobs.

This advertising and media Apprenticeship will equip you with the knowledge and skills to work across a broad range of duties whilst also giving you the opportunity to specialise in your chosen area.

Advertising And Media Executive Creative Specialist
If you choose to specialise in creative advertising jobs, you will be an Advertising And Media Executive Creative Specialist.

For these types of jobs in creative advertising will see you working with creative produces. Creative producers are those who work in production in design, radio, tv, film, copywriting and art buying. It is your job as the advertising and media executive creative specialist to assist them in decision making, monitor progress and evaluate the output. To do this effectively, you will also need to keep abreast of latest trends within the industry so that you can advise producers on the best practice.

Advertising And Media Executive Media Specialist
Choosing to specialise in media jobs will mean you will be an Advertising And Media Executive Media Specialist. These types of media jobs will see you working with automated platforms and using your knowledge to get the best out of them. This could be choosing which social media platforms to use for placing ads and choosing when and where to place them, for example.

The Advertising And Media Executive Media Specialist is aware of the client’s needs and is also aware of the performance and trends of different platforms. Media Specialists use this knowledge to help their clients. They also build relationships with media owners for future projects where rates can then be discussed.

Whichever route you choose to take, the Advertising And Media Executive Apprenticeship will suit those of you who are looking to begin a career in advertising. You will learn a broad range of skills and behaviours such as:

• The importance of working as part of a team.
• How to do budgeting and costing.
• How to conduct market research.
• How to do presentations and conduct negotiations.
• The importance of legal and ethical advertising.

Advertising and media Apprenticeships will also teach you the importance of:

• Being able to work under pressure.
• Being resilient and continuing to work through difficult situations within the project.
• Displaying empathy and patience and getting the best out of people.
• Being able to prioritise.
• Showing attention to detail.
• Having a ‘Can Do’ attitude.

Now you know a little more about what it might be like when working in advertising and media, let’s take a look at what you will need to gain a place on the Apprenticeship programme. And, let’s also take a look at what qualifications you will gain at the end of your programme.

• The Advertising And Media Executive Apprenticeship is a Level 3 Apprenticeship. This is the equivalent of A-Levels.
• The Apprenticeship will typically take you around 18 months to complete. This could be down to your employer and some programmes may be slightly shorter.
• The Advertising And Media Apprenticeship will require you to have at least Grade C (Level 4) in Maths and English at GCSE. Again, this could depend on individual employers.
• When you have completed your apprenticeship successfully, you will be awarded the IPA Foundation Certificate (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising).

So, once you have completed your Apprenticeship and you are starting to develop your career in advertising, what can you do to progress? You can continue to build your knowledge about the advertising and media industry by doing other IPA courses or attending some of their conferences. This will also give you an opportunity to network and build contacts.

For many Apprentice jobs, you will often be offered a full time position with the company you completed your programme with. For some of you, you might stay there or you could move on to other types of advertising jobs and media jobs. Apprenticeship equip you with many transferable skills that you can take with you to other roles.

If you want to take on more responsibility after your Apprenticeship, you could work towards becoming a media manager or account manager. Further promotions could see you working in roles such as senior account manager.

A career in advertising and media is always going to be fast moving and exciting. If you thrive when working under pressure and you enjoy working with a whole range of personality types then the Advertising And Media Apprenticeship could be for you.

Apply for advertising jobs and media jobs where the Apprenticeship is on offer and you could soon be on the road to a rewarding career as an advertising and media executive.