Advertising

[Beth1989]

How would you get into the career of advertising? Is it hard? If you've seen 13 going on 30 i would like to do a job like that! It's either that or be a doctor, which I know are greatly different! thanks

[hugoboss]

Both careers you have mentioned require someone who is extremely good at the fields. For advertising, you need to be very creative and preferably have an advertising/marketing degree. It's a cut-throat industry, and you must be good at what you do to become a top-notch Advertising Exec. If you don't mind taking the long route, you could work your way up through an advertising house.

Doctor - well obviously you need a degree in Medicine  -takes about 6 yrs?? I think you really should want to be a doctor before you go ahead and do the training!

[Andy008]

Advertising is very, very difficult to get into. I would start by learning as much as you can about the industry now, as it will later show you have taken an active interest. Advertising people are stereotyped as being pretentious and arrogant, this is in fact not the case, as there is an awful lot to learn, and you will quickly get to used to rejection. Look at some websites of London agencies to start with:

Abbott Mead Vickers

Bartle Bogle Hegarty

McCann Erickson

WCRS

Ogilvy & Mather

Also watch The Apprentice on BBC2 on Wednesday at 9pm, when the candidates are sent to an agency for this week's task.

[Lotus]

If you want a career in advertising, you should also try to get as much work experience as possible, as this will help you get interviews. You need to do some serious research of the industry as there are a lot of opportunities within what is known as the 'ad industry'. For example, if you want to work in the creative department (copywriters, designers, etc) you will need a portfolio of your works. For account management work experience is really good, and so on. Ogilvy's website has some reccomended reading that will help you - I would suggest starting with 'No Logo' by Naomi Klein, which is an in-depth look at the development of the brand.
McCann (www.mccann.co.uk) accepts applications for work experience (2 weeks, unpaid) throughout the year.
Oh and check out www.ipa.co.uk - this is the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising website, and it will give you a lot of interesting info...

Best of luck, hope this helps you a bit :)