Advertising is Not Always a Glamorous Profession

Have you ever watched a commercial and said: "I can do better than that!" Then you may be considering a career in advertising. But how do you know if this career is right for you? See if these elements line up with your personality and career goals.

If you are creative and like to write or design, you've already added advertising to your top five list of career opportunities. Working in a major ad agency's creative department is a dream job for most but you may find you would rather work in a small ad agency, in-house agency or even on your own as a freelancer.

You'll be working as a team and your creative personality will not only be valued, it will be relied upon every day. Even if your copy comes back with red marks all over it, you're the one the

Creative Director is counting on to write that copy. If your design is marked up, you're still the one that needs to make the changes to get the ad completed on time.

Advertising jobs aren't just for creative guys. When you think of advertising, you may automatically imagine a room full of creative people hammering out ideas into one solid ad campaign. Copywriters, graphic designers, creative directors, art directors and other creative people do work together in these types of settings.

However, there are plenty of other type of people involved in a successful ad campaign that don't actually create the ads.

Account Executives, Traffic Managers, Media Coordinators, Media Directors, Researchers and other non-creative’s work in the advertising industry.

These people are just as crucial to a client's successful ad campaign as the creative’s who develop the campaign's concept. Many of the non-creative positions in advertising also work directly with the client. For example, an account executive is a liaison between the client and the creative department. He must work closely with both to make sure the client's needs are being met in every step of the ad campaign.

In this high pressure environment, folks have lost their jobs over a failed ad campaign. When a client pulls his money because he wasn't happy with the results, the proverbial heads do roll.

You're partially responsible for an ad campaign's success or failure. This is great when the campaign is a huge hit. You share in the glory. When the campaign is a flop, you also share in the bad times with your colleagues.

This high pressure environment isn't for everyone. Short deadlines, last minute changes and sitting in the boss office when it's time to take the heat for an unsuccessful ad campaign, have caused many ad professionals to change careers.

Working in advertising is rewarding and challenging. But for many people just starting out, the challenge seems to be getting that first big break into the industry. There are many ways you can overcome that barrier and land a job at an advertising company. Intern, Take entry level position, Freelance, Create ads and Contact the publishers.

Working in advertising is, in fact, a much respected profession. Unfortunately, there are those that think because you are trying to sell something through advertising that you're trying to trick or deceive the public.

There are plenty of opportunities for those who want to get started in this field. This doesn't mean you're going to get that corner office with a view, the prestigious income and creative control of advertising campaigns with your first job.

There's a lot of legwork you're going to have to do. But if you're serious about your career in the industry, you can break in.

Welcome to the world of advertising!