MAKING THE JUMP
Over recent months the working landscape has completely opened up to employees in the creative space, as brands focus on building up their creative/digital/content departments in-house, some even successfully attempting to replicate an agency environment in-house in order to attract the right talent. As brands target a new type of skillset for their organisations, and traditionally "agency" focused candidates target a new environment to progress their careers, I'm regularly being asked the question "what roles should I be going for in an in-house team and how easy is it to do that?" Part of the answer to that question is that it depends on the organisation and how it is set up. However, there are a few tips that can make the transition simpler and help you to focus on what roles are out there and where your skill set might best fit if you are trying to transition across. The obvious roles that transition across well from agency to industry are ones that actually lend themselves to being close to the brand's in-house marketing team and core marketing and technical strategy. These include: content and social media roles, developer roles, SEO/PPC roles, design programmatic/data and insight roles. Hardest placed to know what to do on the 'other side' are candidates who have worked in typical agency structured client services teams, project management teams and strategy and planning teams. All of these roles, however, have very strong and relevant transferable skills - particularly in line with the current skillset demands that brands are looking for - So if you're doing one of these roles and looking to move across, you need to be smart and focus on the right parts of your skillset.
FOCUS YOUR CV OR PORTFOLIO TO BRING OUT THE KEY RELEVANT CLIENT HIGHLIGHTS
Look at the clients that you've worked on and how close you've managed to get to those clients through the relationships that you've built. Have you been requested to go on a secondment across to your client? Do you regularly work in their offices? Think "client-side" whilst rewriting your cv and you'll notice that it will start to read differently.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK FOR US?
Many talent managers and hiring managers in the client side world, who haven't worked agency-side before, struggle to understand why candidates from a creative agency world want to move into a singular brand, in what is perceived to be a 'less creative' environment. We know there are lots of reasons why this move is very exciting for a lot of people - so make sure you've thought about those reasons in order to be able to articulate them passionately.
DEMONSTRATE A TRUE PASSION FOR THE TYPE OF BRANDS YOU'RE GOING TO BE APPLYING FOR
Why do you have that passion? It can't just be "I just fancy a move in-house". Brands want people working for them that live and breathe everything that they're about. Do you buy the product? Are you an avid user of that particular social network? Do your values match those of the brand? This all needs to come across in your cv, within your personal statement, your work history and your portfolio.
LOOK FOR THE BRANDS THAT HAVE AN IN-HOUSE AGENCY STRUCTURE
If it's a first step across, find brands that have "in-house" agencies or at least replicate agency departments within their structure. Clearly they'll be even more receptive to an agency skillset which will mean you'll be in more demand, and allow a smoother transition across.
By Industry + Digital Agency Director Richard Bloom
Read the full article here