Alex Koumi is a director of marketing recruitment and search specialists Kingston Stanley
“With a number of new students graduating over the summer, it’s time for that seasonal recruitment push again for advertising agencies. However, this year, the trend is expected to be focussed on the best Arabic talented candidates who have recently graduated, with a strong academic degree.
You can expect to see a number of account executive vacancies come into the market, as employers look to bolster their talent from the ground up. It’s extremely competitive to break into the leading advertising and PR agencies, so grads need to have a structured approach to applying for roles with a strong CV. Agencies are also looking for individuals who show a good technical understanding of marketing, with the ability to work long hours, with tight deadlines and with many different clients. Candidates must be able to multi-task and show a proven track record of delivering above expectations.
If you’re a fresh graduate, with a relevant marketing or communications degree and are keen to apply for agency roles, you’ll need to do your research on the market and look into which agencies have recently won different accounts you may be interested in. Read up on how different agencies work and what they look for in account executives. Also, do the simple things right. After writing your CV make sure you give it to a friend, or family member to read through. Sometimes a second eye can spot a mistake that you will look over. The CV should be between one to two pages at entry level. A poorly written CV, or poorly formatted CV, reflects an individual who does not have a good attention to detail and p otentially rushes their workload. Take your time putting together an accurate and expressive CV. Make sure you have a standard font and headings and the CV is written in bullet points with clear and defined sections.
From an employers perspective too, the advantage to agencies recruiting fresh graduates, over individuals with one or two years’ experience is mainly that you have the opportunity to put your stamp on their training and development and can ensure that they are trained reflective of your culture and environment. It’s a chance to work with individuals with no bad habits picked up from other managers or poorly performing teams. You will have the opportunity to mould them into the best cultural and technical fit for your business training them the right was from the outset. The market is becoming increasingly more competitive and it’s essential that people development and talent acquisition is at the forefront of any growing business.”
