Yes, you have to be talented to make it in the industry. Generally having a portfolio showing your hard skills in which you are capable of is certainly valuable. However, one of the things I’ve thought to be true and was manifested in this trip, was that raw passion and authenticity will get you in the doors before a perfected portfolio will. It’s important to note that these agencies consist of real people doing crazy cool shit, and they want to know what cool shit you’re in to and what cool shit you like to make as well. In almost every interaction I had with either an industry veteran or recruiter, they were curious as to why I want to go into advertising, what I do in my free time, what was I passionate about and why, etc. When visiting with Matt Eastwood from JWT, he said “I’ve been using the same model for years when determining who I want to bring on the team and be surrounded by, and that’s people who are passionate about something,anything, because that tells me that they are indeed a passionate person.” This sound so simple, but be passionate about something no matter how weird it is: collecting bottle caps, obsessing over hippos, painting murals on objects that other people would consider trash: just something.

Advice moving forward:

Be passionate, show it in a way that is unique to you and your brand.

Do you homework on where you want to be and why. Really.

Don’t take the first job offer if it doesn’t feel right and/or it doesn’t align with your values.

Aaaand don’t spend more time perfecting your portfolio than being an actual human and having conversations, being authentic to recruiters, people in the industry.

Sit down, listen to people who have way more knowledge than you do in Ad, be humble.

-Macaihah