4/27/11 4:34 PMThe Mentor Effect: Making a Home for Creatives | TalentZoo.com

Page 1 of 3http://www.talentzoo.com/news.php/The-Mentor-Effect-Making-a-Home-for-Creatives/?articleID=8777

Username: Password:Login with Facebook (case sensitive) Forgot?

Careers & More for a Cutting Edge Community Fan Page

@talentzoo

@talentzoojobsEmployers Job Seekers Blogs Columns Help

ALL ADVERTISING JOBS NEW MEDIA JOBS CREATIVE JOBS MARKETING JOBS GEEK JOBS

GUEST COLUMN

Share December 7, 2010

The Mentor Effect: Making a Home for CreativesBy: Greg Christensen

This year, about 100 new writers and art directors will spill out of their portfolio schools, looking to landtheir first jobs. And in about three years, most of those same junior creatives will be looking for work atan entirely new agency. That’s because most junior creatives follow an almost-clichéd trajectory: They get a job, work hard for acouple of years, start building their book, and move to a new shop. That’s not just speculation. I recently conducted a survey of more than 250 junior creatives and portfolioschool students. The results show that over 82 percent of them expect to be at their first agency no morethan three years. A similar poll among creative directors shows that 94 percent of the CDs have thesame expectation of their junior teams. They come on board, log a few years, move on, and everyoneseems fine with that. But they shouldn’t be. From the agency’s point of view, this is a terrible way to run a company. Imagine a factory or a schoolthat has to routinely replace an integral part of its staff or faculty every one to three years. Once a junior team decides to leave, the costs of replacing them can escalate quickly. Interviewing feesmight include roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations, and dining expenses. There could be headhunterfees, as well as hiring freelancers in the interim. Even when a team can be hired locally, at the very leastit means tapping into the working hours of agency principles, creative leaders, and staff that might betterbe put to use for paying clients. So, what if those junior creatives stayed at the same agency? And what if they had reason to? In this same poll, the junior creatives were asked what incentives would keep them at their agencieslonger. “More opportunities to do great creative” was the number one reason. No surprise there. Butwhat’s interesting is that being mentored by a creative director is a bigger incentive to junior creativesthan a pay raise.

Creative directors similarly agreed that more opportunities to do creative work is the greatest incentive for

About the AuthorGreg Christensen

Greg Christensen is a brand creative at TheRichards Group. He came to Dallas by wayof Switzerland, after transferring to Genevafrom Y&R’s Chicago office. He’s taught atthe Chicago Portfolio School, co-authorsmakinads.com, and graduated from theVCU Brandcenter. Though an upstandingcitizen, he once gathered and set fire to178 Christmas trees in his mother’s field.Find him on Twitter @happygrc or contacthim at happygrc@mac.com

http://www.richards.com/index.html

RELATED ARTICLES

Controlling the DisgruntledEmployee Problem Today

How to Rebuild Corporate Trust

Newest Jobs

Junior DeveloperMarketing Drive LLCBoston, Massachusetts

Art DirectorBreak Media Los Angeles, California

Account Executive, Digital MediaPublic Af...Connections Media Washington, District of Columbia

Interactive Creative DirectorQualified CreativesU.S. Nationwide

4/27/11 4:34 PMThe Mentor Effect: Making a Home for Creatives | TalentZoo.com

Page 2 of 3http://www.talentzoo.com/news.php/The-Mentor-Effect-Making-a-Home-for-Creatives/?articleID=8777

10 people liked this.

holding onto their junior teams. But their responses skewed towards “more money” as the secondgreatest reason, with mentoring and attention being less important. In other words: While juniors are planning to move on in three years, unless more creative opportunitiesand more mentoring are available, creative directors are expecting them to leave while overlooking themore valuable, more sought-after, and more cost-effective mentoring that might actually keep a teamaround longer. With hundreds of portfolio school graduates trying to enter the work force each year, maybe the loss oftalent seems inconsequential. With such a huge pool to draw from, replacing talent shouldn’t be anobstacle.

However, the agency’s bottom line isn’t the only element affected when a junior team departs. It’s also inthe agency’s best interest to hang onto talented juniors as long as possible, because losing them can bea drain on the agency’s culture. Frequent turnover puts a greater onus on the agency leadership to bearand perpetuate the culture. Juniors tend to have a more limited role with clients, which at least minimizesthe effect on client relationships. But even when the juniors’ replacements are über-talented, newcreatives have to take time acclimatizing to a new agency.

It should go without saying that the more mentoring a junior team receives, the better the creative outputof the agency as a whole. So, the longer a team remains at an agency, the better its players will become,and the more that agency will reap the benefits of developing talent. If you’re not convinced mentoring is an overlooked factor, consider this: In the same survey, the studentsand junior creatives were presented with two hypothetical creative directors: an industry superstar whomeveryone recognizes, but with whom they’d have limited interaction, and a less famous creative directorwho still does great work, but with whom they would have daily interaction. Almost all respondents chosethe less-famous CD they’d be able to work with on a daily basis.

This confirms a Sally Hogshead maxim: “Which agency you work for usually matters less than whichaccounts and creative director you work for.”[1] By mentoring junior creatives, agencies are able to hold onto them longer, which improves their bottomline, their culture, and their creative. That’s the Mentor Effect, the seldom-tapped resource that doesn’tcost the agency anything. So what does this mean for students, juniors, and their agencies? As a portfolio school student or junior creative, it’s important to understand that not all creative directorsare capable mentors. Interviewing students should be conscious of finding ways -- maybe even duringthe interview process -- of determining what kind of leader and mentor a potential CD is going to be. For creative directors, it’s important to understand what most students want coming out of portfolioschool: attention. Chances are, the more they receive, the better their work will be. They’re not lookingfor handholding. But they expect more than “go work on this area” as feedback to their ideas. For agency management, the knee-jerk reaction might be to hold a short series of “How to Mentor”seminars. But it takes a really amazing seminar on Monday to be remembered by Thursday. The thingagency principals can do is recognize the Mentor Effect, which means recognizing their creativedirectors’ abilities to mentor their junior teams. It’s not just about a track record lined with Lions andPencils. It’s about getting the people under them to perform just as well.

[1]“The Agency With the Best Softball Team Does the Worst Creative” by Sally Hogshead

Share

Web Analyst/Interactive MarketingAnalystRedEngine Digital McLean, Virginia

First Impressions Specialist(Receptionist...Spark Productions/McMurryNew York, New York

Senior CopywriterCranford Johnson Robinson WoodsLittle Rock, Arkansas

Art DirectorCranford Johnson Robinson WoodsLittle Rock, Arkansas

CopywriterIntroworks, Inc.Minnetonka, Minnesota

Account ExecutiveForbes MediaNew York, New York

Public Relations/CommunicationsCoordinato...Allegra NetworkPlymouth, Michigan

Marketing Internship - Grass RootsMaid BrigadeAlexandria, Virginia

Marketing AssistantAnonymous EmployerMatteson, Illinois

Account Executive - IntermarkGroupIntermarkBirmingham, Alabama

CopywriterThe Integer GroupNew York, New York

Advertising JobsNew Media JobsCreative JobsMarketing JobsGeek Jobs

Share onFacebook323232323232323232

Share onTwitter232323232323232323

Share viaemail Enter topic to look up

4/27/11 4:34 PMThe Mentor Effect: Making a Home for Creatives | TalentZoo.com

Page 3 of 3http://www.talentzoo.com/news.php/The-Mentor-Effect-Making-a-Home-for-Creatives/?articleID=8777

Add New Comment

Showing 3 comments

Sort by Popular now Subscribe by email Subscribe by RSS

I was about to unsubscribe to my Talent Zoo Daily Dose until this article caught my eye. I was just talking with mydesigner wife this weekend about wanting to give back after having great mentors early on in my career. Great insight.

4 people liked this. Like

Nice article, Greg. Good insights that are too often ignored.

2 people liked this. Like

I was laid off from my first job straight out of school after 5 months

. Consequently, leapfrogging to another agency wasn't an option for me. I hope juniors coming out of school, have betterluck than I did in this very precarious, backstabbing, and terrible industry.

Like

blog comments powered by DISQUS

TalentZoo.com Advertising

2010 TALENT ZOO, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - SOFTWARE © 2001 - 2011 PM TECHNOLOGIES Return to Top

Advertising JobsMarketing JobsDigital JobsCreative Jobs

Employer Sign-UpJob Seeker Sign-Up

TalentZoo.com Jobs

TalentZoo.com Articles

Contact Us

Twitter: @talentzoo, @talentzoojobs

Facebook Fan Page

Site Map

Type your comment here.

Post as …Image

Adambeu 4 months ago

Reply

Mike Wolfsohn 4 months ago

Reply

Copywriter4you 4 months ago

Reply