There are all kinds of ways to secure a job within the ad industry. Here are some helpful external and internal links.
Some advertising agencies are offering taster programmes for new talent such as workshops, crash courses, work experience or apprenticeships to create opportunities for students and school leavers from all backgrounds. Some of these programmes are specifically targeted at students from diverse backgrounds to enrich the industry.
See the latest job opportunities at IPA member agencies.
The ERIC app is worth downloading if you are Gen Z and interested in any of the creative industries' roles. They regularly ‘drop’ opportunities and are a great source of profiles of those industries/case studies of fresh entrants.
Originally set up as a training provider to provide an alternative for diverse groups who couldn’t afford to go to university. They typically take 20% of any group of 200, but continue to work with the unsuccessful to encourage them to reapply for digital, tech, data and project management apprenticeships.
A professional network for people in the advertising industry.
Creative Equals work with agencies and recruiters to help give creatives from a diverse background the support, mentoring and training they need to make it all the way to the top.
Common People, a group trying to increase social mobility in our industry, recommend Creative Lives' list of 17 platforms with creative jobs out of London.
Brixton Finishing School runs a programme for "under-represented" groups in the creative industries (multi-cultural, working class, neurodiverse, female) to find those with untapped potential.
STEMNET creates opportunities to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The 10-month programme helps students fulfil their potential and the school's relationships with agency partners create employment opportunities for all alumni. They also run a scholarship programme helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds onto the course, and into the creative industries.
"We are on the cusp of a crisis that should not be happening. A generation of kids is leaving school unaware of creativity as a career option. And yet, the creative industries are crying out for new voices and perspectives. Supply is real. Demand is real. Upriser by Saatchi & Saatchi exists to bring them together.
This programme matchmakes creative companies with UK secondary schools and provides an open-source playbook to facilitate meaningful and sustained partnerships. The ambition: inspire state secondary school students with the power of creative thinking and make them aware of the career opportunities in the creative industries."
If your school signs up and commits long-term and is matched with a creative business then there is support like mock interviews, real-world projects, on-site trips, talks from industry leaders. There are no guaranteed jobs but there is work experience which is a good start to finding a permanent role.
Register on the National Apprenticeship website to find employers looking for talent.
Ucas.com has included since 2023 a number of apprenticeship opportunities, including degree apprenticeships. Degree apprenticeships are not much used in advertising but this may change with Digital User Experience UX, the Level 6 Advertising Creative or Level 7 Data Scientist.
It has a good advice section, written by many at the early career stage. One major advertising group is offering apprenticeships.
Research the top 30 creative and top 30 media agencies and ask if they have graduate or apprentice programmes. Do a search and anything from Campaign magazine will be accurate. For example, here are the top 100 creative agencies by billing in 2022. A place to find a job too – just type ‘Entry Level’ into Campaign’s Job's Search.
Sign up to the Discover Creative Careers mailing list for the latest news, events, updates and opportunities across the 2023 - 2025 programme. Discover Creative Careers Week runs 13-17 November, live and online, with the IPA’s Advertising Unlocked on 15 November.