Here's What I Haven't Learned

You know, I have tried to reflect on some of the experiences I have had working as a Junior Account Planner at an ad agency. I have learned so much and as I approach my one year anniversary with the company, I am looking ahead at my goals for the future and where I stand now. Having just had my annual review, it showed me what I am doing well and what I need to work on. I appreciate the feedback because I want to learn and grow and do better.

However, I have found that there are some things from the agency that I have yet to learn that I consider essential - it's not one-sided. If I don't have the back-up of someone teaching me then it is just giving, giving, giving and all that I learn is simply what I have made of a situation. Experience has taught me so much and I think for a while that is enough. But right now I am looking for specific skills that I expect to be taught.

In school, we learned about being creative, about understanding the target, and about boiling things down into big but concise, single-minded ideas. This is a great way to learn about planning and I wouldn't expect anything less. My experience thus far in the agency has taught me the challenges of applying this learning to the work I do. As I've said before, I have worked on every client in the house at least once and by this point there are a few key accounts that I know more about.

The next step for me is taking care of an account of my own. I am currently trying to work towards that. Here's the kicker, this is where I need my agency to step in. The things that I don't know about right now are which meetings I should attend, how and when I should provide strategic feedback, and the timelines for working on projects and with teams. To me, this is information that my agency needs to be providing me, not something I will necessarily just know to do on my own.

As a junior, you are working through other planners so you are relatively removed from this process. I'm not sure how it works at most agencies, but I think the idea is to have a junior sit in with another planner in meetings to start to understand the process and understand the role of an Account Planner in those situations. This is the experience I lack.

Part of this is perhaps agency structure - do the project managers know to invite us to meetings? They set up most of the meetings with creatives. Or is it that the team needs to understand that I am working on their account and to include me - I know that one has been done. Is it that they forget to invite me and then the project is already underway? How did we get to the point where I am invited to a meeting here, a meeting there but still expected to perform? I'm sorry but I missed a few steps and you're expecting me to just know.

At this point, I am trying to push past this wall and I'm not getting the help I need. But I feel like this is such a small part of it...maybe I should be able to just figure this stuff out on my own...? A little education goes a long way and I know that if I simply knew the process from beginning to end, I would have no problem doing the work. I'm not saying I don't understand the steps and how we get from research to strategy to creative, but I'm saying I don't know when and where to show up and nobody invited me to the party.

Sure, it's all new experiences but help me out. Give me just a little nudge and I will take it further than you would expect of me. I want to do well but I need some support.

As with any challenge, find a new way to do it. If I am not given the assistance I will find a way to help myself. Onward...