Originally published on LinkedIn in February, 2023.
“There is no way this person is a junior creative. They have no idea what they’re doing.”-anonymous
It always grinds my gears when people 💩 on junior creatives. We were all juniors once, where is the compassion? In the beforetimes, there was ACTUAL bandwidth to mentor incoming talent, teach them the ropes, and sculpt them into better conceptors, writers and art directors. Fast forward to today, tight turnarounds and unrealistic client asks have made it near impossible for creative leads to teach them.
Even I, a graduate from Miami Ad School came into this industry not knowing how to structure a script. WTF is a :15 or a :30, I learned through trial by fire. And don’t get me started on manifestos (still not my fave.). Either case, even new junior talent from portfolio schools don’t know it ALL. Imagine talent who doesn’t come from those traditional backgrounds, especially creatives of color.
All I’m saying is, next time you look down on a junior creative, ask yourself, are you part of the problem? Instead of sharing resources with them, mentoring or connecting them with opportunities. It literally takes minimal effort to help a newb out. Don’t act like you weren’t there before.
