Advertising Manager: Would You Buy That

Introduction
Think big. Be a visionary. Make that vision work, and show the people who work for you that you sincerely value their ideas and contribution. Business always works better when it's supported by a community.

Job Function
To tell you a little about what I do:
I am in charge of the overall strategy for my department. I am responsible for the final product that they create and that we share with the creative director and clients. My favorite parts of my job are making decisions about what direction to take a campaign and determining who on staff are the best equipped to work on a project. Since I have been in the industry for a long time, I am able to offer the junior members on our staff a lot of useful feedback on their work to help them grow professionally and artistically.

Something else I do is oversee the budget for a project to determine how to effectively satisfy a client's needs without going overboard.

What I don't like about this industry is waiting for materials to be reviewed. We can get a project done quickly, and then wait a month for a client to get back to us and say they want something different. And they'll tell us at that point that they need it in 24 hours. (Well, if you got it to us 3 weeks ago when we expected it, we could have it to you by tomorrow.) Advertisement
Lifestyle
It is a very stimulating and demanding job. It takes a little while to build your career to the point where you can take on this position, about 10 years. Advertising is based in large cities, not that these firms are always close to clients. Also, you can travel quite a lot with this career, which I love. I go first class which means warm cookies and free scotch.

You will succeed if you stay cutting edge. That means networking with your fellow students, with other people in the industry, being flexible and generous, and really trying to hear what people want. Also, show them what you have to offer, what makes you special, better suited to fill a position, to work on a project, whatever. There is a lot of competition, so you have to run faster and jump higher than the other guy.

Also, people switch firms pretty regularly in this field. They'll stay with a couple of firms and then hop to another. It's just a good thing to know. Trends change, styles shift, personalities clash. The best thing you can do is be flexible and optimistic and work hard.

Additional Information
Network, critique, problem solve.

And be really organized. That's good advice across the board. Good luck!

Useful Links and Sources
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Explore_types_of_jobs/Types_of_Job/p!eipaL?state=showocc&idno=241&pageno=8
http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos020.htm