When I was teaching, I often took the opportunity to inject comments and advice from some of our own into a lecture. An old friend, Jim Hettich, Chairman and CEO at Crowley Webb, provided the following to students who would soon be looking to land positions in ad agencies. It came back to me that Jim’s advice was some of the best my students had ever received.

“What I look for in a new account service hire (and unfortunately don’t see much of it) is an interest in and an appreciation for the advertising industry, someone who has a sense of industry history, has a sense of current affairs in the industry, has read biographies of some of the great people and agencies, etc. etc.  This aspect of an individual’s candidacy is always, always a tiebreaker.

The best advice I can give to an individual who aspires to have a career in this business is to find the right balance of intelligence, integrity and humility.  Since everyone is different, everyone will have a different balance of these attributes.  The point is all of them are necessary and I dare say critical if you want to achieve your dreams.”

Jim Hettich
Chairman & CEO, Crowley Webb & Assoc.