Saatchi Interview

I had my interview yesterday and I was very happy with how it turned out. I felt more excited about it than nervous, which was nice. I found out by letter last Thursday that I was invited for a first round interview. I heard that there were around 1000 people who applied and that they did a first pass of around 100. They then do a second interview with 25 and narrow that down to a lucky 5. 

I enjoyed getting ready for the interview and doing the research online. I found out there is so much that I don't know about Advertising as a business. There is a lot to learn, which is exciting. I went down to the London College of Communication career center on Monday to have a look through all their industry magazines. I thought it would be a good idea to bring something to the interview to make something that might help me to stand out and be remembered. I decided to make a little set of interview flash cards to help me remember my stuff. It turned out to be useful to help me remember what accounts they are working on and campaigns that I liked. I am glad that I did, I found it to be useful and fun.

The interview was yesterday at 3 p.m. I decided to get down there early at about 1 p.m. I wanted to first make sure that I could find the place since I wasn't able to fit in a dry run. I did get a bit lost so I am glad I left when I did. My plan was to find the place and then head to a Starbucks for a nice gingerbread latte and prepare. Luckily there was one right on the corner and I could see people coming and going from the office. I felt a bit like a spy. It helped to a get a sense of the place. There were also other graduates coming into the Starbucks holding their acceptance letters. I struck up a conversation with a guy called Nick who was on at 2 p.m. It was nice to have a chat and get to know who else is applying for the schemes. Nick was a nice guy. 

So after waiting a few hours and do my last bits of preparation I decided it was time to go in and wait in the lobby. There were four of us in total waiting. We all introduced ourselves and a chat. Who applied for what and had anyone heard back from any of the other schemes. Then it was time to begin. I was interviewed with another girl called Michele. Anna and Alex came up to us in the lobby, they were going to be interviewing and then we were whisked away. The interview was split up into two parts. For the first part I talked with Anna and she just asked me about why I was in London and what I liked about it. She asked some questions about some of the experience that I put down on my CV. It was a nice friendly chat and I liked her a lot. Then Alex came in to talk to me more about the role of an account manager. He was a bit more serious than Anna and I am not sure how well I came across to him. He asked me about my favorite ads of all time and ads that I didn't like. He was harder to read, but was it was all right.

Then they interviewed us together. We looked at print ads and basically they just wanted to hear our opinions. It was a bit daunting because you wanted to have your view, but yet you couldn't help wonder what they were thinking. After looking at the adverts we were then given some ads and had to pitch them to the other person. We had two minutes to look over the ads and then we had one minute to pitch. It wasn't too bad. I tried to make it as lively as possible. I wasn't sure what they were expecting and I have never pitched before, so we shall see. Overall I had fun and it was a cool experience. I should be hearing back within the next few days.