A fellow Scotty’s employee informed me at work last night that I only have 55 days (including weekends) until I graduate from Ball State University.  That countdown has kind of snuck up on me, and leaves me with mixed emotions.  On one hand, I’m ready to get out of Muncie, Indiana and break into the real world.  On the other, I’m pretty sure that I could get use to the sleeping in till noon, going to an hour or two class every day then going back to sleep.  Alas, those days filled with freedom, lacking responsibility are numbered…The only thing left to do is to brace myself, and find a job!

This summer I was an intern at two advertising agencies in Chicago and loved it so much that I made it my goal to get back to Chicago and get a job at a leading agency. In early December, I began writing the executives and my bosses at the two agencies asking each their opinions of the top agencies in the Chicago area and if there was anyone that they could put me in contact with. 

I was fortunate enough to have a very strong response and was put in contact with some very prominent names in the Chicago advertising scene.  As of now I spoken with agencies that do work for companies such as McDonald’s, Bud Light, Gatorade, and Wrigley.  As you can imagine, Chicago can have a very competitive job market.  Any college graduate who wants to work in advertising would most likely focus on one of two cities; Chicago or New York. 

In addition to the fierce competition, the economy isn’t helping.  Threats of another recession has left many companies carefully monitoring their expenditures (i.e. advertising dollars)  Without ad dollars being spent, there is no room to open up new positions in advertising agencies…meaning no jobs for Ryan!

Right now, I would characterize my position as ”actively waiting”.  I’ve been keeping in touch with the agencies I have interviewed with, while exploring my options in other cities.  Hopefully I’ll have a job by May 1…if not, I guess it wouldn’t be too bad moving back up to the lake and working at the ski shop for a while!