If you’re reading this, it’s not too late

21 May 2019

Applications have recently opened for our next Creativity Works: Advertising, so we're taking a look back and hearing from past participant in the programme, Asher Harris..

Creativity Works: Advertising 2017 was a free, five week course for 18-24 year olds.

Working with some of the leading agencies in the world advertising, we challenged our group of 22 young Londoners to create a campaign encouraging young people to vote, ahead of the snap General Election in June.

Here participant Asher Harris tells us about his experience.

What. A. Five. Weeks! I’ve never been so productive in such a short space of time.

It was jam packed, from running around London visiting top agencies like Wieden + Kennedy and Grey London to working diligently on a (literally) political pitch.

How can I sum up the experience? If I found out about this when I was a teenager, I would have quit/never gone to university. (I did a Marketing degree; it wasn’t useful).

The Create Jobs Advertising course is what an advertising course should be - I felt like I had done 2 years’ worth of work in 5 weeks. I’m a practical learner so getting to actually do stuff that is highly relevant rather than endless theory that isn’t applicable (it works for some but not me) was so refreshing.

Getting to speak to co-founders, political activists and industry veterans was invigorating - it’s always a pleasure to hear about the industry from those who are deep in it. For anyone under 25 looking to get into the advertising industry, I’d highly recommend it as an alternative to university, particularly if you’re a person who needs to do something v.s. read/hear it to get it (and it’s free!)

I learnt again that sometimes who you know is as equally as important as what you know, the level of exposure I got from going to a tech event at Google HQ to speaking Directors at the BBC was priceless.

I went from being underemployed to freelancing at a cool start-up (BuzzRamp) and starting an agency with two other people (Content Content).

I’ve also met some amazing people, who I now class as friends (amazing people are rare so I’m hanging onto them).

I am eternally grateful to the Create Jobs team - they helped to restore my confidence and resume my progression towards running a successful agency and writing cool stuff.

To remix Drake’s album title – if you’re reading this, it’s not too late, you can still get into the advertising industry.

Get in touch with the Create Jobs Team, I have high standards when it comes to people and they all meet them.

I’m off, enjoy your day/evening/night.

Creativity Works: Advertising 2019 is now open for applications. Find out more about the programme and how you can apply here.