What’s in a name?

Yesterday, a kid who joined my company just 2 weeks ago, quit her job with us, because she got a job with one of “the most wanted” creative agencies in the country.

The bizarre thing is, she has no idea who she will report to, nor have any idea what clients she will work on! But it’s “______” she said, “and I have always wanted to work with them”

Well mine is a new digital agency, and I am used to hearing a lot of creative people from mainstream advertising not wanting to leave the space, even if all they do is get to write a 4 second voice over in a 30 second commercial, or claim a client written ad as their own!

Then came the bigger, bizarre twist in the story. She said she realised the above, but was joining them in their digital arm. Okay, now this is really ironic, I said, and explained that my digital agency, even though just a year old, is probably bigger than the place she’s joining. We have equally good, if not better brands. And the one’s we’re in the process of signing on, are bigger than anything they can lay their hands on, because of their global alignments.

“But none of this will make any sense to you” I said “if you don’t know what accounts they have and what you will work on… so why don’t you call them and find out? Take an informed decision” I told her, and “if you’re getting to work on something better than what we have here, I will happily let you go”.

She called them with her questions, and this is what she told me they said. The large agency’s HR woman abruptly told her on the phone “you will only know when you join us and come to the office” almost threatening that if she asked further questions, she may not get the job! “So are you still going?” I asked. “Yes” she said “it is ______”.

So what’s in a name? A lot it seems. Despite having no job description, no career plan for new recruits, and no basic human resource management courtesies, they still get people lining up their doors!

And that’s life in big name advertising agencies!