Turning One : Aging in Agency!
- Gisele Suroto
- Dec 29, 2020
- 3 min read
Let me share my friends' passionate attempts at dissuading me from diving into the #MarketingIndustry:
“Tough environment”
“Say goodbye to your friends, family, and boyfriend"
"Stress puooll"
"What is work-life balance? Is that a new genre of hardcore music?"
“Hard-core colleagues”
Yeah, I was exaggerating, but you get my point. That’s probably what they warned you as well if you’ve ever considered going through the same career path as I am.
I am blessed with friends who care about me, but here’s the plot twist : nobody cares less about myself more than I do; unfortunately. Simply put, I was blinded by passion.
When I was still considering to pursue this career path, all I care about is my hunger and willingness to learn marketing practices directly from the experts. And God knows I love all things #creativity. Out of the box ideas mesmerise me and spark fireworks in my belly. Best part? I'm not even exaggerating (okay, maybe I am).
After a year of working in an advertising agency, with a big heart, I say : my friends were right :)
The first 4 months were the toughest. I can’t believe that I need to adapt to living in Jakarta. Though I am 100% Indonesian, I am not from Jakarta. I spent the last 6 years (before Singapore) in Balikpapan until recently my family moved to Jakarta. The breaking news: Four years of staying in Singapore apparently had made me forget how to speak fluent Bahasa. Not to mention, I have to also adapt to a different lifestyle.
Thankfully, my experience in Singapore was not useless as I have non-Indonesian colleagues and 95% of the emails and presentation materials were done in English. Also, sometimes I’m also needed to liaise with our partners in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, or even our HQ in the UK.
Then, as a management graduate they didn’t teach me as many important advertising abbreviations and terms like PH, LSM, SES, ATL, BTL, TTL, KV, TVC, rohto, stillomatic, qual research, and many more. While the rest advertising/marketing people are expected to know this by default. Thus, many questions and confusion happened in the earlier time of my career.
Lastly, it’s either you move fast or be stepped by the rest. It’s amazing to see how dynamic the work environment can be. There was not a day where I didn't have a meeting with either an internal or external team. And moving fast is mandatory in this industry, we are moved (literally) by deadlines.
Through it all, I am grateful to have experienced all these. Here’s how the deadline pressure, fast-paced environment, and the nature of my job had been a life-changing experience for me :
Advancement of communication skills
Looking back, this used to be one of my biggest insecurities. But I have a strong belief that the more I push myself beyond my comfort zone, the more I'll expand my capacity. Apparently, hundreds of calls, meetings, and discussions for the past 1 year have sharpened my interpersonal skills quite significantly.
Open-mindedness, daring to speak and how to deliver it
DDB has a great office culture, where the people are mostly open-minded and willing to listen. Throughout my experience, I learn to be bolder in voicing out my opinion in important meetings and how to say it. As time passed I grew to learn just how crucial it is in my job.
Time and People Management Skills
From being chased by the deadline, I learn to chase it instead. Not only do I now have better time management, but also people management skills. Being timeline-aware is one core job of the account team, this is crucial as a delay in delivering 1 task could result in a major slowdown to the overall timeline. These soft skills that I learned are not only helpful for me in the current time, but surely will be very valuable in many other aspects of my life.
All in all, I am glad to be part of DDB Indonesia for the past 1 year and excitedly looking forward to more of the capacity-stretching experience. Obviously, I still have lots to learn, but I’m happy to be a small fish in a big pond. Because then, I will always have the reason to humble myself and learn from my surroundings.
Editor : Sam Widjaja
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