As a part of a collaborative project between Cultural Institution „ Parobrod (Steamboat)“ and creative agency „McCann Belgrade“, another „McCann Steamboating“ session was held.
The employees at agency „McCann Belgrade“ organized an open day for students. Fifteen professionals in senior positions in the agency spent a couple of hours talking to about 200 students from the Facutly of Economics, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Organizational Science , Philosophical Faculty, Faculty for Culture and Media, Faculty of Arts and Design and the Faculty of Media and Communication about working in a creative agency. The number of students that came to the event did not surprise the employees because, as they say, they used the same opportunities when they were their age.
„I believe that the opportunity to speak to people from one of the leading agencies not only in our country, but in the entire region is priceless for students who want to work in advertising in order to get the right picture about their desired profession and work on their personal development in a way that would make them an ideal candidate for the job in the future. Their enthusiasm and their desire to acquire practical experience as soon as possible has encouraged me to present them all the sides of my work that inspire me and comprise the motivational strength for further personal and professional development. There were moments when they reminded me of myself back in my student days“, said Jelena Lesevic, Account Director at the agency „McCann Belgrade“.
Instead of a typical lecture, the budding advertisers go to chose the format of „Ask us anything you want to know about our job“. The idea of this event was for these students interested in marketing, advertising and communications to get some first hand familiarity with the profession, so they had the chance to choose who they wanted to talk to depending on their field of interest – creative, strategic planning, production, accounts or human resources.
„This event is definitely what we need as students and what will be of great use to us when we apply for an internship or a job. I think that the Open Day concept is exceptional, because the focus is on the students and we are given the chance to lead an entirely open conversation in a pleasant atmopshere with directors from different departments in the agency, get lots of relevant information, and more importantly, leave our CVs and apply for an internship or a job. We all know how hard it is to get a good internship, let alone a proper job, and this is the perfect opportunity for us to make the first step in building a carreer. For me this was a unique experience where I got a lot of useful advice and got familiar with how one of the leading local marketing agencies functions. I would like to use this opportunity to give my approval to this effort by McCann Belgrade, they’ve proved that they appreciate us students and I think that other agencies and companies should follow their example“, said Milos Kaljevic, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Organizational Science and the president of the student organization „FON center for career development“
This collaboration with Belgrade universities is no one-off for McCann Belgrade. Last year, the agency participated in Fonklame, where the creative director Vladimir Ćosić held a lecture and also mentored a competition in creating commercial campaigns, where the winning team got an internship in the agency as a prize. More similar events are planned for the upcoming year, and there is another „McCann Steamboating“ event scheduled for the end of November.
