This week I’ve been roped into helping out a little bit more with the development of the new 14-19 Diploma in Creative & Media.
I was doing a ‘What do Planners and Researchers Do?’ vox pop as part of their new fangled t’interweb online study resource thingy and I hit a bit of a brick wall when I was asked what was the best way to get into a career in Planning.
To be honest, if you’re 14 and hell-bent on being a Planner, it should automatically disqualify you from the job. Whether new Planners arrive via an agency graduate scheme, Miami Ad School, a move across from Research or just sort of fall into it, they should have already had a bit of an Interesting life.
I’m not talking about only considering potential planners who are over 30, just that they should have done something (anything!) apart from education with their life first. A desire to enter Planning founded in your teens is hardly going to encourage the kind of life experiences that make you more insightful Planner. Its also not going to result in the lightbulb moment in your mid 20s when you realise that there’s this career out there that suits your skill set, the way your brain works AND could be a lot of fun.
Any aspiring Planners out there – go write a book, start a movement, launch a business or dip your toe in an entirely different career. You’ll either realise that there’s thousands of other cool jobs out there (and considering how few entry-level Planning jobs there are, that can only be A Good Thing), or come back a better Planner-to-be.
photo by Russell ‘Interesting’ Davies, creative commons applies