1.Situation

In MYPRODUCT14 I detailed how an unpaid internship helped me to enter the advertising industry as an Account Junior in the Customer Service Department from Graffiti/BBDO and in MYPRODUCT2 I explained how I prepared all the budgets and costs for Cosmorom.

If in the first years Cosmorom had an intense communication activity, for some reasons which I do not detail, at a certain point it became quite clear that Cosmorom’s commercial development had entered on a downgrading trajectory.

In this context, the entire Cosmorom’s team was risking to lose its job, because an advertising agency often decides to close the cooperation with the people assigned to that account if the agency fails to allocate them to other accounts.

2.Task

At the first signs that the communication projects on Cosmorom were declining, I wondered what would happen to me / to my position within the agency when the activity on this client would no longer justify the allocation of a dedicated team.

As being the most junior member of the team, it was obvious to me that in such a situation there were big chances to lose my job.

As a result of this analysis, I decided that I had to act in such a way that my position in the company would not be endangered in the case of confronting with this potential situation.

3.Action

Armed with this goal I went to the department’s manager presenting my willingness to work on another account beside Cosmorom. This action was well received, so I started to manage Scandia’s (pate maker) communication projects as a dedicated account manager. After a while, period in which Cosmorom’s activity was significantly reducing, I approached the department’s manager again, asking to take over another new account. So I started to work on Artelecom, the Romtelecom’s internet service provider.

4.Results

Year 2002 found me as the only Account Manager on Scandia and Artelecom accounts, managing communication projects that covered total budgets of 6 digits in EUR / USD per year.

On Cosmorom’s account the agency activity was at a minimal level, so there was no reason to keep a team dedicated to this client, decision which was finally made by the agency’s management.

5.Key Leanings

Due to my preventive actions and because I was responsible for Scandia’s and Artelecom’s accounts, my position in the agency was very solid, so this decision had no negative impact on my job.

Planning your professional career should be a desideratum, no matter if you are junior or a management’s member. Where you see yourself professionally within one, two or five years is more than a standard question addressed to you in a job interview. The situation previously detailed is an eloquent example in this respect.

Notification: MYPRODUCT reflects my real professional experience and expertise as well as my subjectivity. I do have a profound respect for all the companies I collaborated to and for all the people I worked with. It is not my intention to approach any sensitive, confidential or offending information related to companies, projects or people. If you the reader deduct or recognise companies, projects or people in my examples, I kindly ask you to respect MYPRODUCT and my professional and ethic approach and to not share any detail, information, situation, name, company.