"Advertising and PR agencies have lost 65,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of the pre-recession total. Moody's Analytics estimates those industries will lose even more within five years."
— Las Vegas Review Journal, May 16, 2010

Sometimes the trades and press can paint such a grim picture about advertising, you wonder if it's a career worth pursuing. I wish I could answer that for you.

Honestly, I think it's getting tougher for your more traditional thinkers. To land a job, your approach better be anything but traditional. People are still buzzing about Alec Brownstein's simple, but brilliant play to get a job. If you haven't heard of him, Alec is the copywriter who bought Google Ad Words for the names creative directors. So when these individuals googled themselves, they got a special "hire me" message from Alec. It worked. People must be smacking themselves on their heads saying, "Why didn't I think of that?"

I don't know Alec's background, but if he's a traditional ad guy, he just pulled off an untraditional move. Now that it's been done, move on to some other tactic, please (even though I'm sure a lot more ad people are googling their names these days).

Over the weekend, I got a call from my sister in Houston. Her friend's daughter is graduating from Michigan State University  and a Houston agency just hired her. She's moving in a few weeks. MSU has an exceptional advertising program, I understand, so I'm sure they prepared her well. Apparently, agencies are looking. And they have their sights set on new thinkers.

Are you a new thinker? If not, what are you doing to get your head in the game?

Quick suggestions:

• Classes. Personally, I don't know if you should get certifications or another degree. I do know web design courses helped me a great deal when I moved in the digital space.
• Read everything. My book addiction is mostly fiction. But over the last two years, I've been buying works by the new media and social media experts. Again, it opened my eyes.
• Start with small jobs. If you are currently working, see if there are opportunities to broaden your horizons by working on a few smaller projects. If you are looking for work, smaller companies with limited resources may be more open to working with you and giving you a chance to build your experience. I'd start with non-profits, your churches, and clubs and organizations you belong to.

So if you are still willing to put in the extra work, I think you just answered your own question if it is still worth it.