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How to get into the advertising industry comes down to one habit more than any resume tip: saying yes to the opportunity in front of you before you feel ready for it. That's the throughline of Julie Beaty's own career, and it's also the pattern she now watches play out from the front of a Michigan State classroom.
Julie sold media for 26 years at Leo Burnett, BET, MTV Networks, Oxygen, and iHeartMedia before she pivoted to teaching advertising at Michigan State, and she taught me. I wanted to know what the students who make it are doing differently than the ones who don't, since she's observed thousands go through the same process.
How do you get into the advertising industry?
Julie started out saying yes to jobs she had no idea about. She took a marketing assistantship she didn't apply for, then a media research job she'd never heard of, then a teaching role for software she'd never opened, and taught herself out of the book the night before each class.
If you're wondering what she'd tell you, it's simple: "Say yes. You smart. You're gonna figure it out." The specific job matters less than the habit of saying yes before you feel ready, because that's what actually builds the resume.
Trying to land your first role in advertising or marketing? Every episode is someone who built a career in this industry sharing what works. Subscribe on YouTube.
How do you ask for an informational interview?
According to Julie, asking for a job or whether they're hiring is a setup for a no, so don't do it. Ask for an informational meeting instead, then close it with one line: "now that we have chatted and you know more about me, are there two or three more people that you can connect me with?"
One question like that is the difference between a conversation and a real network. I started using it in college because she told me to, and it compounds faster than you'd expect.
How do you use student access before it expires?
Senior people will give you their time while you're still a student. They take the call, make the intro, answer the email, because it costs them little and it feels good.
That access has an expiration date. Once you graduate, Julie says, "it's kind of, I don't know if I have time for you so much." Use the access while you still have it, because almost nobody spends it in time.
How do you get hired with no experience?
Julie sat down with an NBCU EVP and asked what the difference was between the people they hired last cycle and the ones they didn't. The answer: "the students who came in who had presentations made of themselves and presented them during the interviews got hired."
Decks don't always come up in interviews, but building one forces you to know what you actually bring, and that's your answer ready to go when someone asks why you over the next person. Those free certs from Google, Meta, and The Trade Desk work the same way. They show you're ready to learn before the industry pays you.
Watch the full conversation
Watch the full episode for Julie's resume tactics, how she got MSU students inside Netflix, Spotify and Publicis at Cannes, and her take on what students miss on LinkedIn: A Media VP On How To Get Into The Advertising Industry.
Watch next: Jobs In Advertising, Explained: Every Seat And Where To Start
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