The Pros and Cons of working at the ‘Ad Land’ in ‘Land Down Under’

To start with: My lazy ass had a hard fucking time to adjust with the work culture here. Well, to be honest, I am still adjusting. It’s been 5 months since I moved. I guess it’s okay to whine for a few more months. Although, man of the house disagrees and wants me to just shut up and move on here. I am trying. Believe, you me!

I will start with the pros:

1. The best part about agencies in Sydney- most of them are dog friendly (I write dog friendly because I am not that fond of cats). Australians love their coffee. So much so that I have been influenced to buy a coffee machine for home and start my day with a ‘regular cap’. Every time a co-worker asks you out for coffee, you say yes. Those are the ice breaking moments, conversation starters. Take it from someone who has been very resistant to culture change. Australians are very particular about their coffee. They hate shitty coffee and will not hesitate to spend dollars on a good cup. So now, when I spend $6.50 on my morning coffee, I find Starbucks cheap!
2. They are dangerously punctual. Migrating from India when I used to wake up at 8/9 AM and literally take my first call with one eye open, I cried every morning here, when I had to wake up even before the sun rose to catch the train and reach work on time. They believe in being 2 minutes earlier than late. I was called out for joining a meeting 3 minutes late. So I ain’t kidding about the punctuality, mate. Being late is frowned upon. And my co-workers and friends back home know very well how punctual I was (sense the sarcasm).
3. I have worked with advertising agencies in India for close to 7 years. Never have I seen them being process oriented. Doesn’t matter if it’s a global or an independent agency. Every single agency is super process oriented. The dynamics between an agency and a client is remarkable. I haven’t heard Account Management people bitch about clients or call brands cheap or have constant issues with Brand and Marketing Managers. Agencies here maintain a document/sheet for every single job which honestly makes lives so much easier. There is a smart-sheet maintained for timelines and boy, they don’t miss it unless there is a serious reason. Most of the jobs are well accounted for when it comes to timelines and costs. Honestly, this is possible because the clients are also well informed about the SLA’s and more importantly, they agree to it.
4. Australians make the 9-5 count. They constantly work during that time and try and make sure they do not carry their office, home. This of course is not the case all the time. But they definitely try and do succeed on most days. The only breaks they take are coffee breaks and one lunch break.
5. They love socialising. Although, personally I feel this is subjective. I have met people sugar coating things better than my snitch exes and then stabbing my back.
6. I have met the best of both worlds this city has to offer, so far. Some of the nicest people who will genuinely care about you and befriend you and keep in touch and a few nasty ones who will not blink an eye before saying something that might hurt you or put you in trouble.
7. To be honest, I haven’t been completely absorbed in the Ad Land here because I am in between jobs, and I had one of the most horrific experiences of my entire career.

Ah, the cons. The embracer of darkness and someone is extremely important to consider while hitting the high road. I would rather write about what helps and what doesn’t.

1. Anticipate & embrace the change: This isn’t as easy as it sounds and very simply said than done. I personally had a great deal of resistant towards change (simply put – think of Sheldon Cooper from the BBT. Not as maniac as him though).
2. Get to know your boss: Bond over coffee or skincare or clothes. But bond. Ask questions. Even if the questions sometimes, might sound stupid. Show that you know what you’re doing. This will imbibe a thought in them that you are interested in your job. You like what you are doing.
3. Imposter Syndrome: I never knew about this until I had the horrific experience here in Sydney. It was massively impacting my confidence, self- belief. I started questioning my capability. I felt lonely in a place of people. I could not come to terms with what had happened in the past. I took a long ass time to recover. Spoke to a lot of people and realised I might slip into depression if I kept going the way I was. I finally came to terms with what happened and started building myself and selling myself to recruiters, agency and marketing people. I felt good about myself after a long time. Mostly relieved that I wasn’t stupid or incapable
4. Move on: Moving to a new place has been harder than I thought. That includes working in a new place, getting along with the co-workers. I guess constantly writing and putting my thoughts onto the ‘digital paper’ helped to a certain extent. I could pen down every emotion of mine and had quire a few people relate to it.
5. Stop Comparing: I learnt this in the most hard way possible. I used to compare every single thing with my life in India. Every inch of it. It was killing me, bit by bit. It just made me unhappier and unsatisfied. I realised to make myself happy here, I have to let go of what my life was until June -22. I have to accept that I am in a massively different country with very different people, culture, emotion & life. The sooner I accept this, the sooner I can start moving on and living happily. Moving to a new country is very similar to going through a bad break up, if you ask me. You have a long relationship. You break up. You cry and eventually move on. You move to a new relationship. Compare and weighs in the pros and cons.
6. Good emails: Writing good emails is extremely important here. By good, I don’t mean just being grammatically correct. You need to be polite and always start and end your email with a greeting.
7. Gossip: Absolutely stay away from gossip. You don’t need additional drama in your life. You have enough. I know I do.
8. Bring shit to the table: Be resourceful and dependable.

While I am still ‘settling in’, learning and growing, I can guarantee these points are worthy of keeping in mind. I am usually a very easy person to mingle with and speak to. I pretty much adjust in all situations. So, take it from me when I say it ain’t easy living abroad in your 30s. You need a lot of screaming into a pillow, calling your friends to whine to help you gain that patience, peace and get rid of that distraught feeling. It is daunting to adjust. But slowly and with enough time, you get there. I am still getting there.

I am on the other side of the ad-world now and I can definitely pages on the difference. But I do need to spend a considerable amount of time before I do so. Anywho, back to working on strategy now. 🙂

Love,

Wildchild