Careers at Skunkworks Creative Group.

The simple reality of jobs at Skunkworks Creative Group is that we rarely hire. Why? Because a) we are a small, specialized, boutique agency and b) the people that we do ultimately hire tend to stay here for a long time.

Despite that, we receive a significant volume of employment enquiries from grizzled veterans and raw advertising rookies alike.

We appreciate that. Unfortunately, we are not able to personally respond to each of you individually. However, every single application we receive is personally reviewed by Doug Jasinski, our agency principal, as well as other senior staff where warranted. If there’s a potential fit, we’ll be in touch.

A few other thoughts:

For veterans

Send us your resume and, for creatives, either PDFs or a link to your book online to .

For rookies

Because the world is unfair, it is very difficult to get that first agency job that opens the door to the generous salary, cool office space, MacPro-with-studio-display, Aeron chair, and rivers of Vente, non-fat, no-foam latte that you so richly deserve. The reason those junior agency jobs are so hard to land is because there are a lot of you after a very small number of positions, and there is a significant commitment of time and financial resources required on the agency's part to properly equip and train a junior. So don't take it personally if we don't have an opening for you—if you have enough talent and enough commitment, you will land somewhere, and you can work towards your dream job from there. Consider expanding your search beyond traditional ad agencies to in-house and production roles with clients, with printers, with your parent's friend's husband's company, you name it. Volunteer your services to a worthwhile non-profit as a way to get some real work produced. Tell everyone you've ever met you are looking for work in this field and stay relentlessly positive whenever you are talking to anyone. Here's a few other suggestions:

1. If you can only read one book, read this:
   
   "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This" by Luke Sullivan.
   
   You'll laugh. You'll cry. Or, in the case of our agency principal, you will quit a perfectly lucrative and socially sanctioned career in law in order to follow your muse. Follow it where? Find out here.
   
   
2. If you can read two, try this one too:
   
   "Where the Suckers Moon, the life and death of an advertising campaign" by Randall Rothenberg
   
   "Hey Whipple" is an inspirational book. "Where the Suckers Moon" is a cautionary tale. Car accounts are considered one of the gems of the advertising business. This is the true story of Subaru's selection of one of the world's best creative agencies for a new national campaign during the 1990's and how it all went to hell in a handbasket despite everybody's best intentions. Written by a New York Times reporter in a documentary style that reads like an action-thriller, it is an indispensable primer on all things advertising. Read it and learn.
   
   
3. If you can only read two books, you shouldn't be in advertising. Read everything you can. The New York Times online. Bathroom wall graffiti. The Bible. Last night's hockey scores. Your own painfully self-absorbed diary entries from age thirteen. The Koran. Everything that comes in the mail addressed to "occupant". The Onion. The Globe and Mail. Your roommate's email. You get the idea. Interesting advertising tends to get made by interesting people. Interesting people usually got that way by reading a lot. You should too. While you're at it, keep the stereo going at the same time. It helps somehow.
   
   
4. Feeling despondent in your job-search-hell-nightmare? Go to: www.ihaveanidea.org
   
   It is a made-in-Canada forum for junior/aspiring creatives by other junior creatives. They may not have a job for you but it's got a directory of all the agencies, you'll have fun poking around, and sometimes it just helps to know you are not the only one. Tell 'em we sent you.
   
   
5. Stop surfing the web and upgrade/replace the weakest piece in your portfolio instead. Do it now.
   
   
6. Even though we can't hire you, we don't mind providing comments on your portfolio that may or may not be of use to you when you apply to the competition. Here's the ground rules: i) submit your work online, either via PDFs or a url link we can surf to, ii) no more than 3 campaigns of 3-4 pieces each (you don't have to rebuild your site for us if it's got more than that, we'll just stop there); iii) be patient—we have to squeeze this in around that small distraction known as "work". We'll get back to you with our honest appraisal as soon as we can.
   
   
7. Still interested in that job we don't have? Okay, let us know. We'll keep you in mind for some time down the line. careers@skunkworks.ca