By Kelly Chandaria
The best piece of advice I gave myself when I left my old workplace and started at SMG, was actually a quote I found on the internet: Scared? Good. We don’t grow when we stay inside our comfort zone. So, when I found out that being thrown in the deep end on your first day is a real possibility, I knew it was a good thing.
Before joining SMG, I was already 3 years into my career so I knew that the best way to learn and develop was to just give it a go. If you’re ready for it, the company is ready and willing to give you the opportunities and responsibilities you need and want. The trust that not only your manager, but the whole senior leadership team put in the employees here is amazing. If you can prove you can handle it, it’s yours. Not only that, but there is absolute trust in you to make decisions or even implement big change in the business - you really are a huge part of shaping and growing the company.
Not only that, but there is huge faith in you to be the face of the company in front of clients, presenting campaign plans and big ideas or even, in my case, hosting a few select clients in a Tesco with a senior person from dunnhumby and our co-founder, Matt!
I’ve been here over 5 years and that’s a long time in one agency when relatively young in your career. But there’s a good reason for that. I’ve had the opportunity to take on different roles during that time: client service and account management, insight analysis, media buying, planning and even dabbling with copywriting. In addition, the B3 projects run by employees in the business (project streams that help build the business but don’t have a natural home in existing teams) allow you to use your expertise and skills outside of your day-to-day role or even develop new skills. Not many other agencies I know would give you that many opportunities in just 5 years!
And it’s not just my experience. Many of our employees have had the opportunity to try different roles, to take on more responsibility, to learn to manage people and more. Some have had the opportunity to present to a crowd of 200 brands at a conference! Some have even carved out their own roles in the business by identifying gaps and opportunities to grow and advance our group of agencies! Being part of a close-knit group of agencies gives so much potential to move internally within the agencies and across the group to gain different experiences.
There’s also been plenty of extra-curricular stuff to get involved in, from volunteering for good causes with our SMG Gives Back team, competing in fundraising challenges like the UK 3 peaks challenge, enjoying a private festival in the beautiful countryside, sliding down the orbit, dining up The Shard, partying on a boat or seeing The Rolling Stones in concert.
In short, this is the place to work if you want to learn fast, grow, gain different experiences, take on real responsibility and take on amazing opportunities.