Agency life can provide amazing career opportunities for all kinds of people. Whether you’re technically, strategically or creatively-minded, there are various positions available for you to relish in. And at Red-Fern, we’re always on the lookout for fresh talent to join our team and help drive us forwards!
Digital agencies are a workplace like no other. With that in mind, we appreciate that if you haven’t worked at one before, you could be totally unsure whether it’s for you or not. So, to help your decision and help settle any misconceptions or worries, we’ll explain some of the key characteristics needed to exceed in an agency environment.
We’ll cover:
- An eagerness to learn and develop
- Possess an open and creative mindset
- The ability to pivot
- Thrive in a fast-paced environment
- Work well within a close-knit team
- A desire to grow with the business
An eagerness to learn and develop
To make sure that projects are always up to date with the latest industry trends and best practices, you need to show an eagerness to learn and develop. If you’re constantly banging the same old drum, your work will quickly become outdated and stale. That’s far from ideal and we highly doubt that’s going to aid delighting clients, right?
With a key eagerness to learn and develop, you’re always finding different ways in which you can improve yourself (and your team too). If you invest a little time into personal development, both yourself and the agency will benefit from consistently high standards. Agency life moves quickly and things change, therefore, you can’t afford to stand still.
Your work will dovetail nicely with other areas of the agency. For this to be as successful as possible, you need to be willing to learn about the various areas that you’ll be working closely with.
Possess an open and creative mindset
If you’re a creative-minded person, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to showcase your creative flair. From idea generation to the actual delivery of strategies, the more creative you can become with your approach, the better.
Having an open mindset will allow you to approach projects that will best position your team to be successful. Quite often when spitballing ideas, there’s a meeting of minds and great ideas. With an open mind, you allow yourself to view the project in a variety of different perspectives and can appreciate the strong ideas of others.
Within an agency, while processes are essential, sometimes there are ad-hoc requests and urgent priorities. With an open mindset and approach, you’ll have no problem turning your hand to these requests and will be able to work productively.
The ability to pivot
*Cliche warning* - No two days are the same when working within a digital agency. Sorry about that.
This means that the ability to pivot is necessary and should come easily to you. It’s only natural when working with a wide range of clients from different backgrounds that you can expect to be jumping from project to project.
For example, at Red-Fern, although our niche is within the manufacturing industry, one day we could be focusing on wellness and CBD product industries and the next we could be delivering a campaign on industrial floor cleaners. Both clients are worlds apart but having the ability to pivot allows us to easily switch between clients and still deliver world-class results.
And if it’s not pivoting between clients, you need to pivot within roles in the agency. Sometimes, you need to assist with other areas of the business and muck in to get the job done. If we can help our team and ease any blockers in any way we can, count us in.
Thrive in a fast-paced environment
Agency life moves fast - FACT. But don’t let that put you off. The fast-paced nature of a digital agency is half of the challenge itself. It’s exciting and ensures that we’re always performing as best as we can to get the job at hand done. So, if you thrive in fast-paced environments, you’ll be a perfect fit.
When working with various clients, things are always going to be fast-paced. Of course, you need to meet various deadlines each month to ensure that you’re constantly exceeding expectations and delighting your clients, don’t you? Don’t worry though, it’s anything but a sink or swim environment and you have the full support of your team behind you.
Fast-paced doesn’t mean scary - it means exciting! And that’s what you want from a workplace, isn’t it? Challenging yet unbelievably rewarding - we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Work well within a close-knit team
Whether you’re a developer, designer or part of the marketing team, you need to hold the ability to work well within a close-knit team. The best digital agencies are always close-knit, otherwise, you’ll find that efforts are completely detached and heading in different directions. Good things happen when teams come together.
Strategies will often intertwine with another - therefore, you need to work closely with the other areas of the business to make sure that they’re delivered properly. Communication is one of the main pillars of success for industries, if you don’t work closely with your team and keep communication levels high, you won’t fulfil your maximum potential.
A digital agency’s culture is ultra-important. All team members must contribute to the creation and upholding of culture. If not, the agency may risk losing its traditional characteristics and reaction. Plus, you need to enjoy where you work. If the culture is all wrong, it’s likely that you won’t be getting maximum satisfaction from your job role.
A desire to grow with the business
Digital agencies are forever evolving - but are you ready to evolve and develop with them? Each team member has a responsibility of driving an agency forwards in everything that they do. If you find team members are coasting and doing the bare minimum to get by, the agency will be standing still and potentially going backwards.
So, are you prepared to make an impact? Digital agencies massively benefit from hungry team members. Plus, you’ll find that if you’re committed to developing yourself and your professional career, the agency will naturally develop too. Having the desire to grow with an agency and invest yourself in everything that they do is a promising characteristic to have.
So, is agency life for you?
Now that you’re more familiar with some of the key characteristics to succeed in agency life, do you think you’ve got what it takes? At Red-Fern, we’re currently going through a period of fruitful growth and are looking to expand our amazing team. We have various exciting opportunities across the business and are looking for the right talent to fill them!
So, why not head over to our careers page for more information? Or, if you think you’d like to join our team of experts, don’t waste any time and contact us today! For those that need a little insight into Red-Fern and what goes on, we’ve created a free guide that outlines our unique culture and core values.
Grab your copy today!
