I just spent Monday meeting up-and-coming advertising/marketing graduates from various colleges around the Midwest. I quickly noticed two things. 1) Good Lord, I’m old. And 2) Man, do some of these kids have a fire in their belly! They are a heckuva lot more aggressive and interview-savvy than I was at age 20-something.

The Kansas City Ad Club (which is one of the largest in the nation, I kid you not) sponsored the day-long event. I got partnered up with muckety-mucks from other, bigger agencies who touted their wares ENDLESSLY. Many agencies made it abundantly clear to the students/grads they didn’t hire anyone straight out of college. Period. So imagine how popular I was when I mentioned that not only do we hire college grads – we groom them to be superstars. Talk about an ace up my sleeve!

I’ll be the first to admit … I like meeting with college students and looking at portfolios. They bring a lot of goofy enthusiasm and energy to the table. What surprised me at the conference were all the different areas students specialize in nowadays. I used to think I was a triple threat … I could write, produce and direct. Now, apparently, I need to write, produce, direct, edit, shoot and design … looking urban AND trendy and sporting serious bed head.  Stupid kids and their stupid youth.

The resumes have been POURING in this week. Each a little more dazzling than the last. And don’t even get me started on all the phone calls. Each a little more hyperactive than the last. (Why do college kids talk so fast anyway? Don’t they know us old people are hard of hearing?)

Hopefully, I won over these kids with my positive portrayal of our agency. I basically had no choice. No one in the room had ever heard of us. That’s the problem with being KC’s hidden gem of an agency. But I talked a lot about the perks of our place … in lingo only a 22-year old could appreciate. It went a little something like this …

“And, dude, seriously, for realz, you can wear flip-flops in the house. And everyone is in their 20’s. Except for me. And I just turned 30, yo. (HUGE LIE.) And they pay for all your health and dental insurance … yes, all of it. No, dude – no money comes out of your pocket. And we’ve got a game room with a Family Guy pinball machine. I know! Get out, right!?”

So to everyone I saw/met with/fist-bumped/pimped my website to at Career Day … I wish you luck on your job search. You were all sparkly, fresh-faced ingenues who are gonna go far. And, no, it’s not too late to send me your resume. Hint. Nudge. Wink. But remember, you’ve got some competition out there.