The AdNews NGen blog: Healthy Competition

As a young person working in media, you need to be prepared to face competition on a fairly regular occasion. It supposedly keeps you on your toes. Allegedly, it can even keep you at the top of your game. But the question is, just how healthy is all this competition?

In order to even get a foot in the door, you need to compete. You will engage in a tournament of grades and experience for that coveted agency or sales position. Then once you're in the job you have to battle your own self. You will need to fight the urge to throw up your hands and call it quits when you find yourself overwhelmed. You most certainly will have to challenge your ego and admit when you need help. You may even have to grapple with your sanity when faced with the task of sorting through copious amounts of data.

But that is not all we young advertisers have to fight for. To us, the greater challenge rests in the competition that comes from our peers. Amongst the account coordinators and executives, strong bonds are formed. This is not surprising. In your first few years in media, you will see more of these people than anyone else. These people become your family and friends. The kind of people you can openly crack terrible media-related jokes to without fear of retribution.

You share more than just workloads. On late nights in the office you'll share your career goals in between running reach curves. But what happens when you realise that you and your friend are both aiming to be the head of strategy in the Sydney office?

We all have ears and we also have a desire to know everything that goes on around us. Consequently we are all well aware of the clients our peers work on and what opportunities are afforded to them. So what happens when that friend of yours is granted the chance to work on the strategy for a new piece of big business and you're stuck running post analysis? Do you wish them well, or do you start plotting ways to make them appear incompetent?

Alright, sabotage attempts might be considered a little extreme. But surely none of us just simply sit back and think, "oh well, my turn will come". There is no denying the feelings of jealousy and resentment. It haunts us and makes us sick to our stomach, but unfortunately it is merely symptomatic of the competitive nature of the workplace.

The competition isn't limited to the day to day client work. The rivalries are facilitated further by the presence of competitions such as Young Lions. Here we are pitted against each other to come up with our best ideas. We dedicate ourselves to these briefs in our own personal time to showcase our own personal ability. Then the judgement comes.

Situation: You won't be going on to the next round, but your best friend at work will.
Consequence: Uncontrollable feelings of resentment and jealousy.

On the upside, these 'challenges' encourage us to work harder and be the best we can be. On a negative note however, one has to question what kind of implication this internal competition places on working relationships. At the end of the day we still need to work together as a team to produce the best possible outcome for the client. In order to succeed in this industry, we need to find a personal solution that meshes individual ambition with an open respect for the achievements of those around us.

Sophie Langton
ZenithOptimedia