My first ‘serious’ job came when I was 15. I started out in the public sector, where we were a group of teens organising events for our hometown. Then I moved into culture and the arts, mostly focusing on promoting and creating a new understanding of quality, moving away from the post-Soviet mentality imposed by the Union.

I was lucky enough to join a social bubble of young people who travelled and found free opportunities for youth – and so, Amsterdam, Rome, and Stockholm happened to me. I’d return home to Ukraine with the drive to implement everything I saw in Europe. We worked on eco-cultural projects, art residencies, city rebranding, and urban spaces.

Facing full-scale war

At the end of 2021, I decided to shift my focus and gain some commercial experience. One of the biggest shopping centres in western Ukraine headhunted me for a rebranding position. I started three days before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Waking up to missile strikes in my hometown, working from bomb shelters equipped with Wi-Fi, with no guidelines for marketing during a war, yet still having to communicate and sell – it was a terrifying, horrible, but rewarding experience. It taught me the true essence of marketing: deep empathy for the customer and their needs. It’s something you simply can’t fake or imitate.

It also taught me the essence of work and professionalism: ‘Working no matter what’ became my mantra. I always knew how to work hard, but war took that to a new level. Mornings started with air raid sirens, nights spent sleeping in the hallway (“rule of two walls”, means to find a corridor when there isn't enough time to reach shelter before a bombardment), then back to work, hearing the news that a friend at the frontline was killed, back to the office, another air raid, back to the bomb shelter. In the evening, a pint with friends – we had to keep the economy going, support local businesses, and keep ourselves sane. Cheers.

As Seth Godin writes, “Emotional labour is the work of doing what we don’t feel like doing. We do this work, this draining emotional labour, because we’re professionals, and because we want to make change to happen.”

Many Ukrainians share the reality of war on professional platforms like LinkedIn because it’s part of our identity and another one of our jobs – a civic duty to be Ukrainian. Yet, we’ve learned to separate this from our work. No one wants to see their surgeon in a bad mood before a major operation.

After eight months in the shopping centre, I earned a scholarship to one of the world’s top business schools, SDA Bocconi School of Management. I won’t lie, I was the youngest and poorest student there (I was 22, while the average age was 27), but rich in experience. While the monthly salary in Ukraine was $500 a month, I met people spending that much on dinner. The learning process was incredible – a dream come true, seeing how creativity and economics blend together. After graduating, I moved to the UK and found remote work with an organisation relocating artists at risk. With UNESCO, we created a network of residencies in Ukraine and a pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

From March 2024, I’ve been constantly interviewing and searching for work at an agency. Project management, creativity, and marketing have always been my focus, so I’ve always wanted to get into advertising. I watched Cannes Lions, followed the advertising news across countries, and dreamed of creating meaningful campaigns for brands. But it turned out to be harder than I expected.

All your experience and passion still might not be enough to achieve the dream. The dream of working somewhere great with talented people. To gain and share experience, create projects, and surround myself with creativity.

But the rejections keep coming:

‘No British education.’

‘No European citizenship.’

‘No in-house agency experience.’

‘Overqualified.’

Blending experience with effectiveness

I aimlessly browsed LinkedIn, facing rejection after rejection. Then, by chance, I came across a course from Lucky Generals, Effie UK, and Commercial Break offering 10 spots for underrepresented, working-class people trying to break into the advertising industry. I was disillusioned with the job market, with myself, and with the dream I had. My determination to keep trying felt almost absurd. But I applied, and it turned out to be one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had. The course was packed with invaluable information, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do it. I highly recommend it, no matter what stage you’re at in your career.

Through the course, I gained a solid understanding of how creativity and data work together, as well as the balance between expectations and results. Knowing the industry from the inside gives you a huge advantage when applying for jobs. Thanks to the course, I’m much more familiar with industry terms, abbreviations, and processes. I know more case studies to justify the success or failure of decisions in marketing campaigns. The Effie brand’s reputation, combined with the course content, undoubtedly made me more competitive (spoiler – I found my place now!).

After the course, we received mentorship from Commercial Break, and meeting James Hillhouse was one of the biggest strokes of luck in my professional life. His advice and our conversations became a personal diary for me, where I reflected on the tough things, rejections, and positive news. Huge thanks.

So, how do you get a job?

I quickly became disappointed with cold emails and agency website applications. What worked for me was:

1. Recruiters – People who are willing to fight for you and support you. I was lucky enough to have three of them. Find these people; they can be fantastic matchmakers.
2. In-person meetings and networking – You’ll need to attend dozens of meetings, send a spam-worthy amount of LinkedIn messages, request calls, and spend hundreds of hours networking. (Shoutout to everyone who made time and found opportunities for me – you’re the reason I made it through). Every contact led to another – people really do want to help if you tell your story properly.
3. Incredible proactivity – You drive your progress. You might hear that the market is in chaos or that having a job is a privilege. But I believe in the power to change things. The competition is fierce, but you need the job as much as the job needs you. That’s when you get noticed.

Quick note for employers: Please, be open and genuinely inclusive. Provide thoughtful feedback for rejections, pay decent wages, and try to understand the story behind each person. Empathy is the greatest tool in marketing – let’s use it with the people who work in it.

Finding a home at Uncommon

In my case, I was noticed by the very people I’d dreamed of working with since my first days in the UK. People who work with incredible clients, with creativity in their veins and in the walls of their building.

Uncommon Creative Studio – one of the world’s best creative places – stole my heart long ago with its work, its values, and the change it brings to the world. I’m writing this article as a one-month-in Account Manager. I’m just starting on this journey to help create the brands people wish existed, but with such amazing people around me, I know it’s going to be an incredible ride.

‘Don’t lose faith in the industry,’ that’s what Natalie Graeme, co-founder of Uncommon, told me at the end of our first meeting. I didn’t – and I strongly recommend you don’t either.