Landing a job in the creative industry isn’t easy right now. Opportunities are harder to find, competition is fierce, and getting your application noticed can feel like a job in itself.

With fewer openings, applicants are leaning more heavily on AI to optimize every part of the process. While it makes it easier to send out a high volume of applications, more doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Our Executive Creative Director, Jenn, is sharing six ways to stand out to creative agencies, with less automation and a lot more human connection.

1. An honest, personal note it still the best intro

Like everyone else these days, we are inundated with AI email slop. That includes dozens of nearly identical pitches a week. A few sentences in your own, human voice is critical. We’re creative writers and artists ourselves, so we can smell low-effort AI copy a mile away, and we’re allergic to it. A personal note from you to someone at the agency continues to be simple but good advice.

2. Create case studies around your best work

A snapshot of a final deliverable tells us very little. Agencies, especially small ones like ours, look for critical creative thinking and intentional decision-making. We want to know what problem you solved, how you handled difficult constraints, and what you accomplished for the client. We’d rather see one or two thoughtful case studies than a dozen screenshots. 

3. We don’t want a link to a Google Drive folder

You don’t need to build a custom website for your portfolio, but how you present your work is probably the most important single factor in the process. Give us a framework for what to expect. If you’ve compiled a PDF, is it fully accessible? Do all the hyperlinks work? If you’re sharing a personal site, does it follow UX best practice? This is your chance to signal that you understand marketing strategy, not just good design or tight copy. 

4. Let your most relevant work lead

Applying for a social role? Move social campaigns to the top. Now take this a step further. Do you know what your niche is? If you’ve done freelance work for a law firm, for example, work backwards from there. Find and target agencies specializing in professional services with a small collection of your highly relevant work. Demonstrate your understanding of an industry or specific technical skill. 

5. AI can’t do your critical creative thinking for you

Design execution is muddier than ever with AI, but prompting and creating are different skills. Don’t send us a book of AI-generated assets. It’s a waste of our time and yours. If you’ve been using AI in interesting ways to solve a tricky marketing problem for a client, we want to hear about it in a case study. 

6. Ignore the bots and HR startups offering resume and recruiting help

They’re mostly scams. Sure, applicant tracking systems are using AI to match qualifications to job postings, but most of the ​“hacks” out there are useless beyond the standard advice of stating your qualifications clearly in your application. In the agency world, we want to see wild and weird. 

 

A bit more about Breakout Studio

Our full-scale agency partners with leaders in every industry to rethink and rebuild outstanding, scalable, and effective brands. We’ll help you figure out where you stand in the industry, and we’ll design, write, develop, build, and launch a brand and website that can grow alongside you into the future.

Let’s chat.