Advertising Account Executive careers guide and job profile

An advert is a message your client wants to share. As an advertising account executive, you work – usually as part of a team – to share that message with the world.

Once you have understood the client’s goals, you make sure that the resulting advertising campaign reaches their target audience in an effective way.

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• Creative and energetic with bags of enthusiasm and motivation
• Good business sense and being able to carry out work to meet the costs of an agreed budget
• Good negotiating skills for working with clients

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• Strong communication skills, both written and spoken
• Good presentation skills – you can present ideas to clients in a convincing way so that they can share your passion and vision for a project

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

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School, College and Training

You might find it useful to do a Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing.

You could take the advertising Foundation Certificate to get some of the skills you need to get a paid job in advertising. The course is offered by by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and is open to anyone with less than one year of experience in an advertising, marketing or communications role.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. There are a number of BTEC subjects you might want to consider if you are interested in becoming an Advertising Account Executive. Courses available could include:

• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Marketing
• BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Business (Marketing)

Courses available can vary across schools, colleges and sixth forms and across training providers.

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you’ll most likely start on a Level 1 course.

University degrees and graduates

You can get into advertising with a degree in any subject.

Some employers may prefer it if you have a degree in a subject like:

• advertising and marketing
• statistics or operational research
• communication and media studies
• business or management
• psychology

Your university careers service can help you find work experience, internship and placement opportunities.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. With an apprenticeship (or advanced apprenticeship) you’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

You may be able to get into this job by doing an advertising and media executive advanced apprenticeship.

Anyone over 16 can study for an apprenticeship. You will normally need at least 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9 (A*-C) to study for an apprenticeship, including English and Maths.

A-Levels

A Levels are academic qualifications that come after GCSEs. A Levels can be an ideal stepping stone to an advanced apprenticeship, a degree, a job, or going straight into a freelance career.

Any A Levels relating to Business, English, or Media and Journalism will be useful.

You’ll normally need GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and Maths. 2 to 3 relevant A levels, or equivalent, are usually required to complete a degree.

T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels.

T Levels, an alternative to A-Levels, are qualifications in vocational, technical and hands-on subjects that you can choose to do after GCSEs instead of traditional academic qualifications.

They include a mixture of classroom-based learning and industry placements where you can put your new skills into practice in real-world scenarios.

A T Level in Digital Production, Design and Development could be a good choice for an aspiring Advertising Account Executive.

You may need 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for T Levels.

With time and experience you could be promoted to become an advertising account manager or the director of an advertising agency.

Once you have enough time and experience to build a strong CV and network of contacts, you can set up your own advertising agency.

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in marketing. Work experience in a marketing environment can help you build useful skills.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

You could get volunteering experience by:

• volunteer to promote local charities
• write for student magazines, newspapers, blogs or social media
• work on student or volunteer radio services

Creating your own blog or setting up a strong social media presence can show employers you have an understanding of what’s involved in building brand reach and getting people interested in the content you share.

Volunteering tips

Some example daily responsibilities include:

• Researching what a client sells, what their goals are, and who their competitors and target markets are
• Meeting and calling clients for briefings, and to discuss strategy and report on a campaign’s success
• Working as part of a team to plan the most effective advertising solutions for a client
• Helping to pitch new contracts to potential clients, and presenting proposals for their approval
• Planning and organising work to make sure projects are completed on time and in budget.

You could be working in-house for one organisation to promote their business, or you could work for an agency and take part in building marketing campaigns for multiple clients.

Maybe you have one business to promote, or maybe you have lots.

Either way, you have to really understand what kind of audience they want to reach and how your messaging can increase sales of their product or service.

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with keywords such as:

• Junior advertising account executive
• Graduate advertising account executive
• Account manager apprenticeship
• Trainee advertising account executive

You can take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started. Create Your Future!

Local Opportunities

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.