30 should not feel like a deadline in advertising
What’s in a number? According to The Core Agency copywriter Sarah Mould, age is everything – but what about experience?
When I say I feel like I am running out of time in my career, my mum laughs at me. You’re 26, she scoffs. In my head, I immediately make a calculation. Four – ticking closer to three – more years until an important window of opportunity closes. The dreaded 3-0.
When I first landed in the creative department, I was partnered with an art director who was over the age of 30. We were at similar career levels, she maybe had a year on me. We had the same ambition. The same work ethic. We stayed late, we drank wine, we talked ideas and we pushed ourselves.
Excited and naive, I searched for competitions we could do together. That’s where I hit a snag. There was next to nothing we could enter as a team. Every terms and conditions page I read, every entry form… they all said for people aged 30 and under. She had ticked over. I had not.
