In a few week’s time several thousand design and advertising students will graduate and be competing against each other for book crits, placements and jobs. And there aren’t many out there at the moment.

We get contacted by a fair number of students, all with different styles and approaches, so it puts us in a good position to let you know what works (for us) and what doesn’t. What follows should be common sense, and we really shouldn’t have to write it, but sadly it seems common sense is no longer quite so common.

DON’T be nervous.

DO be courteous and polite.

DON’T expect other people to make all the effort. That’s your job.

DO believe Newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you put in a lot of effort, you’ll get out a lot.

DON’T cut & paste the same letter into several different emails.

DO make it personal. Think of ways that will get you noticed from the other 15,000 students.

DON’T send all your work in one pdf.

DO save something for the actual meeting.

DON’T ask for feedback on your work via email – it takes too long.

DO make an appointment to see them. Talk to them face-to-face.

DON’T expect an instant response from hello@ addresses.

DO remember that even the most well-meaning of agencies mess up sometimes.

DON’T get arsey/ disappointed with this. It’s life.

DO send them a polite reminder after a few days. If you don’t hear anything after three efforts, they’re probably trying to tell you something.

DON’T expect to get a placement after your first book crit.

DO try harder.

DON’T go around for 6 months with the same portfolio, waiting for someone to like it and give you a job.

DO change your portfolio for different agencies. All agencies are different, so why would you expect them to all like the same portfolio?

DON’T think that people are right or wrong.

DO remember that it’s just their opinion.

DON’T put awards work in your portfolio unless it actually won.

DO put it in a separate section at the back if you’re really desperate.

DON’T expect all the advice given here to be correct.

DO feel free to add your own advice.

DON’T worry.

Be happy.

Set up to show grads that there’s more to making it in the industry than having a devastating array of chequered shirts in their wardrobe, D&AD invited us to set a brief, and then hold a show and tell here.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of the evening, but here’s an artist’s impression.

Our request was for a post-Blumenthal campaign for Little Chef, and 18 of the best young creatives around the country came in to show us what goes on in their heads. Some were from Liverpool, some from Leeds, a few from Manchester, plus a large crew from Birmingham.

Ideas included Little Chef’s short stories, sampling in festival tents, and the Little Chef character in an uncompromising position with someone who we believe was Jeremy Beadle. The standard was up there.

And it’s anyways a bonus when we learn something from the night too. Before Wednesday we were totally clueless as to what a ‘Wee Dance’ is. Now we do.

Thanks to all the students who turned up – it really  was an impressive show of work, and nice to meet such an enthusiastic bunch.