The same can be said for a tough client. Their expectation is that you will weather the storm of any request, large or small, even if by most definitions those requests could be deemed unrealistic.
Mastering the art of customer service can be way more challenging to teach than some hard advertising-specific skills. So, this is a great place for any aspiring advertiser to start.
Wearing many hats—and wearing them well
Another critical and seamlessly transferable skill garnered in the chaos of a hospitality job is the ability to multitask. Fixing a broken ice machine, managing a slow kitchen that’s down one line cook, or explaining to one of your six tables why their steak is overcooked, all while in the weeds of a 7 o’clock dinner rush, is no small feat.
In adland, especially in agency work, you’ll likely have a hand on projects across several clients with competing deadlines on a regular basis, and you’ll be prepared to handle it.
Attention to detail
Even a small error or oversight in advertising work can result in significant consequences—both for your client or brand and for your company’s business. Attention to detail is another skill mastered in a restaurant environment where accuracy and precision are paramount for success.
Think: taking and preparing orders correctly, perfecting plate presentation and remembering that a guest mentioned it’s their wife’s birthday. The little details matter. And it’s much easier to refine your eye for accuracy when the stakes are, well, steaks—not millions of dollars.
Thinking strategically on your feet
Restaurant work cultivates the ability to see three steps down the road and make strategic decisions quickly based on the information presented to you in real-time. In advertising, it serves you very well to anticipate and get ahead of a reaction or next request of your client or boss.
If making thoughtful decisions under pressure is a challenge you face, take it from me: Go find yourself a kitchen job at a busy diner. Before long, you’ll be rewiring your brain to make calculated, split-second, strategic decisions on the fly with ease.
As the list goes on, agency leaders would be hugely mistaken to overlook potential talent with experience rooted in the restaurant business. Advancing diversity in advertising includes creating space for people of all backgrounds who may not have the opportunity or resources to attend an expensive ad school or spend a summer or two on Madison Avenue. Up-and-coming talent should proudly tout these undeniably transferable skills when building a resume or moving through the interview process—it’s these very skills that will quickly catapult them up the advertising ladder.