started a blog and connected with like-minded people, the easier it became to come to London, talk to folks and get in. In terms of what to read, it'd be good to have a look at the following: * Jon Steel's Truth, Lies & Advertising - the bible for planners/planning. * Excellence in Advertising (various - edited by Leslie Butterfield) - this provides a great overview of the business, explaining what all of the different job roles to in a variety of different essays. You can still, I think, buy this from the IPA. * Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! by Luke Sullivan - This is the best book about what it's like to be a creative/how to get in that I've ever read. More general books would include the likes of Herd by Mark Earls (for current communications thinking), Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (ditto) and The Decisive Moment by Jonah Lehrer. Very few of these are directly about advertising, but they all relate to how we communicate with each other, and are good to know about and have read. Understand what the campaign sets out to achieve: In terms of studying ideas and campaigns, agencies want to know that you understand what ideas are FOR - are they to stimulate sales? Change brand perceptions? This AdGrads post (my blog on how to get into the ad business) may help. Meredith Schneider is the director of recruitment for the Account Management, Account Planning and the Integrated Video Production departments