Overview:
MAHF is an organization that reached out to our agency to participate project that encourages people from diverse backgrounds to work in the medical advertising field. There is a much-needed push to get people of a variety of backgrounds and education working in this industry so ads can be more inclusive and reach more patients. Around 20 advertising agencies participated in 2023. I led the team for our agency submission, and we ended up being flown out to New York as a finalist. The project was eye-opening and helpful to our agency and community. We were able to use elements of this in future projects and create useful resources for our target audience: high school, college, and young adults with a diverse background.
My Role:
UX Researcher, Visual Designer, Presenter
Research: Hours of Learning From Others & Interviews
This problem was of extreme importance to not let any of my assumptions color our potential solutions. I wanted us to learn about the actual problems. Our ideas needed to be data-driven and empathetic. I split my research into two sections: Interviewing young professionals directly, and compiling data and insights from the world wide web.
I was able to talk directly with 8 young professionals in a video interview. I found them by posting in the r/jobs, and r/genz subreddit and posting in a local college facebook group. They were 30-45 minute interviews, with a variety of people in their 20s, some looking for jobs, some looking for a different job, and some graduating soon. I asked open-ended questions about what they were looking for in a career, what challenges they face, what has been helpful in searching their job hunt, ect. In addition, I sent out a survey and logged information from even more people in google and consoladated findings for the team. Here are some notable quotes that helped guide our choice going forward.
"It sucks we’re told since we’re young to work hard to get a college education and get a good job, but company’s refuse to give us chance without experience but then we can’t get experience it’s a never ending cycle."
"I'm worried that my resume or portfolio isn't standing out or reaching real people. Everything is so competitive, and places use AI... is my resume optimized? Does that even matter?"
"I feel like sometimes I was reached out to by recruiters just to check a box based on my race and gender. Then, I once I got the job, there was no support, you're kind of just wolves. I was passed over and felt alone. So I keep looking for new jobs."
DEI infographic about healthcare marketing/notable quotes from reddit
Notable quotes from reddit users regarding struggling getting a job
Empathy Map & Personas: Who are we trying to help?
The Problem: Complex & Multifaced
After synthesizing all of this data, we boiled down 3 core problems young professionals are feeling.
The market is tough, competitive, and young people feel their digital presence doesn't stand out in a sea of competition.
Sometimes, certain DEI initiatives in job recruiting can come off as surface level, promoting tokenism, and inauthentic, and can turn certain people off.
Recruiters aren't looking for people that have degrees outside of typical marketing degrees. There are skills that can translate to marketing industries.
The Idea: Young Professional Tool Kit
We decided to make a hub for young professionals. It will primarily be promoted on social media like Instagram, TikTok, and Linkedin. The hub features a wide range of people working in the healthcare advertising industry, giving tangible advice and resources for young adults who are looking for a career change or opportunity. It will target people who AREN'T working in marketing and organically showcase a wide range of people so everyone can see themselves in a role.
Examples of the content include: 'Day in Life' reel series, free resume templates, bite-sized advice about things like salary negotiation or work/life balance, impactful pharma campaign highlights, and an AI-assisted 'Brand Buddy' a service that helps young professionals build their personal brand.
The Visual Identity: Brand feel, colors, graphics & typography
Conclusion:
While we didn't win first place, the team and I were extremely pleased to be in the top 3 finalists. We were very proud of what we created in a short few weeks. The research was so important for this project, and in a perfect world we would have spent even longer on that portion of the work. It is such a nuanced, complex, and important issue that deserves the utmost care and attention when representing our target audience in personas, and designing things that we think will help them. We tried at every turn to listen and learn about the struggles of young professionals, especially BIPOC/LGBTQA folks. My takeaway is that listening, learning, and encouraging more people to join this industry doesn't stop with one campaign or initiative. It is an everyday mission for us to champion DEI in our own workplaces, industries, and lives. We uncovered a huge reason why there isn't much diversity in healthcare advertising: recruiters are only looking at one kind of degree when trying to fill jobs; they aren't thinking outside of the box. On top of that, young professionals don't know about this industry or how to stand out.
A positive ending note: Our agency was able to take ideas from our social media campaign and Brand Buddy and incorporate that into our own initiatives as as an agency. I got selected for an AAF Rising Star Award because of my work here.
