Nigerian ad agencies need to commit or commot when trying to hire talents
One day in 2016 the writer at Pulse Nigeria Fu’ad Lawal decided to take a trip all over the 36 states of Nigeria. On one of the earliest days he stopped at Ore — that place where travellers stop when they want to eat travel food — to buy suya and do other journalistic hoolahoo. He made a video about it and called it “how to eat suya without paying for it” or something like that.
In that video, he went from one vendor to another, asking them for “testing”, which is a standard suya-purchase process. By the time he finished testing suya from 5 or more vendors, his cravings would’ve been satisfied. Therefore, it wouldn’t have made sense for him to pay for suya again, except he wanted to get for his team or he wanted to keep a moral appearance.
Why was it possible to eat suya without paying? He didn’t need to make a commitment to the purchase.
This scenario is applicable to the hiring process in most advertising agencies in Nigeria. Agencies don’t need to make any commitment when they’re shopping for talent in the market. They simply just need to put out an Instagram post designed by an intern and they’ll feast.
Why, because there’s a huge gap in power relations between talents and agencies. While agencies are spoilt for choice, the talents they’re trying to hire are mostly not. In fact, sometimes, the talents just want any job so that when their ex-colleagues and classmates ask them “so where are you now?” they have something to say.
Let’s say you’re a prospective agency talent, you’re the suya seller. Typically, a suya seller will have different kinds of meat; liver, cow testicles, flesh and all those things. In the same vein, let’s say you’re a copywriter, your own would be your ability to write pressers, TVCs, radio spots etc. and maybe press releases can be the onions and pepper. For art directors, Adobe Creatives Suites, drawing skills and maybe 3D. These skills are your own suya.
So, this buyer, an ad agency approaches you to buy your market. And because there’s too much power in their hands, they’re insisting on “testing” unreasonably. They first of all ask for your resume and portfolio, which are like your legs. After many months, they come back and say “so we’ve looked at your resume and your portfolio. We’ll like you to bring your neck.” Your neck in this case, is the outrageous tests they’re asking you to take — of which after you take it, they’ll ghost you.
However, this approach to hiring has to stop. Ad agencies in Nigeria must commit or commot. But they won’t commit unless you ask them to do it, this is why you must start asking. When they tell you, agency talent, to come and do a test, tell them to pay “testing fee” because you don’t have energy for time-wasters. This testing fee, it can be ₦10,000 (entry-level) and way above that, if you already have industry experience.
Are you wondering if this is a reasonable request asking your potential employers to pay you before taking their tests? Don’t worry, it is. A serious hiring person already knows the strength of the person they’re hiring when they see their resume and their portfolio and when they finally interview them.
To be fair to them, some people are committing portfolio fraud and these tests, no matter how outrageous they are, are buffers against hiring a fraud. But the same way agencies need a buffer, that’s the same way potential agency talents need a buffer. So, if you ask for money before accepting to take a test, it’s both good for you, the talent AKA suya seller, and the agency AKA suya buyer: When agency pays to have you do a test, they’re more likely to be realistic with their expectations and also, they’re less likely to ghost and when they do decide to ghost, you don’t feel like it’s a waste of your precious time. A win.
Again, is it reasonable to ask agencies to pay you before you take their tests? Of course! It is. They too know what it feels like when their time and resources are wasted. It’s why they’re agitating for pitch fees from clients. Because the table also turns when it is agency vs client: Agencies become suya sellers; clients become suya buyers.
You might be asking yourself why Nigerian agencies still ask you to take unpaid tests despite knowing how it feels when a potential account they laboured for ghosted them. Well, look no further. It’s you. You have to make a pledge to yourself that you’ll no longer let people waste your time again.
