AdNews, B&T and Marketing mag love doing profiles on high achieving marketers and media moguls, and they seem to love it even more when said mogul started in the mailroom at the agency, with no experience or relevant education.

It creates a great rags to riches story (Much more inspiring than “Daddy made a position for me” or “I did well at school, got into a good uni, worked hard and bided my time”) and satisfies Australia’s Tall Poppy Syndrome, but I wonder whether the mailroom wasn’t actually the best place to be for a young marketer historically, and might still be, for an industry where getting one’s first break is the hardest step.

At university we think it is all about grades (and perhaps for management consulting and finance it remains so), yet every speaker at every student society function says getting that first job is more about one’s fit with the culture, our street smarts, or our contacts. I would have to agree, and therefore think that an entry level position where one gets to meet everyone in the firm, get a feel for the culture, ask questions and have minimal responsibilities and areas to make a mistake is a dream position.

The opportunity to get some weekly face time in the office with copy writers, planners, all the way to the CEO is priceless, and even if one were average academically, there are possibilities to connect over footy tipping comps, coffee in the breakroom, water cooler discussions etc. Having the ear of anyone in an agency or firm is worth more than innumerable emails in the ‘Career enquires’ account! Once you are in, it’s all a matter of being confident in your opinion when assessing others’ work!

Data entry, unpaid internships, secretaial and assistant work may be the next best thing, but since most mail is electronic these days, where is the Mailroom 2.0?