Job description of a creative consultant

Whether it is in advertising of scriptwriting, a creative consultant's job is to use his creative skills to generate a good, engaging product. These people need to be creative with a lot of motivation, results orientation and ability to work hard. According to the National Careers Service, advertising copywriters, or "creatives," work longer than the regular 40 hours per week, particularly when they are running to meet a deadline. If you generally clock out right at 5 p.m. you should seek other employment.

One specialised form of a creative consultant appears in the credits of TV programmes. This person's job is to view scripts during their rewrite phase, touch up the plot, and improve jokes. A creative consultant in this context is essentially an established, respected scriptwriter whose opinion is considered valuable. These people usually have years of work writing and working on high-profile TV programmes. It is a very niche market.

A more common definition of a creative consultant is in advertising. These people are creative thinkers whose job is to write ad copy and design graphics for campaigns. They work in advertising agencies under tight deadlines and in results-focused environments.

The creative consultant's job in advertising is very reactive. Things can change at a moment's notice. New clients come on board or old clients change their specifications at the last minute. These changes can make deadline changes, so a creative consultant needs to be prepared to work long hours with little warning, as meeting deadlines is one of the most important parts her job.

A creative consultant needs to be creative, as is implied in the job title. What's more, he needs to be very energetic, and creative all the time. If you can only be creative during the first few hours of the day, you need to seek other employment -- creative consultants need to be at their absolute creative best, all the time.

People in advertising usually come from a marketing background, but there is flexibility for creative consultants. Creative consultants generally apply for their positions with a portfolio that has samples of their creative potential. If the portfolio is high-quality and indicates an ability to fit in the job, then academic qualifications are not given a great deal of thought. As said before, advertising is a results-driven industry, and the employment process is no exception to this rule.

Account executives and advertising managers often come from a creative consultant background. These are the people who directly manage the clients and run teams of creative consultants, respectively. There is also a great deal of opportunity for a well-connected, established creative consultant to start her own freelance advertising business.