The Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) has encouraged tertiary education students to take advantage of the numerous career opportunities available in the advertising industry.

The appeal forms part of campaign by the association to stimulate students’ interest in the profession and to mark this year’s Advertising Week Celebrations.

Speaking on the theme, Career Opportunities in Advertising at the UPSA campus, Executive Director of AAG, Francis Dadzie said the idea of engaging students at the tertiary level was birthed as a result of the lack of interest in the industry by many students.

 He said the move by AAG was a perfect approach to bridging the gap between the academia and industry. 

“There are a lot of opportunities in the advertising industry but unfortunately, students are not aware to prepare themselves for it, so these students go looking for jobs in the client services and in the banks. When that happens, the advertising agencies or firms are compelled to employ people with other skills; and this is the disconnect we wish to rectify,” Mr Dadzie stated.

 He also revealed that his outfit will soon open up its membership to cover interested students at the various universities where they would be trained, mentored and prepared for the industry.

 Interacting with students from the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and other institutions were Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from some of the top advertising firms, who took students through the rudiments of the industry and how they could exploit them to their advantage.

AAG plans setting up an advertising school so that students who complete undergraduate programmes could be enrolled for “proper mentorship” in order to be ready for the job market.

 Dr. Andrew Akolaa, Head of the Marketing Department of UPSA said the initiative taken by the advertising association was laudable and urged them to nurture this collaboration between the school and industry players for the utmost benefit of the students.

“We, in the academia will continue to impact knowledge (while) those in the industry will reinforce this knowledge by supporting academia to ensure that our products (students) would go out of the universities already cut and fit for work,” he remarked.

Other participants at the seminar included students from the University of Ghana Business School and Radford University.