Six Pieces Of Advice For Juniors In Their First Month Which The Rest Of Us Might Need To Hear Too

Creative Boom: Tips Careers Six pieces of advice for juniors in their first month (which the rest of us might need to hear too) Here's what I wish someone had told me when I first got started. Written By: Tom May 19 August 2026 Our community's advice for junior creatives. Image licensed via Adobe Stock When you've got a few years under your belt and have learned a thing or two, it's a great feeling to pass those learnings to juniors. Especially if that's advice you wished you'd received when you were younger. It's worth reflecting that some professions don't do this regularly.

In some cut-throat sectors, people feel like promotion is a zero-sum game and keep hard-won information close to their chests, lest they get overtaken by rivals, even people who are technically below them. Gary Stevenson's excellent book The Trading Game, for instance, details how he started as a trader at Citibank, only to spend months being ignored and literally sitting at his desk all day, not knowing what to do. Thankfully, creatives are a friendly and supportive bunch, and generally keen to encourage, instruct, and mentor others.

But maybe your colleagues just don't have time, maybe you work alone, or maybe you just haven't asked the right questions. With that in mind, here are six pieces of advice from the Creative Boom community that are worth passing on—whatever stage of your career you're at. 1. Get known as a safe pair of hands "Measure twice, cut once," says creative director Asa Rodger. "Your work is going to go for review as a brand new junior employee: it's probably not going straight out the door. So try hard to first become a 'safe pair of hands', then you can build from there." Asa speaks the truth.

Junior work rarely makes the final cut: it passes across several desks first. But that's expected, so don't be disheartened. Instead, make sure your work is as polished as possible, and reaches those desks punctually and efficiently. That's what people will admire: not the work itself, which will probably need a lot of changes. Everyone remembers the junior who needed chasing, whose files were a mess, whose typos made it halfway to the client deck. Don't be that junior. You don't need to be brilliant; you just need to be reliable, and people will start to trust you. 2.

Ask questions Designer, artist and creative leader Matthew Gallagher's biggest piece of advice to juniors is this. "Ask all the 'stupid' questions," he says. "Avoid digital comms in favour of face-to-face interactions that build real relationships, which may lead to mentoring opportunities." I couldn't agree more. Yes, the instinct to stay quiet rather than admit you don't know something is the most natural thing in the world. But it's also the worst thing you can do as a junior. People don't know what you don't know, so you need to tell them; otherwise, they may get very frustrated with you. Worried they'll think you're an idiot?

Honestly, don't. Every senior was once in your shoes, so they know exactly what it's like. Which is exactly why I've always said to juniors and interns (and I've used this exact wording): "Please ask questions. There are no stupid questions. If you don't ask me, I can't help you." 3. Talk to people In an extension of the previous point, book cover illustrator Nosheen Ahmed urges you to "Put down the phone! Be willing to talk to people. If you're on your socials on your phone, you're missing out on so many real-life conversations." My take: this piece of advice doesn't expire after month one. In fact, many seniors might learn from this too.

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While the advice is valuable for junior creatives, it covers common themes in professional development rather than introducing groundbreaking concepts or strategies.