How To Become A Creative Director/Partner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a creative director/partner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Yash Egami

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a creative director/partner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $81.59 an hour? That's $169,703 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 4,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a creative director/partner?

Yash Egami

VP, The One Club

A recent Forrester report says that the ad industry will lose 50,000 jobs through 2021, with 35,000 of them already lost since the pandemic. The traditional ad agency model was already in trouble, with many brands hiring away talent and creating their own in-house agencies. Add to that the recent reckoning with the Black Lives Matter movement, and what we're seeing is an industry that is being forced to go through monumental change in order to survive.

While traditional roles like art director or copywriter are on the decline, the good news is that, in an effort to reinvent themselves, agencies are seeking creatives with digital skills like UX design and programming. The rise of in-house creative departments has also meant more opportunities for job seekers within brands rather than agencies. And because of the demand for more diversity from clients and those within advertising, recruiters are making more of an effort to hire multicultural talent.

At The One Club for Creativity, we've been at the forefront of change in the industry through our diversity and inclusion, professional development and gender equality programs. We recently hosted our annual multicultural career fair, "Where Are All the Black People?" that brought together thousands of diverse talent with 40 agencies and companies looking to hire. We launched One School, a free online program for Black creatives who want to get into the industry but don't have a portfolio or the economic means to afford to go to ad school. And we're working on upskilling courses for professionals who want to reinvent themselves or keep up with the changing demands of our industry.

So if you're a recent graduate who specializes in art direction, our advice would be to keep an open mind about what kind of company you want to work for and think about expanding your skillset to include digital skills so that you can future-proof your career. Where you are isn't as important because, since the pandemic, agencies have become more comfortable with working remotely and they are more open to having a workforce not centered on the traditional agency hubs, like New York or Los Angeles.

ScoreCreative Director/PartnerUS Average

Salary

9.4

Avg. Salary $169,703

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 7.82%

Black or African American 4.38%

Hispanic or Latino 14.50%

Unknown 5.55%

White 67.12%

Gender

female 24.20%

male 75.80%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.2

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.0

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a creative director/partner

Explore creative director/partner education requirements

Most common creative director/partner degrees

Bachelor's

77.6 %

Associate

10.8 %

Master's

6.7 %

Start to develop specific creative director/partner skills

Skills	Percentages
Creative Direction	14.42%
Graphic Design	9.70%
Video Production	9.45%
Concept Development	8.44%
Website Design	5.88%

Complete relevant creative director/partner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New creative directors/partner learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a creative director/partner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real creative director/partner resumes.

Research creative director/partner duties and responsibilities

Develop and manage business-to-business PowerPoint presentation service that create new business opportunities and increase revenue for the company.
Develop all concept, art and copywriting for the agency.
Launch an SEO campaign that result in an organic placement for the brand atop all the major SERPs.
Provide creative copy direction and copywriting for pharmaceutical clients' internal corporate communications programs, training programs and sales force meetings.

Prepare your creative director/partner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your creative director/partner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a creative director/partner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable creative director/partner resume templates

Build a professional creative director/partner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your creative director/partner resume.