The past six to eight months have brought an influx of contacts from executive recruiters from many touch points, including LinkedIn and Twitter. Recently, a friend at a New York ad agency pointed Tony Stanol from Global Recruiters of Calabasas my way.
Tony and I chatted for a bit and subsequent to our call, Tony visited my blog and left a comment on one of the posts ["The Digital Marketing and Advertising Job Market is Heating Up"]:
As an executive recruiter who has seen a lot of new recruiting assignments recently, I can tell you with certainty that the digital sector is hot. This is promising for talented professional candidates. There are three categories of advertising people emerging in today’s job market:
- The Digital Savvy/Digital Native who has spent the majority of his or her professional hours working on interactive and digital activities in the past several years
- The 360° Integrated Pro with a “T” shape, i.e., a deep understanding of a number of functions from digital to traditional to direct and experiential, but deep in any one of them, and
- The Dinosaur who has little or no digital experience.
Looking at Tony’s list, I’d certainly classify myself as a digital native as well as a 360 Integrated Pro. I’ve been at the forefront of the digital wave since the 80′s including creating a commercial social network for electronic musicians, “thinking” digital signage ala Minority Report, and a next-generation SMS mobile marketing platform that offered users the features, flexibility, and usability that are only now starting to show up in smartphone applications. I’m also proud to have co-authored “Strategic Networking” with Paul David Henry, a 528-page whopper of a book that detailed the use of computer networks [like the Internet] as tools for communication, learning, and eCommerce.
The one thing that’s been a constant for me over the past 25 years of “being digital” is change. My colleague at Mullen, Edward Boches, says:
When you consider that YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are all barely five years old; that social media remains in its infancy; and that mobile, LBS and smartphones are an even greater novelty, there are only two things we can be sure of. Faster change is inevitable. And we have no idea what’s really going to happen. Still, we have to prepare.
Edward is right on. Despite the rate at which the advertising business [and the world!] is changing and the uncertainty of where its all headed, we have to prepare. Part of that prep work for you and I is to gain a solid understanding of who we are and where we fit in the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Once we have a handle on that, we can chart a course for the future, with the understanding that our road map to success will need to be constantly updated as we ride the crest of change.
Where do you fit in the list of advertising people emerging in today’s job market that Tony describes above? Leave a comment.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good for you, Mileise! Just because you’re moving to the digital side of things doesn’t mean you don’t have something of value to offer. Leverage your prior knowledge to create new value for yourself and your employer [or go into business for yourself.] And get an Android phone, for sure!
As Tony Stanol pointed out, there is a job market in the digital sector for “The Dinosaur.” Why? Is that because the sector is just emerging and companies hiring have a small pool of candidates with experience? Or does “The Dinosaur” have something to offer?
As you can probably guess from my above question, and to answer yours: I am “The Dinosaur.” I began following people on Twitter today! Next task: upgrade my phone to the Droid or iPhone?