Rachel,
Where are the growth opportunities in media for media planners and buyers? --Sign me Wondering about my future.

Dear Wondering,
The short answer, at least at this point in history, is all over the place. As Pat Sklar of Chicago’s Sklar and Associates puts it, "The growth opportunities are endless. This is a great time."

While the media economy is struggling in some sectors, notably print, there's nonetheless a healthy demand at all skill levels. It's a matter of degree; demand is strongest in growth sectors such as digital while less so for buyers in traditional media. 

"Currently the segment of the industry experiencing the most dramatic demand is the digital media strategy side," says Kurt O'Hare of New York's O'Hare & Associates. Demand is outstripping supply.

"Buying continues to be problematic for non-digital media. The consolidation of buying groups that has taken place will continue to limit the number of opportunities for growth."

But longer term is a different story, says O'Hare.

The demand for digital expertise will ease, he says, and in its place we'll see a shift in demand to integrated media strategists who can do it all, planning digital alongside television, out of home, radio and magazines and other traditional media.

Also, in time digital buying, now part of the work of planners, will likely be spun off to a separate function, says O'Hare, and that will create demand for experienced digital buyers.

O'Hare's advice?

Master it all, digital and traditional."It’s the individual with the ability to develop media strategy across all platforms that will experience the greatest success over the coming years," he says.

And of course there are opportunities apart from media departments, where people with broad media experience can leverage their skills, often for a lot more money.

"For example, someone might decide to move into sales -- print, digital, broadcast, etc. -- and start as a sales planner or equivalent position with a digital company," says Sklar. "We are seeing many candidates transition to Google, Facebook, AOL and other companies."

Or they may choose the client route.

"We have placed quite a few people as media managers or digital managers with leading clients across the country," she says. Those people in time may choose to get an MBA to become a brand manager.

But as with so many things in life, what really matters is not the opportunities out there, now or in the future, but what works best for the individual.

Not everyone is going to make a gifted brand manager, or for that matter a gifted media director. Each person has to first decide what he or she wants out of life and then what sort of job meets those needs.

"There is no right way or wrong way," says Sklar. "Each person must decide for himself."