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market for media folks
Recruiters look to second half for hiring to pick up
By Kevin Downey
If predicting the ups and downs of the job market for media planners and buyers were as easy as following national employment trends, the outlook for media job hunters would be a bit better right about now.
The national unemployment rate fell last month to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent, reflecting what many economists now believe is the end of the recession.
But so far that modest improvement has yet to be felt in media departments, and it could be some months before departments begin hiring in significant numbers, according to executive recruiters.
Several months back recruiters were hoping to see signs of an uptick in media hiring in the first quarter.
Now they see it coming in the second half of 2002.
"People had really high hopes for 2002, but I'm still seeing layoffs, and there are still a lot of really good people out on the street," says Patricia Sklar from Sklar & Associates, a national recruiting company based in Chicago.
"I'm optimistic, but I think we're going to see a very gradual pickup. At some point companies are going to have to start hiring."
In theory, at least, as the national economy enters recovery, ad budgets should increase and in turn create demand for media planners and buyers to select and place those ad dollars.
And indeed most forecasters are projecting a modest rebound in ad spending this year. Universal McCann's Bob Coen recently forecast a 2.4 percent increase, to $239 billion for the year.
But there are factors working against media people looking to return to work, and one leading factor is the ongoing consolidation in media buying, as in the merger of CIA and The Media Edge.
Mergers invariably lead to staff reductions as combined units consolidate overlapping job functions in their efforts to take advantage of economies of scale.
In the short term, more people will be laid off than hired on.
But there are other factors at work as well.
"It's a time of upheaval in many ways," says Simmy Sussman of Sussman & Morris Associates.
"The job market is reflecting the downturn in business, it's reflecting the clients who have cut their budgets, it's reflecting the publicly held companies trying to please their shareholders, and it's reflecting the awfulness of Sept. 11."
Even with this turmoil, though, prospects for media people are not entirely grim.
Recruiters say some positions, notably those of media planners, have been among the least affected by agency job cuts and will probably be among the first positions to be filled.
The reasons are twofold.
First, many departments have already trimmed back to skeleton crews, with little room for more cuts. As new work that is coming in increases workloads, agencies will have little choice but to begin adding staff immediately.
Second, media planners are a highly valued lot, and good ones are always in some demand. This is in no small part because the work lacks the glamour of other agency jobs. There are simply fewer people attracted to the work, which means less competition for those jobs that do open up.
"In the boom times in advertising of the past few years, the position that was most sought was media planner, but there weren't enough candidates," says Amy Hoover, vice president of recruiting at Talent Zoo.
"There was such a lack of planners that when other positions were eliminated, planners weren't let go."
Another factor working in the favor of media people looking for jobs is that a number of media people are simply leaving the field.
While statistics are difficult to come by, most recruiters say that consolidation and budget cuts have forced many senior level people to pursue other careers. And at the same time, some junior-level people have opted out of media because of the tough economy.
February 22, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Kevin
Downey is a staff writer for
Media Life.
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