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face hard job times
Hiring's up only for young 'uns. Time to quit biz?
By Kevin Downey
With ad spending suddenly surging and media buyers and planners finding jobs, it appears the ad economy is at last rebounding from its slump going back nearly two years.
But not everything is rebounding for everyone
Senior media people who have been laid off are not going back to work, and things are so tough for their ranks, and will be for some time to come, that job counselors are advising them to switch careers.
Those choosing to stay with media planning and buying can expect to wait another year before jobs open up again for workers with their seniority.
Some blame goes to the recession, which hit the ad economy especially hard, but the far bigger force has been the consolidation of media planning and buying among far fewer, far larger agencies.
There are simply far fewer jobs for supervisory positions as a result of consolidation, which resulted in duplication of functions in the higher management ranks.
In these harsher times, and working under watchful eyes of agency financial officers, media directors are spreading the work among junior-level planners and buyers but going without the more senior person who might have overseen their work two years ago.
“It’s just a simple matter of people trying to justify profitability,” says Simmy Sussman of Sussman & Morris Associates.
“It’s never going to be back to the same degree with the same number of people doing these jobs. Life is different. Does that mean there aren’t any jobs? I wouldn’t say that, but they are the exception rather than the rule.”
The job market is so bad that some recruiters are suggesting that senior media people think about transferring their skills to a different career altogether.
“The industry is going to go through a very slow recovery,” says Richard Bayer, chief operating officer of the Five O’Clock Club, a career counseling and outplacement service in New York.
“What we say to people is to expand your job hunting targets, meaning expand the industries you are willing to work for, and you just have to be willing to move.”
Compounding the problems of the recession and media consolidation is the fact that an economic recovery is far from certain.
With the possibility of a war with Iraq looming and economic indicators bouncing around, recruiters say that advertisers are still being careful with budgets, giving media departments all the more cause to be cautious about hiring people with big salaries.
“I’ve been forecasting for a long time and have never seen it to this degree or for this period of time and with a long time yet to come,” says Sussman.
The challenges facing senior level people are affecting a number of industries, but advertising agencies and media departments may be among the hardest hit.
As with any economic downturn, advertising and media budgets are among the first things to go.
Following last year’s recession, it is also one of the first to come back.
But rather than benefit everyone, media departments have been rebuilding from the bottom up. The highest demand these days is for media people with only a few years experience.
Although the outlook is bleak for media people with a few years under their belt, there are ways for people to find jobs.
A key strategy, say recruiters and career counselors, is to become better at finding work.
“I believe when a senior level person loses their job it’s absolutely vital to negotiate an outplacement service,” says Patricia Sklar of Sklar & Associates.
“They help you with your interviewing skills and help fix your resume. Networking is also important. It’s that old adage that you can never have too many friends.”
Bayer from Five O’Clock Club agrees.
“People need to develop new skills,” he says.
“You may be good at what you do, but finding a job requires different skills. Some people don’t know how to write a cover letter or resume and don’t know how to network, so they just can’t find a job.
“The other thing is to follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.”
With senior people looking for jobs, one question that comes up is, How is the disappearance of senior staff affecting media departments?
While some people say media departments are getting by, others aren’t so sure.
“Media companies, like any division under the umbrella of a public company, have to make up for the sins of the other companies,” says a former media director in Los Angeles.
“I don’t think anyone at the top is happy about how they are doing business right now, but they don’t have a choice. Everything is a compromise, and there is no way media departments are not affected by that.”
October 31, 2002© 2002 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
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