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Advertising - Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tech:gigger - Online Ad Sales A Candidate's Market

Regardless of whether or not you believe that the U.S. is in a recession, it has become increasingly difficult to hire online advertising salespeople over the past year. Why? There are many factors contributing to this dichotomy, which has led to a candidate-driven market. There has been a consistent source of capital from venture capital firms looking to exploit the paradigm shift of content and its respective advertising shifting online. Start-ups in the video, mobile, and social networking space are rapidly growing their respective businesses and aggressively hiring to ensure speedy monetization of their products and services.

On the other hand, major media conglomerates are experiencing decreasing revenue in traditional advertising mediums (newspaper, print, radio, television), yet seeing single to double-digit revenue growth in their digital divisions. Naturally, they too are scrambling to build and scale their digital businesses.

Candidates want the safety of going to well established companies, and the VC backed companies are well aware of what they need to do to secure top talent. They are offering higher compensation packages to alleviate candidate’s desires to work at more established brands. By offering candidates higher base salaries and more aggressive commission structures, they can ensure that the big guys will have a hard time competing (corporate structure, budget approval, etc).

Budgets are being shifted away from operational and marketing roles (traditionally viewed as non essential, growth oriented departments), towards sales and technology roles. A well funded start-up can and will do what it takes to hire someone who can leverage relationships and drive revenue on day one. A leading sales candidate with 3-5 years of online advertising experience can have five or more offers within just three weeks!

Post credit - Avi Mally, CEO of Three Pillars Recruiting