Again with the Interactive Media Talent Shortage
For what's shaping up to be my last post of the year I'm going to return to a topic I've addressed before: the talent shortage in the interactive world. Just this morning, for example, in a WSJ article [registration required] about Digitas being acquired by Publicis, I read, "Among the challenges for the coming year: hiring. The industry is still strapped for talent on both the creative and technology sides..." As ad agencies and their interactive arms try to shepherd their clients into the digital age, their biggest hurdle is finding the people who can actually do the work they're selling. Or so the story goes.
I'll ask you to pardon my skepticism with regards to the digital talent shortage. I realize that it is difficult to find experienced Flash developers and Java programmers, but why aren't more traditional web and graphic designers cross-training themselves and moving into this high-demand area? It's probably because there is still a lot of traditional creative work out there. Even a quick glance at the 99 open positions currently listed on Digitas' website reveals that only about a third are properly "interactive" and many of those are not "technical" so much as project management roles.
From a "reality check" standpoint, according to this article online marketing still only accounts for 10% of advertising spend. And while that spending may increase by 28% in the coming year, it has a ways to go before it displaces items like direct mail and promotions. In other words, it makes sense for marketers and creative types to stick to their knitting for the present since there are still a lot of, for lack of a better term, "non-interactive" opportunities out there.
At the same time, it would be prudent to begin augmenting one's portfolio with on-line or other interactive experience sooner rather than later. After all, the demand for this type of experience isn't going to decrease (unless someone dis-invents the Internet). Think about it: If that 28% rate of increase stays steady, on-line ad spending will have doubled by 2009. The question becomes, "What can I do now in order to move into an interactive advertising or marketing role three years from now?"
