Digital media operations no longer look toward print veterans when it’s time to hire, Advertising Age says. Where print folks once had an edge in experience, these days the transition is proving more difficult.
“Now digital media has become so intricate — with so much of ad sales revolving around technology and ongoing campaign optimization — and the talent pool has so deepened that print devotees are no longer go-to candidates. In fact, it’s closer to the opposite.
“When we look nowadays for talent, we don’t look for that person,” Penry Price, VP-global agency development at Google and formerly an ad sales executive at magazines including Us Weekly and Rolling Stone, told Ad Age. “We look for someone who’s not a print seller. We look for someone who’s a lot more analytical. We’ve found a few in print, but it’s gotten more complex.”
Print vets who are hired tend to get jobs with less responsibility, which translates to less pay, the article says.
The article also provides five tips for getting yourself in position to make the move from print to digital.