What does the new jobs boom mean for the ad industry?

It’s a good time to be in advertising—or so say the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With overall unemployment down to 3.6% and 431,000 new jobs added in March, the job market appears to be on an upswing, and the ad industry is keeping in step with that momentum, hitting an all-time high with 213,400 jobs in February. But how does that growth translate? In this month’s Amp spotlight, we hear from industry leaders on hiring, growth and what all of that means in a time of uncertainty. A window into the growth The pandemic sent many businesses on soul-searching missions, pushing them to transform operations to adapt to changing markets and heightened demand. “The COVID-forced digital transformation has led 'old school' businesses without any history of outward-facing marketing to invest in their brand, said Sam Zises, CEO at [L]earned Media. “These companies got a taste of the impact and it's no surprise they're doubling down.” For agencies, those spikes and shifts in business have meant unprecedented surges in demand for good creative—which, in turn, has meant unprecedented demand for talent. And the numbers that emerged from this latest job report seem to be matching up with the lived experience of agency leaders across the country. “At the beginning of the pandemic, headcount for our Denver-based agency was at 46—today we’re 64, with 11 live job openings,” said Jeff Graham, president and CMO at Cactus. “For a small independent agency like ours to grow the team by 60%-plus in roughly two years is unlike anything I’ve seen in three decades of agency work.” The same story of unprecedented growth is echoing across every region of the country, across disciplines, for both agencies and the clients they serve. “Over the past six months, we’ve increased our account team by over 50% to meet our organic growth and new business needs. Creative, media, strategy and production departments have also seen significant growth,” said Jessica Romaniuk, president, Chicago, and director of media, public relations and social media at Two by Four. “Many of our clients and partners have also been recruiting heavily to build their teams.” For some agencies, heightened demand in certain areas of business has helped elucidate where budgets should be going in the coming year, like at Just Global, where agency leaders anticipate expanding their team by an additional 30% by year-end. “We are just starting our fiscal year and were able to preemptively take into consideration the areas we knew we would need to invest in,” said Emily Brinkert, Just Global’s senior VP of people. “Programmatic and analytics as disciplines and Singapore as a region are trending upward for us, with the idea of growing more multidisciplinary individuals who can take ownership of multiple areas on a piece of business.” For other agencies, the progression out of the pandemic has been the catalyst for growth. “We’re seeing marketers looking to hire agencies to capitalize on booming consumer demand as we transition past the worst two years of the pandemic,” said Duncan Channon CEO Andy Berkenfield. “This has led to a flurry of new business activity in Q1 2022.” The same rush to hire has been felt at agencies like The Distillery Project, based in Chicago. “We have record high employment levels right now,” said John Condon, Distillery’s founder and chief creative officer. “And we’re still growing.” Of course, the spike in demand has resulted in a run on talent, posing new challenges for agencies working to meet client needs. “Our model of offering creative, production and post under one roof sometimes creates a snowball effect—if we staff up the creative department, everyone else down the funnel needs more support as well,” said Nick Martini, CEO at Stept Studios, who saw their team grow from 35 to 70 within one year. At Stept, areas of particular growth have included entertainment, with clients exploring new forms of content like film and television. “We are staffing up to stay ahead of the rush. Entertainment executives and visual effects specialists are a current priority, and we plan on adding 10 to 15 more staff to our team before the end of 2022,” said Martini. Remote work has been one upside to the talent shakeup caused by the pandemic, opening up previously untapped pools in different parts of the country, or even different parts of the world. “Working remotely has opened up new markets for talent, which is helpful for recruitment,” said Natalie Ackerman, executive VP, talent and inclusion at Jack Morton, where inclusion and diversity continue to be top priorities. “In the rush to hire we must continue to invest in inclusive hiring practices and diversifying our workforce. In 2021, 42% of our new hires were BIPOC, diversifying our overall talent demographics by 10%, but we still have work to do.” The struggle to staff up Even with the expanded talent market brought on by the move to remote work, HR leaders are finding it more challenging than ever to meet current staffing needs. “It is the most competitive market, perhaps ever,” said Sharon Tunstall, chief human resources officer at Empower. “Recruitment is challenging, given that everyone is fighting for similar experiences and skills. Even external recruiters are having issues with sourcing talent.” Not only are agencies struggling to find full-timers, but freelancers are busier than ever, too. “Robust economic growth is providing loads of new work opportunities, but we don’t have enough people to get all that work done,” said Cactus’s Graham. “The go-to, trusted freelance resources we could previously rely on at a moment’s notice are booked out months in advance, people costs for our full-time staff have risen dramatically since last summer, and we’ve reforecasted our comp budgets for the rest of year.” The rising demand for talent has also posed challenges for existing staff, who may be stretched with longer waits to fill open positions and staff projects. “This has not only resulted in the cost for this talent climbing to all-time highs, but also a growing strain on talent already in-house taking on more work than possible while they wait longer for the agencies to hire—not to mention, a serious miscasting of tasks that would normally be aligned to less-experienced talent as a way of grooming and growing them,” said Sara Anhorn, chief talent officer at Critical Mass. Bidding wars for potential employees have become commonplace in agencies, forced to act fast and aggressively to pursue new hires. “Since talent is scarce, it is a buyer’s market mentality forcing base salaries and other compensation adds upward,” said Empower’s Tunstall. “It is taking longer to find talent and when the right potential hire is identified, it is often the case that they have multiple offers.” Rising salaries are also happening against a backdrop of unprecedented inflation rates. The cost of doing business for agencies has continued to soar as a result of 40-year highs in inflation rates, not to mention continued supply chain issues and increased foreign conflict, all impacting the global economy and, in turn, agencies. “Ad agencies across the board face a delicate balance between offering competitive salaries to hire and retain top talent, and managing the pressure on margins as the cost of nearly everything continues to rise,” said Duncan Channon’s Berkenfield. Getting smart about recruitment and staffing In a field of creatives, it’s no surprise that agencies are indeed getting creative to work through the current run on human resources. For some, that has meant offering more perks in the realm of flexible schedules—something job-seekers have come to expect in a post-pandemic market. “We fully embrace flexibility in how, where, and when you work and recently rolled out our 2x4 Flex Fridays, allowing an optionally compressed workweek every other week with the outcome of every other Friday off,” said Just Global’s Brinkert. “We have had to pivot a lot since 2020 and are very comfortable in making non-conventional choices that drive the business forward in creative ways that allow our teams to thrive.” For others, the answer has been to focus more on nurturing talent rather than finding it. “Critical Mass is taking a different approach in shifting the ‘pool’ that we’re fishing in, going aggressively after junior talent and creating intentional and targeted training programs to upskill and engage a more scaled talent pool to appropriate tasks,” said Anhorn. “It’s a longer-play, but one we’re hopeful will support us longer-term.” In both of these scenarios, support for new team members has never been more important. Smart onboarding and employee resources are a critical element in keeping teams together across geographical and technical divides. “We are heavily focused on our onboarding programs to ensure that our new employees are quickly integrated into our agency culture,” said Two by Four’s Romaniuk. “We’ve invested more funding into employee resources like additional training events, agency sponsored volunteer activities to give back to the community, and new technology resources for both in office and remote working.” Expanded hiring has also created an expanded need for internal support, who may be taking on weightier workloads while adapting to a changing team. “With more remote teams we must be really intentional about providing thoughtful and comprehensive onboarding and planning how and when to bring people together to build connections and culture,” said Jack Morton’s Ackerman. “There’s a major focus on recruitment to support this growth, but we must also look inside and ensure we are focusing on and investing in our existing staff—promoting from within, providing career development and growth opportunities, supporting them in onboarding new talent, and ensuring salaries are commensurate with those we are bringing in.” Still, the overarching message across agencies has been that they’ve never been better suited to meet major challenges head-on. “There could be any number of potential road bumps ahead, globally or regionally, but the pandemic has taught us a few things: Be prepared to pivot quickly and be open to innovation, whether it’s how and where you work, how you build teams, or how you support your employees and their changing priorities,” said Ackerman. “If we keep our people priorities straight, act with integrity and stay open to innovation, we can weather any storm that comes our way.” About Amp Amp is a platform that’s integrated with Ad Age and Ad Age Creativity, allowing you to leverage our editorial credibility while showcasing your expertise, accolades and campaigns. 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What does the new jobs boom mean for the ad industry?

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