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Who would have thought that an advertising copywriter would become an online publisher? Who would have imagined that digital producer and service designer would become lynchpin roles?
Grey Group Australia has just hired a UX and motion graphics specialist and a digital designer who holds a best cinematography award. And The Works has recently created three new roles - senior digital producer, creative technologist and digital art director.
If you’re digital, you’re desirable. And if you’re a digital waiting to happen, don’t worry. As digital design school, Tractor, notes, “your job hasn’t been invented yet.”
AdNews Jobs asked The Works’ creative partner, Damian Pincus, to talk about being what’s wanted right now.
DP: Digital platforms are becoming direct to consumer communications and as we embrace data to inform this work, the necessity to have people with skills and understanding of the area becomes more and more paramount so we develop campaigns that don’t waste clients’ money. As a result we have re-engineered the type of people we bring into the agency across all roles. While digital experience is not a prerequisite for positions that are not digitally focussed, we want to ensure that all those coming in to the business are always able to look at briefs with a digital mindset.
AJ: What digital qualities/skills are you looking for right now?
DP: Culturally, we are looking for people that embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and who understand the benefits of our creatives on the Forefront model, where creative thinkers work directly with clients to achieve better results. We also obviously want people that can bring in new skills and ideas to the agency. We are looking for people who are best in class, so we don’t limit the search to Australia and have recruited people from the US, UK, New Zealand and South Africa. While that’s not necessarily a new thing when it comes to senior agency appointments, we use it to look for people across our mid-level positions.
AJ: What other skills/qualities are top of your list?
DP: We look for passion and enthusiasm from all the people we hire regardless of role. Ambition is important to our agency and runs through everything we do. We want our clients to be ambitious and the same applies to our staff. People that can roll up their sleeves and get things done are the ones that succeed the best and we always want them to be striving for more.
AJ: What was the one characteristic of your three new digitals that clinched the deal for you?
DP: All three want to lead change and are holistic thinkers who can inject that mindset to our clients and the work they produce. Each has innovative ideas when it comes to digital and creative technological development and they bring new ways of working. They all also like a laugh and a beer or two as well, which always helps.
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