Pigeon-holed, and proud of it.

200304659-001 When I was offered an Account Executive position at what was then Alstin Advertising, I was thrilled. Not only was I escaping winter in Ocean City, NJ (my parents had just moved there and I was living with them until I landed my “dream job”) — I loved the thought of working for an ad agency in Center City, Philadelphia.

I was also entertaining an Account Coordinator offer from a full service retail ad agency. Torn between two very good choices, I contacted a mentor I had met with a few times and told him about my options: Great Position at a niche recruitment advertising agency — marketing jobs and/or the companies that are looking to fill them, or Okay Position at a traditional agency with sexy clients, products and offices. This is the gist of what he told me:

“You can take the Coordinator position and get exposure to a lot of big clients, but you may have to wait awhile to get promoted. It will probably be pretty menial work, and you may be at the whim of the accounts they have. For instance, if their big client is Coca-Cola, and Coca-Cola goes with another agency, almost everyone that works on Coca-Cola would get laid off. If you take the AE position, you’ll have a range of responsibilities as well as client contact. You’ll also learn a lot about the various departments in an ad agency. The agency you’re looking at has hundreds of clients, so if they lose one, it might not mean layoffs. But the one big drawback is that you will be pigeon-holed. You’ll work in advertising, but it’s recruitment advertising. It’s mostly the classified section of the newspaper. Even if you only spend a few years there, it may be tough to find a job at a retail agency because you focused on jobs instead of products or services.”

He also told me it depended on what my plan was for the rest of my life. (Keep in mind I was 23 at the time.) If I really wanted to be a big shot in the advertising industry, I should move to New York City. But I’d have to expect to work long hours and pay a lot for just about everything.

I thought over my mentor’s advice. He had built a 35 year career for himself at a respected Philadelphia agency, and seemed to know what he was talking about. I did want a family some day, and the long hours and financial realities of the big city weren’t appealing. I fantasized about writing ads for Nike, but I didn’t want my job to be my life. I wanted to work on projects that challenged me, but I thought stable was just as important as sexy.

Fast forward 16 years. Recruitment advertising was my decision, and it has turned out to be a great one. Though I started out as an Account Exec and had a great time interacting with clients, I grew into the copywriter role I always dreamed about and have loved it. Here’s what I like most about recruitment advertising (now called Employer Marketing), Alstin, and why I think selling jobs may actually be better than selling sneakers.

Challenging copywriting projects – How do you convince a nurse to choose one hospital over another when they are just blocks from one another and offer almost identical settings, services, and compensation? Every hard-to-fill position presents a stimulating wake-up call for the brain.
Diverse clients – From window washing companies hiring laborers to communications firms seeking engineers with high-level government clearances, you’re exposed to incredibly different requests on a daily basis.
Talented, ‘tude-less people – None of the graphic designers I work with wear head-to-toe black. They don’t always read AdWeek (though they occasionally use Print magazine as placemats for drippy lunch items). And the only awards they’ve won are displayed in our conference room, because they were won as part of a team.
Technology matters – Though the Internet briefly disrupted the stability that recruitment advertising enjoyed for decades, employer marketing firms are now offering some of the coolest online targeting tools around. We still get ads for the classified section (some of us still even read the classified section), but most of our services and products are about connecting with prospective candidates on the web and interactively.
Service is everything – Power lunches have lost their luster. Though I still have memories of a dozen or so Le Bec Fin meals to feed my imagination, clients today care much more about the strategies and ideas we share with them than they do the desserts.*
Adapting is the other everything – Companies’ needs don’t change even when the volume of business they do does. They still need to recruit and/or retain the best, but now, more than ever, be smarter and more cost-conscious about it. Alstin has not only rolled with the punches — we’ve come out swinging with updated products, services and creative.
Advertising with a conscience – Though the odds are against me ever writing a multi-million dollar commercial people watch over wings and beer, there’s definitely something to be said for creating copy that links great people with great opportunities. That one sentence I come up with could convince someone to apply for their dream job. They could get it. And then they, like me, could live happily-ever after. Pigeon-holed and proud.