Sometimes I stay awake at night waiting for my mind to slow down, waiting for the moment of clarity that I want to share in my blog. Sometimes it never comes. Sometimes a thought hits me, voila! Then, in those wonderful moments of interweb kismet, I click my way to eureka!
Tonight, while trolling through Craigslist searching through the poorly written job postings for marketers, I had just that moment. A blandly crafted bit of copy that would of merited the generic award. The header read, “In Search of the Best Internet Marketing Interns”. That was bad enough, but our master of prose pursued their putrid path with, “Growing entrepreneurial consumer services and information marketing company… seeking the smartest top talent to participate in our fall internet marketing intern program…”
So, there’s really nothing wrong with it so far, exception of the exceptional. You think, “Great, a good place for a young mind to learn!” Then you finish the paragraph with “must demonstrate experience in following areas:” This is where I start getting annoyed. You see, I’ve hired many interns. I’ve been very open to this area of recruitment, although there is a big difference. I, generally, would hire those that did not have a clue at all. I preferred to teach them all they needed know; in turn they would slave away at the grunt work. It was a fair trade. The verdant mind would flourish with invaluable knowledge that would guarantee them a job in any company, and I would get hard work and a bit of loyalty. (SIDE NOTE: Sometimes interns aren’t so loyal, but that’s an issue with how they’re raised, not how they’re taught.)
The whole premise of my intern program was that someone would come to me with nothing, and leave with something. If they were not learning, they were not allowed to stay. I followed that rule with all my interns, occasionally not giving as much attention to those that were less than stellar; I still spent the time to nourish their hungry minds. I tried hard to steer clear from asking for a laundry list of qualifications that would otherwise comprise the portfolio of a young professional. In other words, I would not ask someone who should be getting paid for their knowledge and skill set to work for me under the guise if an internship. That idea seems like an abuse of the entire system, a complete lack of integrity.
Our wonderful wordsmith crafted the following requirements needed. Although he was so gracious as to only require one or two of them to qualify:
· Marketing systems and results analysis
· Blogging and blog content marketing
· Internet audio and video
· Online affiliate marketing
· Email marketing
· Social network marketing
· PR, article, marketing and content
· Content posting
· Organic keyword search optimization
HOLY CANNOLI! In an age of specialist, this man is looking for a kid who is the Leonardo of digital marketing!
When I’ve posted for interns I’ve said that a few things would help, but were not requirements. Knowing what a Meta tag is, some basic HTML, maybe they’ve heard the term SEO? Just generalities, never asking for specific skills sets. I always looked for a curious mind, focused with a good attitude. Perhaps I got the added bonus of loyalty; I do keep bringing it up for a reason. The point being, I know it’s not right to try and undermine someone’s skills.
Now some might argue that if a person knowingly chooses to take the position, than what’s wrong with it? I argue this; it’s not in the spirit of the concept and idea of an internship. It’s not good karma. It’s not a good way to treat another human and in the end, even if you manage to imbibe them with a few new skills, you’ve taught them that it’s okay to take advantage of another person. They leave with the diseased thought of devaluation of their fellow man or woman.
This goes deeper than an entrepreneur looking to make money of cheap labor. This type of behavior is the devaluation of the digital marketing professionals skill set. This is already occurring!
I recently was called by a recruiter from Boston, MA. She wanted to have me speak with a man from India. This man was part of the global advertising agency, Havas Digital. Apparently they were looking for a second in command to help them build an entire agency that’s explicit purpose was to enable companies to outsource their entire digital marketing divisions to India. They could save money by not having to pay American wages, undercutting the entire digital marketing industry. The lady asked me if I had issues with outsourcing the digital marketing industry, which I do. She softened the blow by telling me that their goal was to create a division within Havas/ Euro RSCG that would specifically service Havas/ Euro RSCG agencies. So basically they wanted to outsource their entire digital marketing division to India. Her comment was that the challenge lied in convincing the many different agencies that comprised HAVAS/ Euro RSCG America that they would be able to save a ton of money, making them more profitable, thus making corporate offices in Paris more profitable.
So, this little story started with taking advantage of a would be intern. It started by me talking about how we should respect and cultivate relationships with those that work for us, not try to undermine them. It even started with me talking about loyalty. You teach someone from the beginning to devalue their personal value that goes with them. Eventually it translates into a multi-national conglomerate showing a complete lack of loyalty, and a complete devaluation of human interest. By outsourcing every single person in digital marketing divisions within America, Havas Digital/ Euro RSCG believes they will lower their bottom line, raising their profits. Seems like the story of an entrepreneur taking advantage of those that know not, is the same story of the multi-national taking advantage of those that do.
You build a strong brand through loyalty, honesty and integrity. If you start without those things, you have nothing.
Anywho. If you want to see the job posting that inspired this, here it is!
Great article, I’m an avid reader of this site, keep on writing these great posts, and I’ll be a regular for a long time.
Sara, – These are good points, and I don’t want to undermine the value of building a strong background through internships. I AM an advocate of interning. It builds a resume, and hopefully skills. My issue comes when employers devalue the functions and roles of their staff, creating a revolving door of interns operating as a regular employee would.
Specific to the case which sparked my article, it was that the employer was exorbitantly relying on an intern to build his business. It was obvious that what he sought was not an intern, it was cheap labor. Which lead to my conversation of the attitude this behavior embodies playing itself out in a multi-national corporation. While you’re looking for a job in digital marketing, global exec’s are looking to outsource your future to the cheapest labor possible. The principles of it are wrong.
Anywho, thank you for voicing your position, a discourse is always good.
Regards,
Brad
@ Brad – The client doesn’t see the outsourcing occur, but that does not preclude other agencies from exposing their tactics. Some clients may not care…others may. When millions of dollars are on the line, I believe a client will at least be more weary if they know the job is done by people whose qualifications may be suspect. Another thing to keep in mind is if these tactics are exposed, a client may also fee they aren’t getting the best value.
@ Sara – You’re spot on. As long as you’re aware of the terms you’re getting involved with, I don’t see a problem with interning.
I disagree with you. I’m currently a college student and therefor most career opportunities come in the form of internships. I’ve already had a great deal of internships giving me plenty of qualifications.
I don’t think it’s unfair to ask for qualifications from an intern. I don’t find it undermining the whole digital field. After all, if the digital world creates a reputation economy, then that particular intern is getting “paid” in other ways.
Also, some internships do pay. I personally would not take one that is so demanding without asking for monetary compensation. However, if that company is well known and well developed and offered nothing but college credit, I would accept it due to the reputation and status points that would appear on my resume.
(And that brings in the question of loyalty, I know. By taking an internship for the resume enhancements, it’s not saying I’ll be there for long. But you need to go there and experience the place before deciding if a long term, loyal relationship with a company will be plausible.)
I have a year left of school, and in my eyes, I do feel that I have qualifications to get a job. However, without that degree and with the desire to further my career, lofty and/or promising internships (no paid, low paid or otherwise) may be necessary.
Good point, but will agencies be able to resist the pressure from parent companies like WPP and HAVAS? I believe that on an agency to client level it is a clear argument, although I think it is not so transparent when a company works with a multi-national owned agency. The client doesn’t see the outsourcing occur, and is not told that this is going on.
Interesting…very interesting. One could make the argument that by outsourcing digital marketing, many functions are becoming commoditized. Sell to the lowest bidder…get interns to do the rest.
Rather than see this as a negative, I view this as an opportunity for a kick ass digital agency to exploit these moves and make the outsourcing companies look stupid. Sure, the companies outsourcing their work and exploiting interns are saving money. But their product is suddenly inferior. However, for a kick ass and ethical agency, this presents a great chance to demonstrate to clients why it is better to spend on a quality boutique shop. Really, would you rather spend your valuable ad budget on some underpaid foreigners and ignorant interns, or with a shop with a competent and value-added team? I don’t think this is a hard sell….