Our exec editor asks why the industry is plagued by staffing problems, and senior execs from DoubleClick, WhenU, Specific Media and more weigh in.

There always tends to be a sticky phrase, thought or notion at our iMedia Summits. "Herding cats" was the phrase that came out of my first Summit in Deer Valley back in September of 2004, and which I heard again and again in the halls after Don Schultz first said it during his mainstage presentation. Sometimes these sticky thoughts are turns of phrase and sometimes they are big ideas.

Late last month at iMedia's Breakthrough '06 Summit about new marketing channels, the sticky thought was a big idea and a big problem: the tough time that the interactive marketing industry is having finding, training and keeping people. As I wandered the halls, ducked into working group sessions or lifted a friendly glass with attendees during each evening's festivities, again and again I heard that finding qualified people to hire was as hard as-- well, as hard as herding cats.

At iMedia we call this the "human capital" problem. It's hard to find new employees, and poaching from other companies is rampant.

Does interactive marketing have some sort of appearance deficit? Do people still somehow associate advertising with the bumbling Darrin Stevens from the old "Bewitched" TV show?

Or is it the Lloyd Dobler effect? Lloyd was the John Cusack character in "Say Anything," and his most memorable speech he talks about what he won't do with his career: "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

Why is it that the kids just graduating from college aren't flocking to this industry? As some of you know, in my first career I was an academic and taught English Berkeley. My wife is still an academic and teaches at USC, so I still frequently have the privilege of hanging out with young people who are gob-smacked with panic about getting their first jobs. I've pitched interactive marketing at some of them, and they're always interested but surprised to learn that this industry even exists as a career path. Why is that?

And it's not all about kids. Talented people with a few years of work experience under their belts -- people looking to make a change -- should be falling out of trees and coming to interactive marketing, but they aren't.

So, I asked a handful of industry veterans to go on the record about why they think the human capital problem exists in this industry. Below and on the next page, you'll see what they have to say. Some agreed that there's a problem and some didn't. Some had a lot to say. Some were terse.

But that's hardly the last word. I want to hear what others have to say about this. What can we do and how should we do it? Please let me know.

And now, it's time to let the industry weigh in:

Sean O'Neal, Datran Media's CMO:
There are quality people out there looking, and many that are excited about getting into our industry. But, there is also still some residue from a few years ago when all the long hours went for naught in the bubble. We find that having our strong mentors who can talk about how we provide good training in the interviews really helps. After all, our industry is more complicated than other media types. So candidates -- especially those right out of college -- are going to have a learning curve to scale.

Steve Sarner, VP of Sales for Tickle Inc:
While there is no doubt that sales and business development talent is tight -- particularly in top markets like L.A. and N.Y.C. -- we are getting good response from college grads ourselves.

Tom Hernandez, VP, Business Development, Specific Media:
Your question regarding hiring qualified candidates to add to staff in response to the growing demand for online media products is timely. At Specific Media, we're trying to hire persons to fill sales, operations and administrative positions. We've opened or are in the process of opening satellite offices in major media centers across the U.S. and are competing with the major portals, publishers and ad networks for the few qualified candidates that are available. Obviously, our challenge is in finding experienced candidates for sales and operations positions and it's especially hard to find these types of folks for our Irvine, CA corporate office location.

To find these candidates we advertise on the major job boards and use only industry-oriented recruiters only for certain positions and markets (Recruiters, please do not call us). 

Regarding your question on hiring recent college graduates for sales positions; With the possible exception of our corporate office location, we are reluctant to hire recent grads for account manager positions only because of a lack of resources required to mentor, train and coach these folks on selling our Interactive media products to buyers in ad agencies and marketers. For operations and administrative positions we hire only experienced professionals.

Colleges and universities may want to start offering courses on internet advertising and marketing with the help of organizations like iMedia, the IAB, ad:tech, et cetera, to provide guidance on course content, arranging for guest lecturers and coordinating internships. As an industry we need to work together to educate and foster new talent to fill the growing need for finding qualified personnel.

Next: WhenU, DoubleClick and Did-it on the human capital problem