Things that are not so good about working in online recruitment advertising

Ok - enough sunniness lets have some of my personal pet peeves about working in this beautiful industry

1. In terms of media, it is still so painfully slow sometimes the sales cycle of getting clients online, piloting project, and reporting and tracking and then gaining more long term commitment - patience is a virtue i guess.....
2. In terms of site build, social network programmes etc - there are so many things a client should/could do - that sometimes they do nothing. And yes i know that is our job to coax our clients along this path.
3. An industry that still has a high % of bullshit artists, and bullshit products that catch out the unwary clients and damage their views on the whole lot of us.
4. Its still the Wild West out there on pricing - absolutely all over the place. Hang on - i like that actually as it makes us look really good that we buy well and cut through the mess.
5. Product ignorance - its just not good enough that some account managers do not undersrand the ins and outs of their own product - come on - this is a basic standard surely
6. I feel bad when i let sales people down - who i know are under intense pressure from their superiors to close a deal - but generally it is not rate dependent and when the price comes crashing down, it serves no purpose other than to make us all feel a bit cheap. This is the nature of the beast and believe me we all have to do a similar sort of thing sometimes.
7. and finally - people thinking i have an encyclopaedic knowledge about the complete internet and any knowledge about the workings of computers. When queried occasionally on these topics - its hopefully the only time i turn into No3 above.

10 Things I love about working in online recruitment advertising

Been working too hard recently so the following is an unstructured self pep talk - here goes

1. There is no "how to guide" on doing things well. In their own small way many of the things we do will be the first time that they have been done in precisely that way. Yes you should have a level of competence ("expertise") but a lot of this stuff is still new. Hence...
2. You are allowed to make mistakes. Not jaw dropping "how dumb are you?" mistakes but errors that may have been made in trying to do something quite exciting that with small amends and a lot of effort will still be brilliant
3. The alternative of working in print or normal account management or even worse getting a proper job is deathly dull
4. When i actually tell people about what we do at OME - i can sort of make my job sound actually rather cool (we all know the reality is not quite as cool but occasional artistic licence needs to be allowed)
5. Rarely do clients shut their mind from what we talk to them about - they are generally keen and positive. Now as for getting them to action certain projects - well there is the trickier part
6. The supplier /agency/ client relationships are largely collaborative and healthy. And there is a real sense of community against the Luddites. And by and large the people are alright too and having spent a couple of years in product advertising/marketing - believe there are plenty of arrogant idiots out there
7. Online works - so its great being judged by tangible results - generally speaking its not airy fairy (see point 6) and it delivers
8. Its wonderful working in a marketplace that is increasing every year - again having worked in sectors in decline - its not fun. You sit in meetings deciding who to cut - and you know there is another meeting ocurring where they decide whether you will be cut too.
9. Seeing people making a lot of cash. Now this is tempered by feelings of huge jealousy, envy and injustice and it would be dwarfed by the feeling of "seeing me make a lot of cash" but its great to see people cashing in on their hard work and rewarded for their entrepreneurial skills - normally that is.....
10. Most importantly i can look at Cricinfo, Betfair, Popbitch, mediaguardian and people imagine i am working. What on earth did office workers do before the internet?
    

so that made me feel better - tomorrow "the 10 things i hate about....."

OME Search Launches

So we thought life was getting too boring and easy and have launched a new company - its not stunningly innovative (well not in our small world) but believe me it is to UK Plcs who have been incredibly positive about the product of search over last 12 months.

We will divert all our existing search work into this new organisation and touch wood the aim is for it to also introduce new clients into the mothership that is the original OME. It sounded like a good plan when we discussed it with Andy who is launching this for us - and amazingly it still sounded good the next day. Will keep everyone posted...

Press Release Below

OnlineMediaExperts launches a recruitment dedicated Search Engine Marketing agency

OnlineMediaExperts has launched a specialist search business that will complement their existing media planning and buying services. The new company, called OME Search, will focus exclusively on the largest growing sector of the UK advertising marketplace and ensure that its clients receive outstanding ROI in this area. OME Search will be managed by Andy Gray, previously Client Services Director of digital marketing agency Alchemy Worx, who has also had many years experience in recruitment advertising with Bernard Hodes and VNU.

Dominic Sumners, Managing Director of OME said;“We want to make sure we bring OME’s dedicated focus to this area as the value of search engine marketing is irrefutable. It’s brilliant that we have got someone of Andy’s reputation to develop this business for our clients.”

Andy Gray, Director of OME Search said;“I’m delighted to be joining OME at such an important and exciting time. This is a fantastic opportunity to combine my experience of digital marketing and recruitment with the support of such a well regarded and successful team.”

For further information, please call Dominic Sumners on 020 7288 6583 or email dominic@omexperts.co.uk

New Blog Location

Not the most exciting news but a necessary switch as the last platform was basically rubbish. Only OME news to speak of is i have officially become OME's "Roger the Rep" or a poor man's Gareth Cheeseman - up and down Britain's motorways in my Ford Mondeo, Ginsters wrappers and McFlurry pots in the back flogging our wares. On a more positive note i have been seeing customers both existing and prospective which is definitely a rewarding thing and none of them has mentioned impending global economic meltdown which is definitely good!
Will be reposting some of my more recent posts on the old platform as dont want anybody to miss out!