Social media hasn’t been around too long, yet a lot of these big companies hiring a social person require that person to have upwards of 10 years solid experience in their communication-related field. Let’s do some math, shall we?
That would put that person somewhere around 32-35ish, give or take a year or two. 10 years ago, said social person was probably still faxing press releases, and you want your SOCIAL MEDIA person to be that guy? No offense to my peeps in their 30s, but they didn’t get Facebook until much later than us savvy 20-somethings, who grew up learning new technologies from cell phones to buddy lists to (gasp) MySpace pages. We know social. It’s almost second nature to us. Honestly, I think a 16-year-old would do much better than a 35-year-old at a social media manager position, but I mean, you have millisecond attention spans and those pesky child labor laws to worry about.
All I am saying is that big companies hiring social media managers (and the like) should take a step back and reevaluate their job descriptions. Yes, us 20-somethings may only have about five years (or less) years solid job experience (minus internships and jobs during and before college), but we know social. We get social. If I could tweet in my sleep, I could. I (and my fellow Gen Y counterparts) understand how the consumer wants to be spoken to and interacted with across these platforms. Take a lesson from MTV’s TJ competition. Those candidates were perfect because they were all about 20-25. Granted, that’s MTV’s demographic, but still.
What do you think? Are companies reaching too far or do they need a more experienced communicator to handle their online world?
Although I’m 33 and considered “that guy” at my job, I agree that younger is probably better when it comes to these jobs. I think the problem is that most “big” companies are more worried about hiring the wrong person that will embarrass them online, than having the most effective strategy.
Glad I didn’t offend 🙂 Yeah, I think it’s a weird situation since this person has to represent them and be mature enough to do so.
Dunno. I mean, I’ve been doing social media since 2006, and using the web since 1994 (programming websites back in the late ’90’s. I may not have grown up with it, but I pick it up pretty quick. Plus, I have 10 years in marketing, which helps since even in social media, you need to understand that area.
That’s true — Gen X did have AOL when it was at its peak in the 90s. And that generation definitely picks things up quicker than say, boomers. It’s a tough call, but the whole social thing is where I am a trying to stress. The closet thing to social AOL had was chat rooms — and the only thing that evolved from that was To Catch a Predator on NBC 🙂
Really, it’s not about how old you are, it’s just about (like you said, Deanna) the fact that no one has five years experience in social media (not professionally, I mean). Five years ago, social media was Facebook, Myspace, and MAYBE you could count YouTube, and the only companies that used any of those platforms were entertainment brands (if at all). I’ve done both PR and marketing in my relatively short five-year career, and if I suggested that a client engage users on Facebook five years ago, barring the fact that it wasn’t really practical given the platform’s nascence, they would’ve laughed in my face.
I think the more important thing companies and agencies should be looking for is a mixture of communication skills that are effective for social media (which, as you pointed out, many younger professionals do have) and good marketing sense. Of course, it all depends on what you really want out of social media, and I think that’s a problem for brands too. They know they want to be involved in social media, but they have no idea what they want to get out of it, which can make hiring someone to achieve those nonexistent goals kind of tough.
Anyway, I’m glad someone finally wrote this post! As someone who’s currently seeking a job in this capacity, I’m totally with you!
Derp, missed the word “even” between the words “one” and “has” in my first sentence. Please excuse my slow adultness.
Well said! There is definitely a disconnect between some companies’ overall communication strategies and social media plans. If you have an effective communications staff in place, the SM person is a great compliment to those people, and if SM person is a little more junior-level, they can be managed by the CMO, PR director, etc. Thanks for your thoughts!
Agree with you, and glad my company agreed, too! I was hired 4 months out of college (at 22) as a Social Networking Coordinator. Position was listed as “entry level” and I am managed by the Corporate Communications Director (was PR Manager when I was first hired). I’m now a year in, and while I certainly was no expert about business social networking and marketing when I first began, my personal knowledge of Social Media was a solid base to all I’ve grown to learn using Social Media for business purposes.
Hi Jess,
Your comment got trapped in my spam and I just saw it now! So, thank you for your comment and I’m glad to see your company trusted you as someone young, but obviously someone business-savvy.
You know, I’ve worked more on the technical side of digital, and I’ve seen the same issue, e.g. job ads asking for “10 years experience with Cocoa,” or “7-10 years’ experience with mobile UI design” when the iPhone and iOS have only existed since 2007, and have really only caught on in the Pgh community since 2009. I wonder how many companies are using this technique as a means of justifying outsourced labor. I briefly worked at one agency where this was the case, and was a manager at another 4-5 years ago that also outsourced.
Hi Deanna. I’ve been reading your blog these past two days and have learned a lot. Social media is definitely not my specialty; in fact, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t totally understand it, though I can do a mean Facebook creative direction with FBML. I’m an unemployed associate creative director, specializing in responsive design, user experience, and digital. I live in Pittsburgh and am at the mid-level of my career. Perhaps something has changed since 2010, but in the process of searching, I’ve noticed that there aren’t a lot of positions for mid-career/middle management creatives with around a decade of experience.
Your entry depressed me a bit because to be honest, I have been seeing companies here leaning toward hiring people with 5 years’ experience or less. Many agencies balk at my salary requirements, which are fair for the institutional knowledge and the broad skill-set I bring to the position – it seems like 40K is their ceiling until you get to the executive level. Other 30-somethings in the area have similar complaints. It really does feel like if you’re not in the very middle or very end of your career, you’re SOL. I may have used AOL in college, but I also learned HTML5, CSS3, UX, and responsive design pretty quickly. And I’m a Linux and mobile hobbyist, so I’m no Luddite. I read with some enthusiasm that your HAPPO event in NYC had more jobs than job-seekers. My husband and I are planning to move soon. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on which markets are best for mid-career digital professionals.
Whoops, that should read “very beginning or very end of your career.” FWIW, I’ve noticed people in their early 40s are having similar trouble with the Pgh market as well. Thanks for bearing with me.
Hi Samantha! Yes, a lot has changed since I originally wrote this in 2010. Now, there are multiple facets to social media positions. Earlier, they were all grouped together as “social media managers” but now we’re seeing different levels, which in my opinion is much better. There can be assistants, specialists, managers, directors and so on, which more clearly states the different levels of experience. Now, a manager should have 5+ years, a director 10+, and then those 5 years or less can assist these managers. When I wrote this originally, I was grouping a lot of it together. Plus, now I see I was a bit off-base – you need solid business experience in social, so you need those years behind you 🙂
As far as markets for mid-career digital professionals, I’m unsure. But I think you’re in a good place in your career because you have that business experience to back you up.