Wanted: New Media Experts
As I have been perusing popular job search websites such as craigslist.com, hotjobs.com, and careerbuilder.com, I’ve noticed that many businesses and organizations are seeking “new media professionals,” “new media experts,” “social media experience,” “Facebook gurus,” or “digitally-minded people” (I swear I saw that last one!) . Think about this:
Company X is seeking new media professionals.
Company X wants Y professionals to have Z years of experience.
Z = 5+ years.
Okay, so the above examples were not needed to prove my point. However, let’s think about this, really. What does new media and experience have in common? Five years? I think not! If new media is what it is, new media, then is it really necessary to have years and years of experience on your belt? That which is new media is changing, evolving, and advancing each day, and who’s likely to know about this stuff? Likely, some tech kids sitting up their rooms right now, thinking of the next big social networking web apparatus. So, what’s my recommendation, you ask? Hire the tech kids! Just kidding. I really think some of these businesses and organizations need to take some time to reflect on the job description and the reality of the experience needed for some of these new media positions. Okay, okay so a bachelor’s degree should be required- or should it? I take that question back as I am biased to higher education and I have loans to prove it- but, you get my drift…
Great observation! I was noticing that the other day as well. I think the people who need the “new media experts” understand that they’re going to have to get someone who has a much shorter experience window than usual, but the folks in Human Resources write the job descriptions. It often looks like they grab one for a C++ programmer or a systems administrator – including the 5+ years of “required” experience – and just plug in “Facebook” or “Drupal” or “WordPress” in place of the C++.
I wonder how many resumes are being automatically dumped by the automatic processing software when they don’t have the minimum requirements… requirements that precious few people actually have.
I agree , but I also think that its important that candidates can actually back up their claim to be experts as well.
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Perhaps.