• by Sara Holoubek , January 30, 2006

Wash. The last good Internet party I attended was Doubleclick's infamous Willy Wonka affair at the Roxy. I vaguely remember dancing on transparent cylinders filled with massive quantities of Dum-Dums while staring at strips of paper with real candy buttons hanging on the walls. I would share my pictures, but some things are best kept in the Internet Museum.

Fast-forward to an event at Libation I attended last week with two former Organic colleagues. Six years older, we were no longer dancing on containers of candy, but lounging in the corner sipping organic Pinot Noir and wondering whatever became of the 2000 guests at the Roxy. How many left the industry? Why? And even more worrying, does the tight market for SEM talent suggest that history will repeat itself?

Rinse. It's no secret that SEMs, agencies and the engines actively engage in poaching, encouraging job-hopping via salary increases and other benefits. Rapid industry growth has prompted a practice of staffing to meet a VC round, M&A activity or IPO, with the intention of "upgrading" shortly thereafter. Clearly, this practice creates waste, results in less than satisfied clients, and in the long run, is not in the best interest of the firm or the employee.

One agency survivor now on the client side calls this "wash, rinse, repeat," known to some as "hire, quit/fire, hire again." I asked him about his SEM agency's regular "changing of the guard" last year. Completely jaded, he said that this is really no worse than at any other interactive or ad agency.

Repeat. Rinsing is a hard job, but filling positions for the second or third time is frustrating for HR. One in-house recruiter also stressed that required skill sets rapidly evolve with the industry. "Staffing for change is not the same as staffing for growth," he said.

A two-time SEM "hopper" agreed that the marketplace is changing, and that some SEMs are not prepared to become the agencies they now compete against. Indeed, SEMs are now hiring agency types, agencies seek SEM skills, and clients need to hire someone to manage the whole lot.

All too often, hiring is perceived as "urgent," and buying at a premium is usually the preferred route. To this I say, step off the treadmill. The cost of hiring the wrong person is far greater than keeping the job requisition open another month. Ruth Nightingale of Reprise Media, an SEM known for its very low turnover, mentioned that her firm focuses on interviewing many, hiring few. The firm also seeks "high performance from all levels of employees, while not losing focus on career path."

Leave In Conditioner. In a world where the only way to move up is often to move out, it is refreshing to learn that iProspect has a formal training program to facilitate horizontal or vertical moves. At iCrossing, I saw interns rapidly learn new skill sets. MSN hires from undergraduate courses in interactive marketing.

Perhaps all hope is not lost. As they say, "Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like."