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01 Apr 08

Endangered Digital Careers

This may come as a bit of a blow to anyone who's been busy burnishing their digital street cred. What else have you got to offer?

Steve Rubel spots three tech-driven media careers that will vanish as the roles are subsumed by generalists who simply incorporate digital expertise into their workflows and toolsets.

1. Social Media Consultant, Manager
<blockquote>
"Hiring someone just to "manage" social media is a luxury that companies will integrate into broader marketing communication roles."
</blockquote>
2. Internet Advertising Sales, Online Advertising Sales, etc.
<blockquote>"Soon all advertising will be managed via digital technology and platforms, even if they end up running in terrestrial media. This means it will become very difficult to discern selling digital ads from just plain old ads. Clients will want to manage and measure their integrated campaigns through a single point of contact or channel and figure out how offline/online work together."
</blockquote>
3. Digital Talent Agents
<blockquote>
"Every agent will need to know how to identify and talent from the web. The line between digital and traditional will be obliterated as more amateurs recognize that they can market themselves using the web and will forgo going on auditions."</blockquote>

OK - but a lot of companies and nonprofits are still catching up and could still use help in these areas. Or, to put it another way: there are still lots of entrepreneurial opportunities in all three, so I'm not sure I'd declare the party over just yet. Still, the general insight is important not only for career planning but for strategic thinking about HR, training and growth. Should your company hire a social media guru, or invest in a marketing/communicatinos or media leader who can add digital tactics and knowledge to a broader set of skills and functions.

A more intriguing question is: What skills or jobs might leapfrog these or be the next "it" career for media worker bees with aspirations of edginess?

Two come to mind:

Designer. Design skills, like