Can you spot an SEO star?

SAN FRANSISCO - David Rodnitzky of Blogation has an excellent post about the dearth of high quality director-level SEO candidates on the market right now.  Per David,

Over the last few years, I've learned to not even bother looking when I get a [recruiter's] call for a director of search.  Why?  Well, they simply don't exist.  Basically, search engine marketing is such a hot profession right now that you only really have three types of search marketers: 1) entry-levels; 2) VPs; and 3) independents or consultants.

Yesirree.  Slim pickins out there in search engine land.  That's not to say that talented people can't be had -- if you know what you're looking for.

And David is proof:  In 2005, I submitted him to a Chicago-based online retailer who, without even speaking with him, turned him down on the grounds that "he was too green."  They based their decision solely on David's resume, which was amazing even back then.  That was the single biggest missed hiring opportunity I have ever seen, on a par with the Portland Trail Blazers selecting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA draft.

Another HUGE missed hiring opportunity was this year, when one of my LA-based online retailing clients passed on Jessica Bowman because "their search was just getting started" and, I presume, they wanted to see if they could fill the role themselves.  Again, the client wouldn't even make time to speak with the candidate -- if for no other reason than to learn something about in-house SEM.  Go figure.

In both cases, the candidates were interested in the jobs and affordable.  The clients simply couldn't spot a star.  Their loss -- because this month BOTH of these SEM experts had feature articles in the Search Marketing Standard.  In the words of Warren Buffett, "Conventional accounting doesn't pick up errors like that."

My point in name dropping like this is that clients say they want great SEM talent, yet all too often they cannot recognize it when it lands in their lap.  Clients need to work with credible SEO recruiters -- and listen to their recruiters when they get a "buy recommendation" because they may not get a second chance.

After all, the difference between salad and garbage is timing.
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Comments

[geri]

I do website consulting (SEO/SEM) here in Tucson. I was recently approached by a big fish about one of their SEM opportunities... After, my ego subsided... I merely laughed... As an entrepreneur, I can not imagine working for another company... I have in my past life worked in the corporate world and did not like it at all.
The business will proper or fail based solely on my efforts and skills... I will not give that away again at any price... This is such an easy business to be an independent...

[Harry Joiner]

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to be in-house, as far as I'm concerned. My candidates spend so much of their time evangelizing internally about SEM -- instead of actually doing it. Who needs it?