The Perfect Fit

New St. Louis Search: Senior Account Executive #12062

We're starting a new search for our St. Louis client.  If you are qualified and interested, or have friends and colleagues who you think might be, we would certainly appreciate your referral.

General Description:
Our St. Louis City client is looking for an experienced account service professional as a result of growth. Think of this opportunity as a marketing position in an agency environment.  We’re looking for that exceptional individual with a strategic marketing mind, and a client service orientation.  This individual should have experience working closely with creatives and understand the creative process.  There are multiple simultaneous complex projects that will demand your ability to handle a wide range of strategy, production, budget and timeline issues.  .  Our ideal candidate will intimately understand branding, brand development, marketing strategy and communication.

Primary Responsibilities:
•    Manage the strategic development process for a specific set of accounts that include: brand architecture, strategy and brand positioning and related deliverables.
•    Work with the client to direct the development and execution of marketing programs for assigned agency clients.
•    Ensure all strategies, creative and tactics developed support client branding and marketing communication objectives, on time and on budget. Measure and analyze results of work.
•    Provide consultation on developing and/or using consumer and market research, at times playing a lead role. Advise the agency teams about client products and target audience insights, providing written briefs.
•    Project organization and day-to-day coordination in executional matters overseeing team members internal and external to the agency, including designers, production artists, copywriters, web developers and external vendors, as needed.
•    Direct supervision and management of accounts as assigned to develop and maintain strong client relationships through daily contact and continuous feedback on status of jobs and on-going process.

Experience:
We’re looking for candidates with a total of five to seven years’ experience specifically working with the brand development and strategic marketing, possibly with client side experience.  We need a pro-active, outgoing, organized, smart, confident, strategic and motivated individual who wants to develop significant client relationships and help clients build their brands.  We need experience working across all communication media including direct mail, print ads, broadcast, promotional, new media, etc., with strong written, verbal and presentation skills.  In a word, we want someone with a “passion” for marketing . . . someone who is unable to stop thinking about it, reading about it, noticing it and contributing to it in innovative ways.

Compensation:
The compensation is commensurate with experience.  There is an outstanding comp package including medical for employee (with family options, including dental and vision), 401K with a company match.

About Our Client:
Our client is experiencing consistent growth through referrals and are consistently winning new business, because they are smarter in their strategy and insights, while delivering best in class creative for their clients’ benefit. They are creating a cooperative culture based on smart thinking, the highest quality execution and a company culture that values collaboration and respect for colleagues, clients and family. The diverse client base includes category leaders in entertainment, construction, education, healthcare and non-profits.

Our client’s leadership team is smart, forward thinking, nimble, entrepreneurial and innovative, always thinking about developing new ways to help their clients identify and communicate their message.  The environment is creative and professional and your colleagues are passionate about high end creative, in support of strategic marketing communications,  EOE.

Please apply through our website www.Bishop-Partners.com by uploading your resume.  Please send a separate email to [email protected] with samples of your work and detailing your interest in and qualifications for this position.

 

 

You're Invited to Party with Bill Vann!

I'm very pleased to be able to share this invitation with everyone in St. Louis.  If you know Bill, you know that he died way too early this past Spring.

You'll then also know that few have contributed more to the commercial art scene in St. Louis in the past 40 years.  Bill Vann was one of the most talented, giving people I've ever met.  He was a inspiration, helping young artists at absolutely every opportunity.

It's wonderful that this FUNdraiser is being orchestrated in his honor.  He'll be honored, and smiling that we haven't forgotten him.  If you're a FOB, or a friend of the St. Louis commercial art industry (photographers, illustrators, videographers, etc.) please join us. 

Simple and Consistent File Naming in Job Search Documents

Hiring Managers and recruiters are receiving unsolicited resumes, cover letters and portfolios, etc.. every hour of every day, all year long. It's an ongoing, never ending deluge of files from people we most likely don't know.  Most of us use technology and an "ATS" (Applicant Tracking System) to keep incoming information properly organized.

Candidates can help the effort and in so doing, help hiring managers and recruiters remember them.  Use your last name as consistently as you can in naming cover letters, resumes and any other attached documents.  Have an email address specifically for your job searching efforts.  That address should have your last name in it.  Develop a file naming convention and do it the same way all the time.

The reason for this is it helps us rmember you.  The more we consistently see the same name, the easier you will be to remember.  It does no good to lable a resume, "Resume" . . . we have lots of those, we can't search on that term.  Use common sense and help your cause by being remembered!

Sending an email to a recruiter from one email address and having another email address on your resume can be very confusing.  Don't do it.  Put one phone number, your cell phone on your resume.  Use the phone number where you're most likely to be able to answer an incoming call. 

Just keep it simple and consistent.

How To Successfully Work with Recruiters

I found this posting by Dan Levine yesterday at a site called Recruiting Blogs.

I think it does a wonderful job of explaining in a very simple way, what goes on between a recruiter and a candidate at the state of inital contact.  It does an excellent job of laying out the whys and hows of that first contact and appropriate responses.

Perhaps the most important point is that if a recruiter contacts you, there's a reason . . . it's very possible that the reason could result in a sensational career opportunitiy.  One of the things I like best about my work is contacting top performing candidates, hoping to find the ones who's goals and ambitions align with my clients' needs.  It's very exciting for both the candidate and I when that happens . . . it's even more exciting when/if it results in an offer of employment for a superb opportunity the candidate would not otherwise have known of.

What Recruiters Are Looking For When They Contact You

Most successful recruiters do not waste a lot time with anyone who is not a fit for their clients. You were called (or emailed) initially for a very specific reason, either:

1.  You have the skills or experience required for a job

2.  You work for a client competitor

3.  Someone gave your name as a reference, or

4.  Your LinkedIn profile insinuates that you may be a good match.

That’s about it. Other than a few one-offs, these are the reasons you are being contacted in the first place.

When a recruiter calls you, they generally have a structured way of seeking the answers they need:

1.  Does the candidate’s core competencies fit the client’s needs?

2.  Are they successful?

3.  Do they have any motivation to make a change?

What many candidates are not realizing is that everything you do and say and how you do and say it is being calculated: Here are some examples:

1. A Recruiter calls or emails you about a position and you immediately ask, “Who is the client?” because you’re too busy to speak.

What you should do: Set a better time to speak with the recruiter later that day. Tell them whether you are open or not to making a change and look forward to the next conversation if there should be one. If you have zero interest in making a career change, tell them this upfront, but let them know what type of opportunities you may be interested in down the road and a time frame to follow up. For example, “Thank you for thinking of me, but at this time I am on pace to make quota and have lots of irons in the fire and a great pipeline. However if you do come across an opening in Senior Management, I’d be willing to listen, but not until September when our fiscal year ends.”

2.  A Recruiter emails you a description of a job opening and you reply only with…………..“What’s the comp package?” 90% of the time, the recruiter will not reply back with the figures. You’ve just told the recruiter that money is your only motivator and you only will give them your time if you know what the compensation package is first.

What you should do: If money is the biggest factor in making career decisions, you’ve probably moved around a lot or haven’t had much tenure in one place. It’s OK to be money motivated, we all are, but remember a recruiter needs to know certain things first before talking about compensation. Most clients give recruiters a fair range of base salary, commission structure, sign-on bonus, equity, etc. There is no way to determine what the actual package will be if the recruiter doesn’t get the information they need. If you are the ideal type of “A Player” that the client is looking for, this usually means you are paid higher than an average person in a similar role. Discussing your current salary and on-target earnings (with the recruiter) can only help you obtain the dollar amount you would need to make a change. And always remember to have your quotas and performance clearly stated on your resume, so it’s easy to refer back to them.

Retained search firms train recruiters to look for these signs and use their time wisely. It is important that you build a mutual trust and respect with a recruiter. This comes solely from good communication. Pick up the phone and call instead of sending one-line emails, you should know that you’re not the only person being contacted. Call back when you say you’re going to call back. Send your resume when you say you’re going to send it. And finally, if you want to show your ultimate respect to a good recruiter, give them a solid referral if you’re not interested in the opportunity personally. By doing this, you become a valuable partner to the recruiter and most likely will be put to the top of their list to contact should something open that fits what your looking for.

So think twice about how you respond to the recruiter next time she calls– it might be the call that can change your life!