View article in Media Inc.

Is the world of advertising and marketing where it was in 2000? Not quite. Our industry, after the dot-bomb explosion, is more mature.

Today, we share new knowledge with each other, and areas of expertise have emerged that demand agencies staff to meet needs of corporate marketing departments. There is tremendous growth and focus on online technologies and possibilities. But the talent pool crunch is no longer on HTML programmers. Now, we’re fighting for high-level ActionScript, .NET 2.0 and AJAX developers along with Internet strategists and search experts.

Our agency, for example, is constantly in need of high-level ActionScript programmers. As a Portland-based interactive agency that builds CMS-controlled dynamic Flash sites, you’d think we wouldn’t have to look very hard, being in a city with an abundant creative class. But with the high demand for gifted programmers nationally and internationally, the creative market has been in short supply of talent, even if the positions are posted nationally.

To supply our growing need for the best ActionScript programmers, we’ve had to innovate a solution: Hiring young local talent—many of them recent college grads—and bringing top-notch professionals to our office to conduct seminars for them. Pros teach everything from industry-standard software applications to shortcuts and best practices.

After these seminars, we rely on our in-house experts for ongoing coaching and fine-tuning of skills. With this initiative, we can create tailor-made programs and focused skill sets, and concentrate on cutting-edge technologies. It has been a successful model with other creative staff as well. Providing growth opportunity and mentoring for new junior employees is just one method for attracting and retaining talented staff.

Some companies may choose to offer slightly-above-market salary as a lure; compensation in the form of paying for relocation costs, subsidizing transportation costs, or reimbursing for professional development; differentiate its corporate culture as positive and progressive by offering volunteer days, sabbaticals, and the like; or some combination thereof.

Companies that may not be able to afford luxe compensation packages to sway desirable candidates are realizing the value of word of mouth, and are enticing existing staff to recruit for them. One local firm offers a $500 bonus to employees who refer a peer or friend to HR and subsequently get hired—once the new hire has been aboard for six months, of course. This company is benefiting from having found that talent knows and attracts like talent.

The point is that in our very creative industry, agencies are illustrating the credo “Necessity is the mother of invention”—and these are certainly times requiring inventive tactics.

Arve Overland is CEO + Executive Creative Director of the Overland Agency, a branding and interactive advertising agency in Portland, Oregon.