Whether it’s a brand looking to build an in-house programmatic buying function, or a media agency enhancing and growing their existing team, there remains one important resource needed to achieve success: talent. In this piece, Michelle Chen (pictured below), director, learning and development, TubeMogul reveals to Exchangewire five top tips on how to source, recruit, and train programmatic talent.

1. Transparent and flexible

Every day is different in the field of programmatic ad buying. So, someone who likes structure and set patterns may not be a good fit for the role. Instead, look for people who appreciate flexibility and follow TubeMogul’s three codes of practice, namely FSO (figure sh*t out), MSH (make sh*t happen), and GSD (get sh*t done). Recruits need to be adaptable to change, be accepting of a certain level of uncertainty and appreciative of the bigger picture.

2. Skills and experience

It goes without saying that hiring someone with a background in digital, programmatic, broadcast, or media buying is ideal. But, given this is a new field, it’s not always possible.

If hiring for an entry-level position, such as media trading, trafficking, or campaign management, look for critical thinkers who are good at problem solving and have an uncanny attention to detail. Some of our best media traders and campaign managers come from a background in data, sciences, and math.

If someone is applying with experience in advertising, but is new to programmatic, probe them on their perception of what programmatic means, test their knowledge on the elements of a campaign lifecycle and see how they do when given access to a programmatic platform. You could also take it one step further and ask them to watch a tutorial and try to set up a campaign.

If you’re hiring for Account Management roles, look for customer-facing experience, people with strong writing and speaking skills, and those who possess an innate ability to explain complex issues in simple terms. In the interview, see how the candidate would react to a particular client scenario and what steps they would take to try to solve the client’s concern or issue. Persistence is key.

3. Sell them on growth potential

Michelle Chen, Director, Learning & Development, TubeMogul

Programmatic positions are great for those who want to try something new, yet already possess experience in the advertising sector, mainly because the opportunities are enormous. At TubeMogul, we’ve had folks that moved from being Media Traders or Campaign Managers to positions in Application Engineering or Product Management.  There are other team members who have moved from Account Management or Media Strategy into Sales roles. Within the Client Services organisation, there are also sub department opportunities where you can expand your skillset and specialise in a different product such as going from digital to television, display, social, mobile or cross-screen. The programmatic industry is growing at such a rapid rate that it’s the perfect field to go into for someone who doesn’t want to be pigeonholed and is constantly hungry to learn.

4. Be honest with training timelines

Getting someone up to speed on programmatic basics can’t be achieved overnight. Our experience shows us that it takes the typical programmatic specialist about 3-5 months to learn the platform they are working on to a decent level. It’s important not to judge a new recruit on their knowledge until after this time period has elapsed as they need this period to understand the industry, strategies and goals and get hands-on exposure to internalise their learnings.

5. What should be part of the training package?

There are two skill sets that all programmatic specialists will need to succeed: Soft and Technical skills. Soft skills include client-facing items such as presentation and public speaking skills, client communication, strategic thinking, data analysis, storytelling, and objection handling. Technical skills will include Campaign Planning (e.g. understanding of ad formats, targeting strategies, brand safety, fraud, viewability, inventory sources, private inventory, DMPs, PMPs, and planning best practices), Campaign execution (e.g. ad tags, tracking pixels, campaign building strategies and pacing strategies), optimisation strategies and troubleshooting, measurement and reporting.