Your instinct is right – and it’s effecting all of the companies that are hunting in these pools. When every company in the creator economy targets the same five publishers, the candidates and companies know it. They hold out for the highest offer, negotiate harder, make large counter-offers and still field calls from three competitors right up the line.
And why wouldn’t they? They are in demand.
The flip side is, these publishers often develop a specific kind of professional – people who have operated inside large, resource-heavy machines with rigid structure and hierarchy. That doesn’t always translate to a growing independent company and will often not be as attractive to somebody who is used to collaborating with multiple internal departments.
Stop asking “which companies should I hire from?” Start asking “where are people solving the same problems I need solved?”
If you need someone to grow an audience, you don’t need someone who managed audience growth of 15 multi-genre channels at a company with a 20-person editorial team and a whopping marketing budget. You need someone who’s done it lean – who has evidence of practical, repeatable channel growth with lean resources.
The person who grew a local sports podcast from nothing, or turned a brand’s YouTube channel into a genuine, thriving community have solved your problem already. They just did it somewhere you weren’t looking!
Got a career dilemma of your own? Send it to the Talent Times Agony Aunt – all questions are completely anonymous.
