A career working with PPC?

Is it possible to do this professionally?

[Adam7288]

I've been making a buck or two on adwords for some time now, but never considered doing this kind of work in a professional environment.

I wanted to know if there are companies (NYC preferably) that would hire someone like me to be a proverbial cog in their wheel.

Anyone know where I can look for these kind of job openings? Many thanks in advance.

[Receptional Andy]

Hi Adam7288,

PPC is pretty much an entire industry, and there are plenty of jobs working with online advertising (here in the UK there are, in any case!).

Of course, this forum isn't the place to talk about specific job postings, but you could easily try to get opinions on what may be the most desirable skills, or even ways to evaluate potential employers ;)

[Adam7288]

I agree, I'm not looking for specific company endoresements; merely a starting place to look for them.

[Receptional Andy]

a starting place to look for them

I had a quick look over PPC listings for jobs in the industry and it seems that lots of companies are using that as way to source candidates.

I would recommend using the skills you've picked up from your PPC experience to research what's out there - a good way to make an impression, I reckon.

[Adam7288]

Brilliant!

[shorebreak]

There's a huge & protracted shortage of SEM-skilled people everywhere. Some places to look for those hiring are:

SEMPO.org/jobs
Craigslist (Marketing/PR section)

[Adam7288]

Many thanks for everyone's input. I now have a secondary problem. On my resume, and possibly in my interviews, I want to obviously upsell my unique strategies and success stories. However, that will mean sacrificing the competitive advantages I perceive to have.

Bottom line is: how do I sell myself without giving too much away?

[LucidSW]

Adam, check job sites like Monster. I haven't done so in a while but I have seen PPC management positions there in the past. You may also find some job postings on CraigsList.

You may want to research companies who do Adwords and offer your services directly. Do some searches and check those with poor ads and how you can help improve their bottom line.

You could also go freelance. Check Guru and eLance. That's where I get most of my projects from. In fact, I'm close to the point where I will need someone like you to help out.

[venti]

Used to work for a company with 100 employees (which had a large internet component) and we had a full time employee making six figures doing this for us. He worked for several SEM houses before coming in. Seems that is the path for the upper end of SEM professionals (at least that I have seen). Good luck with the job hunt!

[netmeg]

Heh, I went to a seminar with a lot of end-users, hoping to learn something new and refresh what I already knew, asked a ton of questions, and ended up giving out every single one of the business cards I had on me. At one point, a guy in the row behind me asked for my email address, and when I gave it to him the entire row wrote it down. Had to *turn down* some of that business, I got so swamped.

Look for PPC/SEM seminars in your area, spend the money to go to them, and ask intelligent questions; don't just sit there. It's a twofer - you'll probably learn something, and you may impress some of the people who will become clients.

[kidmullet1]

Hi Adam,

Not sure what the US equivalent is, but I work in the UK PPC agency environment.

Check out the New Media Age jobs section - www.nma.co.uk - that will give you the names of a few large companies, who can in turn put you in contact with their US counterpart.

Failing that, most of the big agency groups now have a significant SEM offering.

Good luck.

[avalon37]

It is really hard to protect against this, but so many companies will have you in for an interview just to pick your brain. I send those companies invoices for my time when that happens; of course they don't pay them, but it's worth making them feel like the low life's they are for doing it.

[GlassEye]

I've been in the interview process recently and I can tell you that in the NYC area there are a ton of jobs and obviously not enough talent to fill them. They have a serious need for senior experienced people in this field, but many of them are trying fill entry level SEM and supervisory positions simultaneously. I find most of my jobs through indeed, a meta job search engine. There are also a couple of search marketing specific recruiting firms, one is onward search and one is epic search partners. Working with recruiters is kind of a weird deal, but it has been valuable for me.

Also, the magic keyword for finding these jobs is 'SEM' rather than 'PPC'

[metakomm]

let me just say...there is a TON of work out there.

and if you are a newbie...immerse yourself in SEO/SEM NOW...

because there are very high wages to be paid if you can command the internet marketing ship for a company...

companies are now understanding that you can't let the admin assistant start a googel adwords account and run it properly...the suture is ours!