Dipstick: What makes youngsters change jobs frequently at creative agencies?

Job hopping has become quite a normal thing for people in the age group of 23-35 at creative agencies these days. Experts say the frequency of changing jobs among youngsters has increased as they expect more incentives and promotions with increasing competition even among the peers.

The advertising industry is now facing the challenge of retaining talent. Far too many agencies value the breadth of experience over depth of knowledge to be sure that people they are hiring are there to stay. Youngsters at the agencies are talented and full of ideas but they are always on the lookout for their next job.

Experts point out various reasons why millennials change jobs during early stages: better opportunities, more money, urge to learn more and brand names. Some said that at times youngsters change jobs when they don’t get mentorship where they work.

BestMediaInfo.com spoke to industry experts to know more about why the young generation today don’t stick to one place for long.

Rajiv Rao

Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather

It’s not something good or bad but yes, the biggest reason would be that the millennials are very restless, impatient and want everything to happen today. They do not have the patience to wait if things are not happening the way they see it. They are not ready to invest time and rather move on and start somewhere else. It is indeed great to be impatient and want everything to change or happen fast but in reality everything does not happen at such a fast pace. Investing time in an agency or with a client or with ideas is necessary and important. This is something you learn over the years and don’t occur on day one. A person needs to spend time with the brands, on building relationships in order to create magic. I think this impatience leads them to switch agencies and by doing that they aren’t actually achieving anything. Switching from one firm to another does not create a world of a difference and eventually, it’s all same. The challenges associated are all same and joining another agency is not going to be anything easier.

Agnello Dias

Agnello Dias, Chairman and Co-Founder, Taproot Dentsu

The reason why young people switch so frequently nowadays is there is a perception that there are plenty of opportunities. Agencies have also stopped recognising loyalty and would rather reward halo. Perhaps the industry has started floating upwards on a bubble of hope and probability rather than building slower on structure and solidity.

Virat Tandon

Virat Tandon, CEO, Mullen Lintas

The main reason why youngsters change jobs frequently is that there are so many options available for them. Yes, as an individual I too don’t disagree with some amount of exploration, if it’s a healthy exploration. But there are some others who switch jobs as they are not able to stay in power and think that they are not getting the right opportunity or sometimes don’t want to work hard. Money is also one of the reasons why people chose to opt out of a job.If a person gets a higher income in a different firm, then they choose to join it. From my experience, you don’t gain anything by changing jobs so frequently. You may get some money, but there is no scope of learning. You don’t actually get a chance to prove anything and eventually, it hurts your career as stability and learning to work in a culture is important for a better teamwork, and these things do not happen overnight. Once a person is able to achieve all this, then a real growth in the career can be seen. And if you keep on changing without cracking the scene at the present place, then there will be no work showing. The solution for this is that you think before you hire and give importance to people having spent a decent amount of time in their jobs and have also proved themselves and for that, a person requires at least two to three years in the same organisation.

Ashish Chakravarty

Ashish Chakravarty, National Creative Director, Contract Advertising

This is not a new thing and has always been around. People have a threshold for tolerating things. Lure of money is one of the reasons for changing jobs early in career. Ten years back the reasons might be different and you would change jobs when you are either done with the present job, or make a little more money by moving or jumping jobs. These days the situation has become more accentuated as the increments don’t really happen and in a lot of agencies increments are not a regular thing. So, even if a person likes a job, he/she would have to change in order to increase income. Another reason specific to the creative field is there are not too many good creative people at the entry level (2-3 years) and it’s much easier to hire them as their base salaries are less. The fundamental reason for a job change would be to get a better designation or a better post. Even after getting a lot of awards and recognition, some people opt for a change as they may not be getting the desired money they want.

Naveen Gaur

Naveen Gaur, Chief Operating Officer, Lowe Lintas

The youth comes with a sense of curiosity that drives them. They want to grow and they want to grow fast. So accelerated rise up the ladder and money are two major driving factors. Apart from this it is also the constant need to explore and search for what's new, what's out there.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com