In Lebanon, where the ad market has plummeted by 30 percent over the last year, finding and keeping talent is, unsurprisingly, proving difficult. The few highly qualified personnel that remain are eagerly sought after and can demand huge salaries. “A star always commands a premium,” says Wassim Rizk, regional development manager of Grey Worldwide.
Maybe so, but the dwindling pool of talent willing to remain in the country and reap the rewards is driving salaries steeply upward at a time when business is suffering.
Although the average increase in Lebanese agencies’ salary costs over the last year is a manageable 5 to 10 percent, this is only because many positions have been left unfilled as the country’s talent heads abroad – mostly to the GCC – to find work. The salaries of those that have stayed have actually increased by as much as 20 percent, according to Beirut advertising executives.
Agency bosses blame an ongoing exodus of talent combined with rampant poaching between rival employers, especially of senior or experienced staff. “Most employees think, ‘Why should I stay in Lebanon when I can get much higher salaries in the Gulf region?’” says Kamil Kurdan, managing director of Leo Burnett.
It’s a reality that Lebanon’s agencies have been dealing with for some time now, according to Rizk. “The Lebanese market has little to offer and has been shrinking for the past seven years,” he says. “No expansion whatsoever. Talent is basically fleeing to the sunshine of the Gulf.”
TROUBLE AT THE TOP. It’s a familiar story. “The brain drain is Lebanon’s story since the beginning of time,” says Rizk. But the movement has accelerated in the aftermath of last summer’s war.
“Ad people need renewal and diversity, both of which are now lacking in Lebanon,” says Joumana Micaelian, commercial director at Lowe Pimo. “The GCC countries offer them more challenging opportunities as well as continuity and safety.”
Management positions, whether middle- or senior-level, are especially difficult to fill. “Finding account executives and graphic designers is easy,” says Ibrahim Lahoud, deputy general manager at Publicis Graphics. “But try finding an art or creative director. Or an experienced client servicing director or strategic planning director.”
“It’s hard finding professionals with four to five years’ experience. They are either happy where they are or they are leaving the country. We cannot compete with salaries paid in the GCC to top executives,” says Naji Boulos, managing director of Memac Ogilvy.
The result is that agencies are being forced to promote people faster internally and recruit more newcomers.
As a result, marketing and communication courses are becoming increasingly attractive to students at university in Lebanon. “Today, a graphic designer out of the university gate probably makes more than an engineer,” says Rizk.
GRADUATES NOT GOOD ENOUGH. But a lack of real talent and a dearth of serious university recruitment programs – plus the fact that the most gifted students tend to be drawn immediately to the Gulf – means that most of the graduates available to Beirut agencies are simply not up to scratch.
“Hundreds of fresh graduates are being thrown into the market every year,” says Lahoud. “But very few are qualified enough to enter the job arena and be up to speed immediately. There are a lot of people seeking jobs, but not enough talent.”
Boulos estimates, for example, that Memac spends $40,000 every year in training. “These new graduates are not really taught the advertising way of thinking,” he says.
That figure explains why many agencies are opting to understaff, according to Impact BBDO director Joe Ayache. “Agencies are a bit cold on recruiting newcomers because of the prevailing situation of uncertainty,” he says. “You don’t want to recruit then find yourself asking them to leave because of a downturn.”
Another problem facing the industry, according to Lowe Pimo’s Micaelian, is that many students are now traveling abroad to study, and it’s hard to entice them back. “Once they have lived abroad, it’s hard to get them to come back to Lebanon, given the current situation. We actually feel bad about asking them to come here, where their career may get botched.”
It seems that, for the foreseeable future, Lebanon will retain its role as a feeder pool for the wealthier and more stable agencies of the Gulf.
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