Everyone is hiring, at least for the foreseeable future internet marketing agencies need talent badly. Since this article is addressing the self made I-Marketing guru this specifically applies to you. Assuming that the prospective employee has both paid media and SEO experience the agency will most likely, from what I have experienced stick the new hire in the paid media department. The reason for this, in my opinion, generally revolves around the idea that paid media at large agencies tend to be money making machines. So generally, the more people in the department, the happier the client. Keep this in mind if you really want to do SEO and not paid, make it clear at your interview exactly what you are interested in. Taking a step back, it is important to recognize that not all big agencies are what they seem, with some careful research beforehand you can get a good grasp on what environment would be right for you.

I would classify the large agencies in three separate ways with obvious overlap in some areas. Some marketing firms sway heavily towards the traditional marketing mindset, by that I mean buttoned up, streamlined and business as usual. The second kind are all over the place and fairly disorganized, one department may be very corporate, while another might have projects going in a million directions. Third and really the rarest, agencies that are fairly buttoned up but at the same time adaptable to the internet marketing world. By this I mean, companies that have an implicit realization that internet marketing is fluid and challenging, so the structure of the business itself mimics these ideas. The vast majority of these companies fall somewhere between the second and first type with the majority of characteristics coming from the former. Off the top of my head I can only think of one, maybe two agencies that fall firmly within the third type.

The hands down best way to research the agency that you will be working for is to ask questions to ex and current employees. Forums such as digital point and others have their ranks filled with past and current internet marketers, don’t be afraid to search around and ask. The type of business that you want to work for is completely relative, it just depends on how you function in certain environments. Just be sure to keep in mind that there are many options available to you.