Fortune reports that the job du jour is online ad sales rep. In fact, the field is so hot, journalist Jessi Hempel was offered a “mid-six-figure” salary by a CEO to defect while reporting the story.
Hiring a sales director “is the single biggest challenge that we have faced,” says Dina Kaplan, co-founder of Blip.tv, a video-sharing site. Kaplan says she spends as much as six hours a day searching for the right person. She’s close to a hire – “We’re trying to steal someone from a TV network,” she says – and may offer twice her own salary.
Kaplan still might have trouble. Head-hunters say media companies are paying big bucks to hold on to their salespeople. Salaries plus commission at those firms can stretch beyond $400,000, according to Todd Zangrillo of technology executive search firm Barlow Group.
And counteroffers are a given. Zangrillo tells of a candidate at a big TV network making more than $500,000: “He basically said, ‘Don’t approach me unless you have an offer north of $600,000.'”
