Wednesday, February 01, 2012

9742: Is TBWA Director Of Talent Biased?


Admittedly did not closely read the lengthy Advertising Age ageism story, and missed the following gem:

“The job market is pretty rotten,” said Nancee Martin, director-talent at Omnicom Group’s TBWA Worldwide. “Opportunities are limited. Agencies aren’t doing the same kind of hiring they were five years ago, and there’s no denying that those closer to 55 are going to have a harder time,” she said, particularly creatives vs. those in sales or strategic planning.

Ms. Martin then spoke bluntly. “For a creative, pardon my French, but good fucking luck. There’s a commonly held conception that to be a creative, you need to know what’s hot, what music is cool, what website is all the rage—and [with age] you become less aware of those things by and large.”

Wow. That is pure, unadulterated, blatant ignorance straight from the mouth of an executive charged with hiring talent on Madison Avenue. Plus, the moron misused conception for perception. What’s next? Blacks aren’t smart enough to handle the intellectual challenges of life in an advertising agency? Latinos are too lazy to work alongside the privileged White people? Asians can’t… oh, wait a minute. Those Asian folks are really good with computers—and most of them are awesome designers. Somebody call Omnicom Chief Diversity Officer Tiffany R. Warren pronto. Or Cyrus Mehri. It sounds like Martin openly and literally admitted that older candidates are fucked when applying at TBWA. As elder adman Dan Wieden might say, “Now that’s fucked up.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think Martin said anything along the lines of "TBWA won't hire older candidates". I think she made an observation that there are prevalent biases that make an already difficult job market more difficult for candidates who are older. It's something I get am very conscious of as I advance in years and have to wonder how to create job security into my golden years.

HighJive said...

To be clear, Martin openly admitted that older employees face bias. She literally said they are fucked. For an executive whose role is focused on hiring to make such a statement is pretty reckless. If TBWA proceeds to lay off older workers — or consistently rejects older candidates — Martin’s statements could certainly be used as evidence for ageism/discrimination lawsuits.