Millennials used to bank on their social media skills to score a job in the sluggish economy after the recession. Those days are coming to an end as employers increasingly view social media skills as a basic prerequisite rather than a talent to tout during a job interview.
Job titles such as “Social Media Manager” are experiencing slower growth compared to previous years. Growth in this position slowed to 50% in 2013, a significant decline from recent years where triple and even quadruple growth was common, according to statistics from career site Indeed.com.
“Those positions are still out there but I don’t think those positions are going to be around in companies for very long,” said Matthew Charney, managing editor for Recruiting Daily and blogger for jobs site Glassdoor.
Millennials looking for a career in social media shouldn’t assume a proficiency in social networks will automatically get them hired.
Jackie Freiberg, 23, graduated college with a degree in telecommunications. She got her job as social media account manager at Slice Communications in Philadelphia at the end of last year.
Although managing the company’s social media accounts is her primary responsibility, it’s not all she’s expected to do.
“I do other non-social media related tasks like blogging for the website, creating original graphics, and working with analytics,” she said.
This isn’t the first time a hot job in technology has started to die once the majority of people learn the essential skills.
Steve Turtell, 62, took a job as a word processor at a law firm in 1981 because he could tell it was up-and-coming.
“I knew a lot of people who were suddenly making a lot of money working in word processing,” he said, adding that all you had to do to get a job was know how to type.
“That was the primary skill. Word processing is essentially glorified typing,” he said.
He worked as a word processor for numerous law firms for fourteen years, but quit in 1995 to begin graduate school.
“I left before it became obsolete. But I could see that coming,” he said, since the rising popularity of personal desktop publishers meant that everyone would be learning to type sooner or later.
“Why pay a full time salary and benefits when the lawyers can do it themselves?” he said.
From 2002 to 2012, there was nearly a 40% decrease in the number of people working as word processors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It’s also considered one of the fastest declining occupations, with growth expected to decrease a further 25% by 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The same could happen with social media managers. As usage continues to rise, companies are now moving towards integrating social media throughout all departments to better connect with customers.
“Someone that can tout themselves as someone whose concentration is in marketing but has a background in social media, now that’s something to brag about,” said Michael Meredith, professor of Management and Corporate Communication at UNC.
Someone like Freiberg with a wider breadth of skills should fare well with future changes in the social media job realm, but those without other expertise may find themselves in trouble.
However, Meredith thinks blurred lines exist when it comes to how companies are using social media.
“You’ve got companies that are still dipping their toes in social media and feel behind the curve,” he said. “They’re looking for someone who can jump in and take it over for them.”
Colleen Murphy, 28, did just that. After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2008, she worked a few jobs before taking a full-time position as a front desk agent at a Hilton in Akron, Ohio.
Murphy said she noticed the trend of hotels and restaurants going online to reach their customers a few years ago.
“I had worked at the front desk for a number of years and had pretty much the same basic social media experience any 26 year old has,” she said.
In 2012 she began working part-time at the front desk, spending the rest as social media manager for the Hilton Akron along with three other hotels and two restaurants in northeast Ohio.
“When we began our social media journey, there weren’t any real goals in mind aside from being able to connect with our guests online,” she said.
Murphy did get a raise when she began splitting her time between the front desk and social media manager, but she’s striving for more.
She’s currently working towards her master’s in tourism and hospitality management at Kent State University. Ideally she would like to be a social media and online marketing consultant for hotel and restaurant management groups.
Although it’s unclear whether a position such as that will exist when she graduates in August, the degree gives her the opportunity to merge her new skills with her social media experience.
“Evolving with social media excites me. There could always be a new platform or update on the horizon,” she said.