What creative/Artistic jobs are there in Media?

Are most of the social media jobs in Birmingham, UK, at agencies? Why?

• I'm currently looking for a social media job in the West Midlands and I'm finding that most of them are agency. I would prefer working client-side but these jobs are rare to find in or around Birmingham! In London there are hundreds of social media client-side jobs, but in Birmingham it seems not. What do you think?

• Answer:

  I live close by to and have worked in Birmingham. I agree with you, there are far more agency based marketing jobs available then there are client-side. Why is that? Well firstly you have less opportunities in Birmingham for jobs anyway in comparison to London. Therefore for whichever sector you look at you will find less when comparing to London. Businesses tend to find it cheaper in the long run to hire an agency to do their marketing functions. If you think about it, the average wage for a Social Media Executive is 22k. A company can save money by paying less per month (in comparison to a full time salary). The West Midlands is feeling the pinch of the British economy more so than London. Therefore businesses are having to try and make savings where possible. I had this same problem myself. The agency role doesn't suit my personality. I like building and maintaining relationships, I like planning and research and I like to see things to the end. The agency role tends to be churn in, churn out. Get it over and done as quick as possible before we start losing money. That's not all agencies and it isn't all the time, but it is the way of an agency. Reluctantly I took an agency role. I really enjoyed it and it was a great experience, one that gave me a great deal of value at being even better when working client-side. My advice to you would be to try an agency role out, especially if you haven't before. The least you'll take away from it is experience you wouldn't have otherwise gotten from a client-side role. If client-side is something you truly want and nothing else then just keep working at it. They are out there. A lot of it is down to luck, looking on the right site at the right time. Tweet me if you need any advice on your job search, I'd be happy to help out.