Our recruiting nets keep coming up short because we're still fishing where the talent used to be.
But wait, it gets more turbulent. While our traditional talent pool drains away, we're simultaneously using AI to dry up the stepping stones into our industry. Remember those grunt work tasks we all did as juniors? The ones that taught us how agencies actually work? They're vanishing. And with them, the pathways for tomorrow's creative leaders.
As a parent of 5 children, as a leader in my agency that is responsible for creating an environment where young minds can thrive, here's what haunts me the most: young people increasingly view trades as safer career bets than white color jobs such as the ad industry. They think AI will replace account executives before it replaces electricians. Can we honestly say they're wrong?
We're creating a drought of our own making. The pond is shrinking, the stepping stones are disappearing, and we're still casting lines with the same old bait.
This affects every brand reading this. Your next breakthrough campaign, your next cultural insight, your next creative revolution? It might come from someone who chose a certificate online over Columbia. But if we don't change how we fish, we'll never catch them.
At Bernstein-Rein, we're testing new waters. Different nets. Fresh approaches. But one agency can't turn this tide alone.
So I'm asking you: What would happen if we stopped requiring degrees? If we created apprenticeships? If we used AI to amplify junior talent instead of replacing it? If clients invested in developing talent, not just buying it?
