Updated January 24, 2024
The Currency of Talent is a consistent area of focus for IAB Canada and the new year brings a lot of things to talk about for the advertising sector. Human resources remain top of mind for our members and our industry is in flux with many changes at every level. It’s challenging enough to stay on top of skills required to leverage the rapid advancements in tools and processes brought on through AI and regulation when you’re on the ground. As many of our members point out, trying to plan for what the future skills required look like, is even more challenging. It’s important for us to sort out what the future of our industry will need for effective media planning and buying in a data saturated yet highly regulated environment.
Moreover, we have heard from our members that some latent gaps have emerged in the area of soft skills. Continued remote work environments and the two-year gap of being “together” in an office or boardroom has had a tremendous impact on many organizations’ abilities to teach soft skills – things like tactful communications, how to handle business meetings, public speaking etc.
IAB Canada will be working with members and post-secondary institutions to explore ways in which we can fill the gaps and prepare for the emerging requirements in our field. As part of this initiative, we will be publishing a series of podcasts and studies that focus on The Currency of Talent in 2024.
To kick things off, Sonia Carreno, President, IAB Canada sat with Felicia Obiora, Faculty Business Developer, Global Business and Digital Arts, Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo for a three-part conversation about Talent Developments & Workforce Planning. This first episode discusses the gaps and how the University of Waterloo is working to address them and preparing graduates for our industry.
In Part 2 of our 3-part podcast on the Currency of Talent. We discuss how organizations can onboard talent and bridge the skills gap by working with universities.
In Part 3 of our 3-part series on the Currency of Talent, Felicia discusses how organizations can benefit from using a direct line to talent with universities that offer a co-op program by narrowing the skill gap.
Click here to listen to more The Business of Digital Podcasts.
Faculty Business Developer, Global Business and Digital Arts
Co-operative and Experiential Education
University of Waterloo