Local firm looks for right combination of experience, technology skills, ambition and initiative.

John Rumery

A local technology, marketing and communications firm has not only weathered the recent economic storm, but continues to thrive by focusing on existing clients and helping them maintain and grow their services.  

To keep up with their growth, ddm marketing & communications is looking for an account manager and a front end CSS Developer. "For the account manager we are looking for someone with extensive experience working in an agency setting," states Paul Kortman, director of Online Marketing.

Kortman indicates "our business has grown, primarily from existing clients who have seen the value in our services." Kortman explains that their team's technological and marketing expertise has helped many of their clients keep current and be more effective.  

However, finding the right people is not as easy as many might feel it would be in a job market where there are more "buyers" than "sellers." Kortman says, "we hired several people over the last few years, but it is tough to find the right fit.  Some individuals have the skills, but the not the experience to keep up with our pace."

Kortman also explains that in the online marketing world, everything is emerging and although individuals coming out of college may have working knowledge of many of the tools, they don't have the business experience or savvy to apply them in a business setting.

His advice for someone graduating from school or trying to retool their skill set is to gain as much real world experience as possible.  "It's nice if you can demonstrate your work in a portfolio, like a site you developed for your school organization, but even better would be if you can show how you contacted a business, developed their site and implemented some type of program.  It's even better if you have done this multiple times."

"We also value initiative," Kortman continues. "We look for experience, but realize in the area of social media marketing, so much is emerging. We look for ambition, the ability to learn and the ability to be flexible."

The ddm marketing & communications firm has been around for 20 years and focuses on the education, financial and health care sectors. Its services include traditional marketing, hosting, custom applications and web development. To learn more about ddm marketing & communications you can visit their website.


Source: Interview with Paul Kortman

John Rumery is the Innovation and Jobs Editor for Rapid Growth Media. He is an educator, board member of AimWest, WYCE music programmer, entrepreneur, raconteur and competitive barbecuer living in Grand Rapids, MI.  He can be reached at [email protected]

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