Archive for 'Jobs'

A few weeks ago I started pinging folks within the digital measurement community asking about the work we do, the challenges we face, and how we got where we are today. The responses I got were all tremendously positive and showed a true commitment to web analytics across vendor, consultant, and end-user practitioner roles. What I learned was, well, exactly what I expected given my decade-plus in the sector: “web analytics” is still a relatively immature industry, one populated by diverse opinions, experiences, and backgrounds.

Those of you who have been following my work know that I have spent a great deal of time working to create solutions for the sector. As a matter of record I was the first to create an online community for web analytics professionals and explicitly point out the need for dedicated analysis resources back in 2004, and the first to publish a web analytics maturity model and change how web analytics practitioners interact with their local community back in 2005. I’ve also written a few books, a few blog posts, and have logged a few miles in the air working with some amazing companies to improve their own use of web analytics.

I offer the preceding paragraph not to brag but rather to establish my credentials as part of setting the stage for what the rest of this post is about. Like many in web analytics — Jim Sterne, Avinash Kaushik, and Bryan Eisenberg all come to mind — I have worked tirelessly at times to evolve and improve the landscape around us. And with the following announcement I hope to have lightning strike a fourth time …

But I digress.

One of the key questions I asked in Twitter was “how did you get started [in web analytics?]” Unsurprisingly each and every respondent gave some variation on “miraculously, and without premeditation.” While people’s responses highlighted the enthusiasm we have in the sector, it also highlighted what I see as the single most significant long-term problem we face in web analytics.

We haven’t created an entry path into the system.

As a community of vendors, consultants, practitioners, evangelists, authors, bloggers, Tweeters, socializers, and thought-leaders, we have failed nearly 100% at creating a way for talented, motivated, and educated individuals who are “not us” to gain the real-world experience required to actually participate meaningfully in this wonderful thing that we have all created.

Before the comments about the Web Analytics Association UBC classes or the new certification pour in consider this: The UBC course offers little or no practical experience with real data and real-world business problems, and the certification is designed, as stated, “for individuals having at least three years of experience in the sector.” Both are incredibly valuable, but they are not the type of training the average global citizen wishing to apply their curiosity, their precision, and their individual talents to the study of web data need to actually get a good job coming from outside the sector.

And while I have little doubt people have landed jobs based on completion of the UBC course given the resource constraints we face today, as a former hiring manager and consultant to nearly a dozen companies who are constantly looking for experienced web analysts, I can assure you that book-based education is not the first requirement being looked for. Requirement number one is always, and always will be, direct, hands-on experience using digitally collected data to tell a meaningful story about the business.

Today I am incredibly happy to announce my, my partners, and some very nice people’s solution to this problem. At 6:30 PM Eastern time at the Web Analytics Wednesday event in Cambridge, Massachusetts my partner John Lovett shared the details of our newest community effort, The Analysis Exchange.

What is The Analysis Exchange?

The Analysis Exchange is exactly what it sounds like — an exchange of information and analytical outputs — and is functionally a three-partner exchange:

• At one corner we have small businesses, nonprofits, and non-governmental organizations who rarely if ever make any substantial use of the web analytic data most are actively collecting thanks to the amazing wonderfulness of Google Analytics;
• In the next corner we have motivated and intelligent individuals, our students, who are looking for hands-on experience with web analytics systems and data they can put on their resume during when looking for work or looking to advance in their jobs;
• And at the apex of the pyramid we have our existing community of analytics experts, many of whom have already demonstrated their willingness to contribute to the larger community via Web Analytics Wednesday, the WAA, and other selfless efforts

The Analysis Exchange will bridge the introductions between these three parties using an extremely elegant work-flow. Projects will be scoped to deliver results in weeks, effort from businesses and mentors is designed to be minimal, and we’re working on an entire back-end system to seamlessly connect the dots. And have I already mentioned that it will do so without any money changing hands?

Yeah, The Analysis Exchange is totally, completely, 100 percent free.

John, Aurelie, and I decided early on, despite the fact that we are all consultants who are just as motivated by revenue as any of our peers, that the right model for The Analysis Exchange would be the most frictionless strategy possible. Given our initial target market of nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, most of whom our advisers from the sector warned were somewhat slow to invest in technology and services, “free” offered the least amount of friction possible.

Businesses bring data and questions, mentors bring focus and experience, and students bring a passion to learn. Businesses get analysis and insights, students gain experience for their resume, and mentors have a chance to shape the next wave of digital analysis resources … resources the mentor’s organizations are frequently looking to hire.

More importantly, our mentors will be teaching students and businesses how to produce true analytical insights, not how to make Google Analytics generate reports. Our world is already incredibly data rich, but the best of us are willing to admit that we are still also incredibly information poor. Students will be taught how to actually create analysis — a written document specifically addressing stated business needs — and therein lies the true, long-term value to our community.

Too many reports, not enough insights. This has been the theme of countless posts, a half-dozen great books, and nearly every one of the hundred consulting engagements I have done in the past three years. The Analysis Exchange is a concerted effort to slay the report monkeys and teach the “analysts” of the future to actually produce ANALYSIS!

A few things you might want to know about The Analysis Exchange (in addition to the FAQ we have up on the official web site):

• Initially we will be limiting organizational participants to nonprofit and non-governmental entities. We are doing this because we believe this approach simultaneously provides the greatest benefit back beyond the web analytics community and provides a reasonable initial scope for our efforts. Plus, we’ve partnered with NTEN: the Nonprofit Technology Network who are an amazing organization of their own;
• Initially we will be hand-selecting mentors wishing to participate in the program. Because we are taking a cautious approach towards the Exchange’s roll-out in an effort to learn as much as possible about the effort as it unfolds, we are going to limit mentor opportunities somewhat. Please do write us if you’re interested in participating, and please don’t be hurt if we put you off … at least for a month or two;
• With the previous caution in mind, we are definitely open to help from the outside! If you have experience with this type of effort or just have a passion for helping other people please let us know. Just like with Web Analytics Wednesday, we know that when The Analysis Exchange gets cranking we will need lots and lots of help;

Because this post is beginning to approach the length at which I typically tune out myself I will stop here and point readers to three resources to learn more about The Analysis Exchange:

1. We have a basic, informational web site at http://www.analysis-exchange.com that has a nice video explaining the Exchange model in a little greater detail;
2. You can email us directly at exchange@webanalyticsdemystified.com for more information or to let us know if you’re willing to help with Exchange efforts;
3. You can follow Exchange efforts in Twitter by following @analysisxchange

As you can probably detect from the post I’m pretty excited about this effort. Like I did when I co-founded Web Analytics Wednesday, I have some amazing partners on this project. And like I did when I founded the Yahoo! group, I believe this effort will satisfy an incredible pent-up demand. Hopefully you will take the time to share information about The Analysis Exchange with your own network, and as always I welcome your thoughts, comments, and insights.

Learn more at http://www.analysis-exchange.com

For the past few weeks I have been thinking about the economy and trying to reconcile two seemingly contradictory observations:

1. The economy sucks, and it doesn’t seem likely to improve anytime very soon
2. The web analytics sector is reportedly recession-proof and, in fact, predicted to grow in 2009

While I hardly need to provide any proof of the first observation, evidence for the latter has been emerging from a variety of voices in our community for the past few months.  Case in point:

• In January, the Web Analytics Association reported that nearly 70% of companies planned to continue to invest in new tools and staff throughout 2008
• Back in July, Corry Prohens from IQ Workforce wrote in a guest post in this blog that “74% of practitioners expect that spending on web analytics will increase at their company during the recession”
• In September, my good friend Jim Sterne surveyed the web analytics crowd and found that 87% of practitioners plan to maintain or increase their budgets for web analytics tools and services in  the face of the current economy, and that nearly twice as many respondents indicated they planned to increase budgets for web analytics (21%) as planned to decrease same (13%)
• Last week, the fine folks at E-consultancy splashed all across the news with the headline “Web Analytics: A Silver Lining in the Recession Cloud” by reporting that web analytics was poised to grow in 2008 by 12%

In the E-consultancy report, the organization’s head of research Linus Gregoriadis was quoted as saying: “The profile of Web analytics continues to grow as it becomes more integral to business decision-making and organisational strategy. The credit crunch is putting the spotlight on analytics as organisations work harder to understand where they are getting the best return on investment and where real value is being added.”

Recently, Josh James, the CEO of Omniture said something similar during the Q&A portion of the company’s Q3 earnings call in response to a question about whether businesses saw web analytics as discretionary:

“Every dollar that a marketer has, I think everyone has in every organization is under pressure right now and certainly marketing spend is where CFOs like to look and see if they can cut. But, what we’ve seen with our customers is their online channels are the ones that are performing the best. Their online channels are the ones that are giving the most direct impact within that quarter that spend is also taking place.

In terms of the way that they think about Omniture, even if they cut let’s say 10% of their marketing spend, they’re going to use us to a) identify the 10% they’re going to cut and b) use us to optimize the other 90% to try to get back up to the same results as they had with the 100% the year before. These kinds of times actually drive usage of our product.

When things are good it’s a lot easier when you want more sales just to throw more money at the top of funnel and to generate more leads and go through the process. When things get bad people try to focus on of everyone that’s already coming to our store, what can we do to keep them more attracted? What can we do to get them to look at other things? What can we do to get them to read additional articles? All of those behaviors drive uses of our product.”

All of this sounds absolutely spectacular. Except for one thing …

I’m not sure I believe any of it.

I think that we are collectively starting to suffer from the echo chamber effect, essentially reiterating that web analytics will be fine in this lousy economy because, unsurprisingly, we are all making money off of web analytics and we would very much like to continue doing so. The WAA, IQ Workforce, my friend Jim, E-consultancy, Omniture, me … our collective businesses are all more or less explicitly tied to continued investment in the sector. So why wouldn’t we look for data that suggests that the picture continues to be rosy and the future bright?

Why indeed.

In terms of the data presented above, as a former researcher I would offer this assessment: many of these surveys appear to suffer from sample bias. Asking the Yahoo! group, members of the Web Analytics Association, or the audience attending Emetrics about their interest, investment, or organizational focus on web analytics is kind of like asking your average Democrat in Portland, Oregon how they feel about Barack Obama.  The problem is not the audience, the problem is the interpretation: I think it is misleading to extrapolate the responses from a non-random sample of businesses and business people to the larger audience.

This kind of sampling leads to claims like “52% of online marketing managers are currently engaged in A/B or multivariate testing …” Fifty-two percent implies that tens of thousands of online marketing managers are testing. Which sounds great, except that when Offermatica and Optimost were acquired by Omniture and Interwoven they had a few hundred customers between them, and Stephane Hamel’s WASP tool reports that 0.4% (zero point four percent) of the Top 500 online retailers are using easily detected A/B or multivariate testing tools.

Don’t get me wrong, I too have been guilty of sampling biased audiences, although in the past year I have stopped conducting primary research due to both the sampling issue and the plethora of free research that suddenly appeared in the marketplace.

Ultimately I’m suspicious of this optimistic data that we’re seeing, especially in the context of statements like this one made by Mr. James made on the earnings call referenced above about the effect the economy is having on Omniture’s ability to forecast Q4 and 2009:

“Towards the end of September however, it became apparent that the challenging macroeconomic and financial environment may have some impact on our business going forward although it remains difficult to quantify the uncertainties specifically.”

Mr. James and his CFO specifically don’t want to talk about 2009 on the call. Which makes sense to me, since here are some other data points:

• The economy sucks, and without belaboring the obvious, it appears that this suckiness will stay with us for quite some time;
• While I don’t question Mr. James assertion that his best customers make excellent use of web analytics, in my personal experience this is not universally true;
• Some of the largest consumers of web analytics products are starting to struggle;
• Despite the conventional wisdom that dictates that brilliant analysts are safe when times are tough, I am getting more and more calls from brilliant analysts who are being laid off or being offered severance packages to walk away.

It is this last point coupled with something I learned at Emetrics that has me the most concerned.  In D.C. at Emetrics I heard Liz Miller from the CMO Council say that most CMO’s are a few years away from fully understanding the value of web analytics. If Liz is right, and her credentials are impeccible when it comes to the CMO’s office, then given the anecdotal evidence that continues to come in I wonder if web analytics is slightly more discretionary than we’d like to believe.

Don’t get me wrong, I sincerely hope to be wrong in this assessment. As an author, public speaker, evangelist, consultant, and conference co-producer focusing on web analytics I honestly hope to be able to write a follow-up post in six month saying, “Wow, I was really super-wrong about where the web analytics industry was going …”

But what can you do if I’m more right than not? What if you work in an affected sector or work for a company known for their web analytics acumen that is suddenly faced with bankruptcy or worse? What if the folks you work for who profess a great love for data-driven decision making are really HIPPOs in their heart and when the real bloodletting begins are just as likely to look for savings in areas that can be easily cut (human resources, for example) as opposed to those that would require breaking contracts?

What indeed.

If you’re in any way concerned about the current economy and your personal employment situation, here are five tips that I would offer to help you best prepare for the worst.

Tip #1: Focus on Increasing Profits, Not Minimizing Spend

My friend W. David Rhee just published a great response about the relationship between web analytics, sales, and marketing in a down economy.  To paraphrase Dave, if the bosses begin to panic, you don’t want to be in a situation where you appear to be an expendable marketing cost that can be cut.  It is far better to be focusing your analytical efforts on how the organization can be increasing profits, even if you have to fight to spend more time conducting analysis and less time generating reports.

Essentially you want to take Mr. James statement above to heart and work your butt off to optimize the lower-levels in your conversion funnel, working with what you already have, not what you might be able to attract.  The good news is that the technology supports this analysis; the bad news is that more often than not, the deeper you get in the funnel, the more difficult optimization becomes for a variety of reasons, not limited to the business, IT, and “the way we’ve always done it!”

Be a profit center, be big picture, become truly invaluable.

Tip #2: Don’t Be a Report Monkey

The unfortunate reality about web analytics work is that far too many smart people spend far too much time generating far too many reports that far too people actually read and even fewer actually derive real value from.  Sound familiar?  When I started the conversation about process in web analytics in 2006 at Emetrics, over 80% of the audience said they spent too much time on “reports” and not nearly enough on “analysis” … sadly I’m not confident that things have changed much in the past two years, especially on a percent-of-practitioners basis.

There are any number of great posts about why reporting is over-rated and how the real value in web analytics comes from careful, business-focused analysis of the data, there are still too few companies that have put the hub-and-spoke model into practice and are able to effectively leverage web analytical resources.

My advice to to step-up and find the real value in your data, even if you have to conduct the analysis on your own in the wee hours.  It’s not as if you can just stop generating reports (tempting as that may sound) but if you’re a good analyst, taking the time to figure out where the real opportunities to increase revenue are is the work you want to be doing anyway.  Taking the initiative to make data-powered recommendations and presenting them is a good way to demonstrate your skills and commitment to the business (but don’t stop doing the job you’re being paid to do!)

Analysts conduct analysis and make recommendations. Be an analyst.

Tip #3: Start Watching the Job Boards

Even if you feel pretty good about the situation you’re in you have to admit that the most accurate term to describe the current economy is “dynamic.”  In situations like this the worst thing you can do is be caught off guard and so I would offer that spending a little time surfing the Web Analytics Demystified Web Analytics Job Board (also see the WAA’s version) would be time well spent.

According to the nice folks at SimplyHired the number of job postings looking for “web analytics” experience of some kind continues to increase:

Assuming these postings are all accurate and still open, this is fantastic news since it contradicts my thesis that our sector is at risk.  The only thing that concerns me is that when I add a major market to the search, the trend graph starts to look substantially different. Here is the trend of jobs in SimplyHired for “web analytics” jobs in San Francisco:

Not quite as encouraging, huh? Now I might be using SimplyHired incorrectly but the general trend observed in the Bay Area makes me wonder if job growth in the sector is as strong as the first graph shows. Plus, anecdotal evidence suggests that an increasing number of companies are imposing hiring restrictions and outright freezes, meaning that many of these postings are effectively “inactive.”

By no means am I suggesting that any gainfully employed web analytics practitioner should jump ship in this economy unless you are absolutely confident about the situation you’ll be moving into.  But keeping your eyes, and your options, open makes increasingly good sense in my opinion.

Be smart about your current employment situation.

Tip #4: Think About Your Skill Set

I recently interviewed Corry Prohens from IQ Workforce and asked Corry about requirements for web analysts and what he looks for when trying to place folks. I recommend you read the entire interview, but here is what Corry had to say about what IQ Workforce looks for:

“In general we look for someone that has tool expertise, communication / interpersonal skills (these jobs are increasingly front-office), analysis & presentation skills and some complimentary kicker (testing, SAS, SQL, search marketing, development skills, search marketing skills, etc.) based on what our clients need at the moment.”

I went on to ask Corry about what two criteria he believed would help practitioners land a great job in this economy:

“If I were a web analyst I would learn how to use SAS to manipulate data & models.  I would also try to pick up experience in  testing/optimization.  Having one (or both) of these would open a lot more doors than a straight WA skill set.”

Real analytics experience and a focus on testing and optimization.  Great advice, even if the former is somewhat non-obvious (perhaps that’s why it’s such great advice!)  And while you may not be able to implement testing technology on the job, Google Analytics and Google Web Site Optimizer are free and easily implemented on a personal blog.

Push yourself and expand your skill set. Move ahead of the market.

Tip #5: Network, Network, Network

In my experience one of the most valuable things you can be doing during uncertain times is expanding your network of contacts.  Fortunately the web analytics industry is pretty well set in terms of opportunities to meet other practitioners, both locally and globally.  Here are a few networking opportunities that I highly recommend:

• Attend or host a Web Analytics Wednesday event.  Web Analytics Wednesday is the world’s only local social networking event for web analytics professionals and it has helped dozens of folks find their next new job.  Take advantage of the many events happening before the end of the year or, if you don’t see an event in your town, contact me directly about getting a chapter started where you live!
• Join the Web Analytics Demystified group at LinkedIn.  A few years ago I started a LinkedIn group for web analytics professionals.  Now the group has nearly 1,300 members worldwide and is open to anyone interested in getting connected via LinkedIn.
• Join the Web Analytics Association.  The WAA is the only association we have and is actively working to create great value for their members around the world.  Joining the WAA gets you discounts to great conferences, access to their job board, and plugs you in to an increasingly vibrant community.

At the end of the day, despite the great demand for our skills and long-term opportunity afforded to all of us, a web analytics job is like any other job.  Your professional growth and development is as much a function of the people you know and your relationship to the community as your native analysis skills.

Get to know your peers. Have fun while you do it!

What Do You Think?

This has become a ridiculously long post considering that I could have just said, “I think there is more risk than we realize.  Be prepared.”  Most of us working in the web analytics arena have become quite used to the good times rolling and have every faith that they will continue to roll.  Only now, budgets are shrinking, jobs are being lost, and the general fear is that the President-Elect will create a business climate that is somewhat less friendly than most would like.

Still, my firm belief is that if you’re great at what you do and if you’re working for folks who clearly “get” the web analytics value proposition you have nothing to worry about.  All I would caution is that you not assume the latter is true, again especially in the context of the conversations I have constantly about senior-management not really understanding the art and science of digital measurement and analysis.

So now it’s your turn.  Do you think I’m way off base?  Do you believe the data I was somewhat critical of earlier in this post?  Does your boss “get” web analytics?  Are you optimistic like Mr. James that your company will be able to leverage your investment in Omniture (or whatever) to optimize your marketing spend?  Or are you worried about your job, or worse, have you been laid off?

I normally don’t allow anonymous comments but given the somewhat sensitive nature of this post and the feedback I’d love to hear, as long as the comments are appropriate I’ll approve them.

If there was once clear statement made this past Tuesday with the election and overwhelming mandate given to President-elect Barack Obama it was that people around the world are concerned about the economy. In fact, it feels as if we’ve gone well beyond President Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid” statement back in the early 90’s and have arrived at “It’s the economy, period.”

Given the number of conversations I have had with web analytics professionals lately about layoffs, offered severance packages, buying slowdowns and the like I wanted to check with a friend who works directly on the front lines of the web analytics economy: Corry Prohens from IQ Workforce.

Corry is giving a presentation at Judah Phillip’s Web Analytics Wednesday event in Cambridge on November 12th and in since I can’t make it to Boston for the event I recently asked Corry a handful of questions about web analytics, the practitioner market, and IQ Workforce’s new Contractor Exchange. Corry is a great guy and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions about his responses if you want to pose them in the comments section following this post.

My questions are posed in bold and Corry’s responses follow:

Corry, one thing on people’s minds is how investment and use of web analytics is being affected by the economic downturn. What are you seeing out there?

We are seeing a shift in the market away from hiring and toward contract / interim talent.  Many companies have official or unofficial hiring freezes in place.  Those that don’t have added steps to the approval process for new hires, making recruiting processes much longer than a year ago.  In the meantime, the work has to get done and there is a pretty consistent drum beat out there for more measurement, accountability and improved ROI.  The result has been an explosion in the contract / freelance market.

At the same time, supply is increasing.  The web analytics community is maturing, so there are more and more practitioners that have reached the point in their career development where they are qualified to “go independent”.  Even people that are gainfully and “permanently” employed are looking for part-time freelance gigs on the side in this economy.

This is creating a perfect storm of both supply and demand.  It is tying up more than 50% of my team’s time these days, whereas contract work used to be about 15% of our business.

On the perm side things are steady and unspectacular.  Demand is still strong, but there are snags and delays and fits and starts with almost all of our jobs as our clients reevaluate and redefine their needs repeatedly before making hiring decisions.  I don’t think you would find a huge drop in the number of web analytics jobs out there, but there is no doubt that the average time-to-hire has skyrocketed.

Do you have any bold predictions about how the market will change in 2009 for A) experienced web analytics practitioners looking for new jobs, B) web analytics consultants and C) companies looking to hire experienced web analytics talent?

I don’t think these are very bold, but here goes…

1. The market for interim talent will likely continue to grow and thrive;
2. The permanent market will likely stay relatively strong.  It will not be anything like the mania that was out there for the last few years, but make no mistake about it – web analytics is still a hot skill set.  Demand will far outpace the rest of the job market;
3. Remote / virtual office positions will continue to grow more popular;
4. Convergence between site analytics, optimization and offline analytics (and mobile analytics??) will continue in jobs and practitioners’ skill sets.

The rest will depend on how quickly and how sharply the rest of the economy improves.

Speaking of practitioners, there is an odd conversation going on in the Yahoo! group about qualifications for web analytics practitioners.  What are the top five things YOU are looking for when you get resumes?

I can understand why this is a major debate because there is a lot of variation in web analyst jobs. Depending on where web analytics resides in the organization, the structure, the size of the company, the culture, the tools, etc. the top 5 will shift quite a bit.  There are not that many vanilla web analyst jobs – many of them are tied in with testing & optimization, offline & customer data analysis, search marketing, ad serving, database skills, etc.  In general, the smaller the company the bigger the job (the more things skills they are looking for / hats the candidate will wear).

Companies also look for specific vertical market expertise, or experience in their “type” of site (subscriber, free media, ad driven, Internet retail, lead generation, etc.)

Unrealistic expectations are common.  Many companies still don’t get web analytics.  If they are relatively new (as a company or as individuals) to web analytics, there is a tendency to lump hard-to-find skills together into a mountain and create impossible-to-fill positions.  We try to be good consultants on this issue, but sometimes a job has to stay open for 6-months before a company reevaluates their requirements.  HR people, in particular, seem to have a hard time distinguishing between requirements and wish lists.

In general we look for someone that has tool expertise, communication / interpersonal skills (these jobs are increasingly front-office), analysis & presentation skills and some complimentary kicker (testing, SAS, SQL, search marketing, development skills, search marketing skills, etc.) based on what our clients need at the moment.  One of our biggest gaps to bridge is location – not skills.  There are lots of great people out there and we are often working out ways to get them relocated or set up in virtual office jobs.

If you had to pick only two criteria likely to help practitioners land great jobs in this economy, what would those criteria be?

If I were a web analyst I would learn how to use SAS to manipulate data & models.  I would also try to pick up experience in  testing/optimization.  Having one (or both) of these would open a lot more doors than a straight WA skill set.

I keep getting email about rates for consultants out there.  I know what I charge, but what are you seeing in the market on an hourly and daily basis?  Does that change by geography or experience?  Or if you blog are you able to charge more?

If blogging enabled me to charge more I wouldn’t have to work anymore.

There is a big difference between consultants and contractors.  What you do and what we do should not be compared.  In fact, we are  careful not compare ourselves with any web analytics consultancy.  If you look companies like Stratigent, Technology Leaders, or the interactive agencies, they are approaching the client’s problems in a very different way.

If a client knows what they need and they have somewhat of a plan for how to get it done, they can hire a contractor / freelancer that has the expertise to execute.  This person will work on a time & materials basis and there will not be any guarantee for deliverables.

If a client doesn’t know what they don’t know and they need a company to perform a broader range of services, such as:  conducting an assessment, creating a roadmap and a strategy, specking out a project, etc. They should use a full-service consulting company and pay the freight.  Their resources are theoretically backed-up by expertise in the rest of the firm and they provide some kind of a guarantee around deliverables.

The contractors that we currently have on billing range from $55/hour to $110/hour.  From what I have seen, the full service consultancies and pro services groups charge anywhere from $125 – $300/hour for equivalent expertise along with all of the value-add that I mentioned above.

You just launched a contractor’s exchange at IQ Workforce.  Tell me about that?

We had to do something to streamline our contracting business.  The volume of candidates and requirements that we were getting was becoming unmanageable.  The Contractor Exchange is basically our way of more efficiently marketing our inventory of interim talent to the community.

We ask our contractors to post their credentials on our website.  Our team approves the postings and then we market the profiles to the marketing and analytics executives in our network.

One of the biggest problems for contractors is staying billable – it is very hard to sell and deliver at the same time.  The Contractor Exchange is a free way for contractors and freelancers to gain visibility to an extremely relevant audience so that we can generate opportunities for them.

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Thanks to Corry for taking the time to answer my questions. Please check out the IQ Workforce web site if you’re looking for help hiring web analytics talent (IQ Workforce sponsors the Web Analytics Demystified Job Board and we’re mighty grateful for that!)

This is a guest post from Corry Prohens of IQ Workforce.  Corry is a sponsor of the Web Analytics Demystified Job Board and one of the most plugged-in folks I know in our industry.  He’s helped some great companies find talent, and some amazing talent find great companies which is, as we all know, one of the hardest things of all about web analytics.  Thanks to Corry and IQ Workforce for sponsorsing the job board and I hope all of you have either a safe and relaxing 4th of July or a nice respite from U.S.-based email, depending on where you live in the world!

Without further comment, Corry Prohens:

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This past spring I was growing concerned with the condition of the economy.  Skyrocketing oil and food prices, plummeting real estate values, an unprecedented credit crunch, investment banks folding and teetering…

The lead question for business publications and programs shifted from “Will there be a recession” to “How long and how awful will the recession be?”

In a previous life I lived through the dot com surge and bust as a technology recruiter.  I did NOT want to go there again. The last few years have been very kind to our community / career landscape and my paranoia was growing that the good times were going to end.

As a coping device and because I assumed that my colleagues shared my interest/concern, I decided to poll the community on the issue in our Summer 2008 industry survey.

It turns out that while most economists say that the United States is either experiencing or entering a recession, web analytics practitioners in the US are overwhelmingly optimistic about their career prospects in the short and intermediate-term future.

A sneak preview into the survey results shows that individuals and departments around the country are downright bullish:

• 74% of practitioners expect that spending on web analytics will increase at their company during the recession (40% said it would increase a bit / 34% said it would increase significantly)
• 60% of practitioners said that the recession would either increase the likelihood of hiring additional web analytics resources or have no impact
• 17% said that their company was either somewhat or very likely to reduce web analytics headcount during the recession
• 2% thought that the recession would have a major negative impact on their career

Thank goodness! And just to prove that these folks are answering with their heads and not their hearts, my team is literally busier right now than we have ever been.  Entering the short July 4th holiday week, we have been absolutely inundated with new requests from clients for permanent and contract web analytics resources.

As a longtime LinkedIn fan, I decided to throw the question up there last week to see what kind of response I would get.  Eight people – all web analytics practitioners – answered in a single voice:  “What recession?”

The only concrete difference / pattern that we have seen in our business over the past several months has been the exploding demand for web analytics contractors.  A year ago we were working on one contract position for every eight permanent positions.  Now contractor requests make up over a third of all new requests for resources.  I am not sure if I am ready to draw a direct correlation between the economy and the rising demand for contractors since there are several other viable explanations.

Here is the link to participate in the current survey (or to view results of previous surveys):

http://www.iqworkforce.com/survey.asp

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Thanks again to Corry for his support of Web Analytics Demystified!

Two job related items worth noting, just in case you are either in the market for a new job or, perhaps more likely, are seeking smart folks to help you get your web analytics house in order.

First, the fine folks at Intuit in San Diego are looking for a Senior Manager for Web Analytics.  From a web analytics perspective Intuit is perhaps best known as the former home of web analytics super-star Avinash Kaushik and as a company that clearly understands the 10/20/70 rule for achievable web analytics success. While Avinash has moved on to Google, bright folks like my friend Dylan Lewis (who will be leading two great conversations at the X Change conference in San Francisco on August 17, 18, and 19!) and Jared Waxman (also leading huddles at the X Change!) are still making things happen at Intuit.

I traded email with Seth Greenberg at Intuit about the job and here’s what I learned:

Why apply for this position at Intuit?
The Senior Manager of Web Analytics position in the TurboTax division of Intuit is an amazing opportunity to help develop, optimize  and influence a multi-channel marketing mix backed by a substantial advertising budget.  The position will require the most qualified applicant to build on an already great process, and develop a methodology for incorporating multi-channel measurement into online advertising analytics.  In addition, the applicant will need to build a successful online advertising testing program that combines both website and offsite factors to optimize results.  Yes, this a lot, but if you are still reading then maybe this is for you.

Why make the move to San Diego?
Did you see the U.S. Open?  Do you like sunshine and paradise?  If so, then there is a lot of that in San Diego.  If you are a fan of outdoor activities, don’t like snow, and are not a big fan of rain, then maybe this is the best climate for you.  The cost of living is relatively high here on the coast, but many are willing to pay the sunshine tax.  It is as good as it looks on TV, and it can only be better if you are here.  We’ll also make your move easy with a nice relocation package.

What makes Intuit so special?
Intuit is a data driven company.  Intuit is also year-after-year one of the “Top 100  Best Places to Work”  There are many benefits to working here, including the ability to have a very focused tactical tax season, followed by a strategic period evaluating all the results and deciding what to do the next tax season.  It brings about some really great year over year improvements and lets you build on and prepare for success each year.

Having lived in paradiseSan Diego for three years while at WebSideStory and JupiterResearch I can vouch for what a great place San Diego is.  And as far as Intuit, from my perspective the high-quality people they are able to attract is testament enough to the opportunity.  If you have more questions about this job drop me a line and I’ll get you in touch with Seth or Dylan, or just review the job description and apply online today!

Second, and I feel a little bad for putting this below the fold, but international companies are now able to advertise on our job board!  Previously we weren’t able to offer listings to companies with non-U.S. addresses but our technology provider has given us a passable workaround that allows us to better serve the International job seeking and employee-seeking community.

If you’re outside of the U.S. and are interested in advertising on our job board, please drop me an email and I’ll explain the very easy process.