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This week, I wrote a news article about executive search firms and how the economic downturn has affected their work. While almost everyone I talked to reported a decrease in projects and assignments, many of them were taking action, hoping to stay bring in and keep more clients. After the jump, a few ways executive search and recruitment firms are changing.
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EW Scripps executives told Rocky Mountain News employees in person today that the company is closing the newspaper, which had been in print since 1859 and in tabloid format since 1942. The four-time Pulitzer Prize winner publishes its last issue on February 27.
Scripps spokeswoman Lee Rose told PRWeek that Scripps officials were conducting a press conference on February 26. The company has not hired an agency for the announcement, she said.
Hearst said this week that The San Francisco Chronicle if its unions do not make concessions.
The days of battling for mid-level PR talent are – for now – clearly over. But all the recent PR layoffs raise the question, is the industry headed toward another mid-level talent crunch when the economy improves? Some agency execs who I’ve spoken to have said the answer is “no” because senior-level folks are being harder hit. “If firms need to make deep cuts, the $200k folks will go first and not day-to-day client contacts earning $100k,” said one agency principal.
Another principal added, “A lot of companies will be laying off more expensive people at the manager and director level people rather than at the AE/SAE level.”
Amid these troubled times, a third principal wistfully noted, “Talent crunch is a good problem to have – it means you’re growing. Right now agencies are worried about surviving.”
Yesterday AOL announced it is cutting 700 jobs, in response to economic troubles. Tricia Primrose Wallace, EVP of corporate communications at AOL, told PRWeek it’s not clear whether the layoffs will impact communications because there have been no announcements made along those lines yet. In 2007, AOL refocused its communications department after it cut 1,200 jobs company-wide.
Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, enhanced its pipeline with the announcement that it will Wyeth for $68 billion as part of the largest pharmaceutical deal in the last 10 years.
Branding the acquisition as the world’s premier biopharmaceutical company, Pfizer and Wyeth launched a Web site, which includes podcasts and vodcasts of the companies’ CEOs talking about the acquisition as well as information for patients and consumers, investors, and media.
But, the announcement also came with the that Pfizer would cut its work force by 10% and reduce the number of manufacturing sites while it prepares to lose half of its pharmaceutical revenue stream by 2015, when the patents for Lipitor, Viagra, and other medications expires.
Here’s a link to a video and two podcasts that features Pfizer’s Ray Kerins and Wyeth’s Gwen Fisher talking about social media, CSR, and drug safety communications at a PRWeek healthcare panel that was held in Philadelphia in November.
GlobalFluency has conducted more layoffs, this time in its New York office. On Friday, the agency laid off its managing partner, a VP, and a director in its New York office. Liz Miller, VP of programs and operations at GlobalFluency, told PRWeek the cuts were related to firm’s plans to reorganize as a multifaceted marketing agency. The firm recently cut six people from its Palo Alto, CA office.
PBS’ flagship station in New York, WNET-Thirteen, is reducing its communications staff by six positions as part of an overall personnel reduction, Kellie Specter, director of communications at the station, told PRWeek. The layoffs, happening in conjunction with a communications staff reorganization, occurred across position levels, she added.
Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET.org, told The New York Observer on January 22, that his organization, which includes WLIW-21 and WNET.org, will trim about 7% of its budget and reduce staff by roughly 14%.
For both journalists and communicators, the news cycle never ends. At The Cycle, PRWeek’s editorial team offers commentary and viewpoints on how the latest marketing, business, political, and cultural news impact the PR industry.
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