{"id":28586,"date":"2026-10-14T11:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=28586"},"modified":"2026-10-14T11:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:55:25","slug":"ppcchat-applying-hiring-in-the-current-ppc-job-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-applying-hiring-in-the-current-ppc-job-market\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Applying & Hiring in the Current PPC Job Market | 13th October 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week\u2019s PPCChat, hosted by Susie Marino<\/a>, explored the PPC job market from both the job seeker\u2019s and employer\u2019s perspectives, amid layoffs and hiring challenges. Topics included the pros and cons of working in-house, at an agency, or as an independent consultant; AI\u2019s role in PPC hiring; and tips for navigating the job market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: What would you say are the benefits and drawbacks of doing in-house PPC management for a company, or working in an agency environment, versus running your own consulting practice?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I can definitely say that my preference is to have resources! I do NOT want to run my own business and do all the extra non-specialist work that comes with it. It’s good to understand to get a sense of your client’s needs, but my preference is to lead a practice. That puts me in a good spot to focus my energy on behalf of a brand, or many brands. #agencylife. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being in-house lets you get really in-depth with one business while agency life is fast-paced and you learn very quickly. I left both behind to do my own thing because 1) I wanted to pick who I worked with and 2) I learned that I’m better at managing accounts than managing people, which was the agency trajectory I was on. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@robert_brady<\/a> listen, that path to leadership = manage people or stay stuck is so real and such nonsense! our whole industry has failed to develop the specialist track. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is less of an “agency” vs “in-house” mechanic, but on working for someone else vs yourself: the main benefit to working for yourself is autonomy on who you serve. There’s no holding your nose and not working on a client if you work for someone else if they already said yes to the money. A big reason I went off on my own for a while is I wanted to have more control on who I served. @navahhopkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been my own boss for almost my entire career. Last time I had a job the computer on my desk was running Windows 95 so I can’t really give perspective on being in-house. I did recently turn down an offer from a client to become his head of marketing. The money would have been nice but the restrictions expected from employment just felt too tight. @Pete_Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can definitely see how any of these options have their own pros\/cons. Having your own practice takes the work from not only just consulting but also managing and growing a business. That said, though I look back on my time at an agency fondly, there were definitely clients I would have chosen not to work with had I been on my own lol @Susie Marino<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JuliaVyse<\/a> the computer geek industry came up with the idea of the highly paid IC – individual contributor for people who didn’t want to be a manager. Seems like we should copy them. @Pete_Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@Pete_Bowen<\/a> I fully agree, and there are firms that have pushed in this direction, but the incentives for so many shops big and small is client client client, finance finance finance. I want to be good at one cool thing, and make all of us good at one cool thing @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I prefer working for an agency for the diverse range of industries and accounts you get to work with. Managing just one account would be boring for me \u2013 and frankly I wouldn’t know what to do all day (meaning no offense to any in-house people) @williamhboggs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just rejoined an agency after 3.5 years in-house, which followed 8+ years in client-facing roles.
In-house roles on smaller teams can definitely make you feel siloed in your role. In my last in-house role, I was running paid campaigns advertising to other marketers, but on my own team I was the only person with in-depth PPC experience. My director knew the basics, but was nowhere near any type of subject matter expert. It also felt like it went from lull periods to all hands on deck <\/em>periods during majors campaign launches. In agency life, it’s way less predictable and even happy clients can churn, but I value the ability to brainshare with colleagues and clients and expose myself to multiple challenges. @kytaylor88<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In house was fun, having the time and the access to do “all the things” but just like an agency, if you grew it by 50% last year it better not be 30% this year. @DanThies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the ‘all the things’ that really gets to me. I do NOT want to do effing everything, I want to do my thing really really well and collab with other specialists who do their thing very well. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: If you’ve hired for PPC roles, what types of PPC expertise have you looked for? Or, conversely, if you\u2019re on the PPC job market, what types of roles are you finding, if you\u2019re not going the freelance route?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Freelancers, feel free to also share what types of client work you prefer taking on. @Susie Marino<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I typically hire for curiousity and logic. I worry a bit about people who have learned only one way of doing things, I more want someone who asks a lot of questions, likes to solve cool problems, and is able to speak comfortably about doing the work. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the get hired side, most of my being hired has been translating google into client needs, and client wants back into platforms. It’s a living. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah agree I think a big thing is being open to the possibility that there a multiple different ways to get the same results in PPC, and none of them might be necessarily right or wrong. I feel the way some agencies run, I think it could be easy to fall into a habit of approaching account management a specific way then find it difficult to change your ways if you were to leave and go somewhere else @Susie Marino<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a freelancer\/consultant, I have found the best fit in companies where their PPC efforts are too large to be just another hat the founder\/CEO\/marketing manager wears, but they aren’t yet big enough to need a full-time hire. Many don’t want to work with an agency and prefer me as a “fractional expert”. Usually ends up being $10k-$50k\/month in spend and I work directly with the decision maker for marketing. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@robert_brady<\/a> That sounds like my kind of client too. Big enough for meaningful work, small enough that you can get the boss on the phone to whip the sales team into calling leads right away. @Pete_Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@Pete_Bowen<\/a> And there are a surprising amount of businesses that fit the description. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, I’ve got a handful of them as clients. @Pete_Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve noticed a lot of higher-paying roles want BigQuery, SalesForce, and Server-Side Tracking experience. This can be frustrating as 2 of these really need hands-on experience in a real account to properly understand. @williamhboggs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job descriptions often read like Christmas wish lists and describe someone as imaginary as a unicorn. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to remove almost all work experience from my resume, and now it leads with a page of skills, many duplicated, because if you don’t match you don’t match. Only so many ways to say “able to work with other humans” but here we are. @DanThies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JuliaVyse<\/a> 100%. Curiosity, critical thinking, a record of cross-vertical PPC experience. It’s different for different agencies\/sizes but I’d hesitate to hire someone who has only ever done specific sub-sets of eCom or B2B. I notice one-track thinking which becomes a liability early in once they need to take on something different. @timmhalloran<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3: What is a reasonable request during the interview process for a PPC role to test a candidate? For instance, are there any types of practice projects or certification requirements you’ve encountered when applying\/hiring for a PPC role?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I went through a 6 round interview process with a local group I really wanted to work with. After that never again obvs. I think interviews should be designed around the problem you’re trying to solve. If I’m hiring for an auto team, I won’t emphasize merchant centre skills. If I’m hiring a general ppc to support several teams, I’ll emphasize competing deadlines and clear comms. it’s bespoke. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean obviously I think most potential clients or agencies\/companies hiring are going to want to see Google Ads\/Microsoft Ads certs ha but beyond that I do think it’s reasonable in our line of work to be asked to show your abilities in, like ad copywriting, or something, but I don’t think any interview assignment (A.K.A. free work..) should be designed to take more than, like, an hour or so @Susie Marino<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve gotten some lengthy ones admittedly, one was asking me to create from scratch several short-form and long-form content assets based on an hour-long video I had to review, the hiring manager’s time estimate was 3-4 hours, but you know I spent all day on it basically lol @Susie Marino<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t do hiring any more, but if the candidate is providing something that will be used by the agency, they should be paid for it. Period. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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