The jobs that currently happen to be hiring in sales, "business development" or marketing are primarily found in the online marketing recruitment segment, where social media advertising has seen a boom in staffing as of late. My recruitment agency is getting more and more requests to find employees who can sell and market a variety of purely online (never print and TV) advertising- and marketing-related services and, thus compete with organizations such as Google, Yahoo or any other digital advertising/marketing services firm.

There is huge demand to work for the big names like Google or Yahoo. Most jobseekers perceive these particular positions to be interesting, engaging and quite lucrative. But guess what? Job seekers at digital online marketing and Facebook advertising companies are no more or less happy than the employees within the different industry at another unknown company, regardless of whether or not they have fresh-cooked meals, pool tables and scooters in the office lounge.

Regarding actively pursuing recruitment and employment within the online or digital media space simply because other jobseekers perceive it to be a lot more engaging than their current vertical, such an outlook will only lead to the employee being unhappy at their job - maybe even more unhappy than their current position. Particularly in the social media space, the small companies have a major upside compared to the bigger fish: they still have the benefit of an entrepreneurial, flexible, creative culture. At firms with huge names, there is plenty of money flying around behind the scenes. But all that money supports office bureaucracy that resembles IBM or Simon & Schuster more closely than it resembles the ground-breaking young company it was ten years ago.

Another thing to consider when going for a position within these companies is that the recruitment process can take months upon months, it's as uncertain in outcome as it is drawn out time-wise. Since there is such high demand to work for these types of organizations, the interviews are also exceedingly difficult and full of questions that are meant to poke holes in your logic, possibly intelligence and interpersonal thought processes.

It is not always easy for some of the hiring firms either, which makes the whole recruitment process more difficult. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have set the standard and a lack of pool table or ab rollers at the office gives the company a grave disadvantage to the well-known firms who nevertheless aren't Google, when attempting to staff the best sales and marketing job seekers in the industry.

Another caveat is that although these digital and online marketing companies will interview extensively with regards to potential employees who don't have a relevant background, they will often take the job opening off the table for anyone before they actually make an offer to somebody who, although they show a lot of potential, has no prior experience.

In closing, aside from free pan seared scallops for lunch the last time I visited the New York office, Google seemed just like another office, as did a few of its competitors. Don't get me wrong - it's nicer than where I work, and we don't have an omelete bar... Though I don't have a boss and I can afford my own chicken wrap.